I used to shower once or twice a week (or after a leak) because of the faff. Dont worry I would have lots of washes and Glastonbury showers (see previous post) in between.
With a Stoma bag I found that there was no jumping in and out of the shower and no such thing as a quick rinse!
Showering with my old Stoma could be a bit like showering with a bomb. You never know when it was going to leak and explode everywhere. Or that's certainly my experiences. I have met people with lovely quiet, well behaved stomas that never leaked but I wasn't blessed with one of those!
I could never just get out of the shower and have a quick dry and go, or equally loll around in my dressing gown getting dressed at my leisure. I would have to get down to the business of changing the soaking wet bag of poo and putting a new bag on (which regular readers will know has proved to be a bit of a challenge for me in the past). A lady in hospital said she used to put a nappy bag over her Stoma bag secured with bull dog clips to stop it from getting really wet if she wanted a quick shower (I will try to get her to send me a picture to add in here!)
But this morning I was disconnected from my TPN feed at 8am as they have reduced the feeding time down from 20 hours to 12 hours- hallelujah!
Being wire free and cannula free I decided it would be good to take a shower. And it was the most liberating experience I have had in years.
I had a lovely hot shower, washed my hair, scrubbed every inch of my body and shaved my legs. Maybe too much information, but hey, that's what you get when you read this blog.
I found this picture on the Internet which I think demonstrates the difference between a shower with my Stoma and how it was this morning:
I haven't quite reached these standards...
...but a girls gotta have something to aim for.
So if you think about how something as simple as a shower can be made difficult by a hidden illness, spare a thought for the battles that some people have every single day.
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