Update on Shannon's progress! :)

I had surgery #1 on Monday of last week and got to come home the following
Monday. I think I would have been allowed to come home a bit earlier, but my
surgeon wasn't there on the weekend and wanted to see me before he discharged
me. :P

So far so good; only had one leak problem, and that was while I was still in the
hospital. They fixed it by adding two little cut pieces of adhesive to the
sides of my stoma before putting on the rest of it-- has anyone else had to do
something like this? I'm using the two-piece bags too; they never even offered
a one-piece. *shrug* So long as this one's working, I'm not going to complain.
:) It's also one that's not clear, though the ones they gave us in the hospital
were. In a way, I liked seeing it to know it was working right, but in a way, I
liked not thinking about it so much. :)

Also had a slight problem with my incision opening up at the bottom on Tuesday.
We went back in to the doctor, and they said just to stuff it with gauze, which
definitely wasn't what I expected; it was a good sized opening. :s I go back in
tomorrow to get the steri-strips they put across the entire thing changed; they
may put some across the opening then too. Then I'm off to my first day of
school!

I'm still on Prednisone (since it takes so stinking long to get off of it!),
which they said makes me not heal as fast, but I think I'm doing all right.
Today I'm finally sitting up/standing up without worrying much about hurting
myself in the process. :)

Surgery #2 should be sometime in November! *crosses fingers*

Hope you're all doing well!!
Shannon





SUE SAID:
Shannon,
Personally, I think the two piece by convatec adhered to em's skin far
better than any of the others we tried... but you will have to try a bunch of
brands before you find just the right one. we tried one pieces, but they just
didnt' 'fit' her right....... or if they did, they didn't adhere. ugh. I know
a lot of people who prefer the two piece, but i know others who have no problems
with one piece. One piece is a bit more 'flexible' because it doesn't have the
tupperware ring. Some of the two pieces now have no tupperware ring, but
looking at them, em refused to try it because she told me that it would come off
the self stick part too easily. I have to respect her opinion because she is
the one wearing it. She likes the bags that are clear so she can actually see
how much is coming out, others dont like to see it. For her, seeing it means we
can guage better what meds to give her in regards to thickening her output or
not... when it gets chunky, we have to pull back!
Some of the bag ends have this velcro thing going now..... she also hates that
because if you don't get it shut just right, you get a leak.
Good luck! DOn't hesitate to experiment.....
Sue


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