Learning from Others

Ever since I became friends with a buddy who had a procedure that rerouted his urinary tract (which I later learned to be a urostomy), I feel like I’ve learned so much about medical procedures, genetic differences, and just people in general who may be different from me based on certain conditions or diseases they happen to have. It’s honestly made me a more open, understanding, accepting, and worldly person because of realizing that we’re all the same. It’s too bad not everyone in the world can have the same acceptance and understanding all at once. I feel if we had, so much of the world’s problems would be solved instantaneously.

So anyway, I wanted to note a few things I’ve learned about ostomy care ever since I became friends with this guy. I haven’t helped him firsthand with a lot of this stuff, per se, but through talking about things with him, I’ve gleaned quite a bit about basic care for nicer supplies, like ConvaTec ostomy supplies. And besides learning the terms skin barrier, stoma, urostomy, or even pouching system, I’ve actually been able to keep in mind a few things that comes to ostomy accessories.

So, what have I learned? Well, the number one thing seems to be making sure that no leaks can happen with the skin barrier. Most people have smooth enough skin for this to not be a problem, but a lot out there (more than you’d think) struggle with getting the barrier on right, which is snug against the skin and sealed completely. So, there happen to be some extra accessories you can use to help you ensure such a seal.

The most basic is sealant, which is exactly what it sounds like. All that’s needed is dry, clean skin before applying the sealant. From there, you’re to apply the skin barrier system which should “cement” itself to the skin soon after drying.

Or, if you’re against such things and want something a little more friendly on sensitive skin, powder works extremely well. This helps with both dry and oily skin as well, so it hits both ends of the spectrum in sealing a skin barrier nice and tight. And what’s great is that your pouching system never seems to bother you when there’s a perfect seal on the barrier system. It’s one of the best feelings in the world, I’ve been told, when you don’t notice your pouching system at your side whatsoever.

Taking Health for Granted

Health is something absolutely everyone takes for granted until they’re forced to confront their own mortality. Or, at the very least, forced to confront something that is somewhat wrong with their bodies. And when it happens, you realize that you have taken for granted your health for the majority of your life.

Unfortunately, what happens thereafter is you end up taking health for granted yet again. Not because you didn’t learn your lesson, but simply because you just DON’T think about your body or something going awry when you’re healthy because, well, everything is functioning correctly and you’re spending time thinking about other things.

So, imagine how it would be to have everything so fine in life and suddenly something is wrong with your excretory system. The fact that now you have pain or complications or even life-threatening problems with your bladder or digestive tract means that every single day you’re thinking about a natural human function: to get rid of your body’s waste.

So imagine then what it would be like to have an ostomy. You’d be thankful, absolutely grateful in fact, that you had an option that could relieve you of your pain or discomfort. Sure, you may not like learning how to go to the bathroom all over again, but at the very least your life would be much better than it would be otherwise. You wouldn’t even bat an eye at your new ostomy supplies if you had to get used to them. And that’s because, yet again, you’re grateful for your health and sorry you ever took it for granted.

And so the cycle goes with our health, mortality, and abnormalities. It can be easy to get swept up in life and forget to take care of yourself, but the fact of the matter is so many people could be doing more to take care of their bodies in all aspects possible. I’m sure no one out there with some ostomy supplies and a stoma actually wanted that to happen in the first place, right? Right. It was something that was a last resort to make their lives more comfortable or even save their lives.

So the lesson I hope you’ve learned today is to take care of your body. And to care about what you put in your digestive system. What nutrients you need. What exercise you need. Without a care in the world for these things, something could easily sneak up on you and change your life forever.