Well I am officially 6 months into my new life with a stoma. That’s right, I had an operation about half a year ago in which I had a big old hole put in my abdomen. Some people don’t really know what an ostomy is, and that’s okay. All you need to know is that my life has significantly changed for the worse, and I wish that I didn’t have to wear an ostomy bag all the time and deal with all the problems associated with a stoma. One of the biggest problems associated with an ostomy is having to worry about finding, researching, and buying ostomy supplies for the rest of your life. Literally, I will be ordering more and more ostomy supplies until the day I die, and that is a sobering and slightly depressing thought. If you haven’t had an ostomy or don’t know anyone who has had one, I can tell you that the first few weeks after surgery are pretty rough. Not only does your body hurt everywhere and you’re trying to acclimate to your new life, but you also have to deal with getting used to applying different ostomy products and bags every day and night.
The biggest problem for me was trying to find places to buy the ostomy supplies that I so badly needed. Shortly after surgery, the doctors sent me home with some of the supplies that I would need, including ostomy pouches, skin barriers, stoma powder, stoma lubricant, and a bunch of other products that you probably don’t want to hear about. Once those ran out, however, I was going to need to find a way to get more of the supplies I needed. The thing about ostomy supplies is that it isn’t super common in most stores. While supermarkets and pharmacies tend to have basic over-the-counter medical supplies that are useful for the general public in some way, they don’t like to carry the serious stuff like ostomy supplies. Maybe they are scared to commit to such a great group of people like ostomates who badly need ways to get their supplies. It was also hard to go out in public at first because I was embarrassed about my new ostomy pouches and was not sure what people would think of me.
So instead of facing my insecurities head on, I decided to go around all that by looking online for ostomy supplies instead. The internet is great because you can usually find just about anything you could ever want, and most of the time you can find it for a good price. The only factor involved is how long you’re willing to wait and if you don’t mind taking advantage of cheap labor in China, India, and the Pacific Islands. Personally, I don’t really have a problem with taking advantage of cheap labor so I order almost everything online.
I researched a lot of different ostomy supplies and products to make sure I was finding the right products for me, and I ended up getting some pretty good stuff at a decent price point. Going forward, I probably will only buy my ostomy products and supplies online because it is really the simplest way to go about it. I’m going to write this last sentence right here and then call it a day.
My Ostomy Diary 