Hi Cygo, Welcome to the forum, I am In the UK so can’t answer about being sent home with supplies. I can say at the start keep supplies simple ie wafer and bag. Time will tell if you need any additional products. Keep measuring the stoma as it will change. Getting back to training work etc the predictions maybe a little optimistic! But no reason with the right advice and being sensible why you won’t resume a normal routine. Expect mistakes ask plenty and before long using an appliance will be a normal every day thing. Travelling home I would ask your driver to bring a pillow and a few travel breaks. The best wishes 👍👍

Hello Cygo, and welcome. I live in the States. My own experience four years ago for colostomy: I was in the hospital four days, first day ate clear liquids, second day very soft foods, third day soft foods, fourth day regular/soft food (turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, a few very cooked green beans, a little piece of cheesecake….). Saw a stoma nurse at least twice during hospital stay, she was so helpful, and she ordered my first month of supplies for me. Went home with a few sets of pouch/plate/barrier rings (she highly recommended the rings) and packets of Adapt lubricant/deodorant which lasted til my order arrived a few days later. She also ordered me an intro sample pack from Hollister, which arrived within a few days of my getting home.

At home I read all the material they gave me and was careful to introduce foods slowly.

All of the folks at the hospital were angels. I experienced very little discomfort or pain during the hospital stay. They sent me home with some pain pills that I never felt I needed, though I took a couple because they had cautioned me to stay ahead of pain.

It took me awhile to discover M9 deodorizing drops - this is an amazingly affective product for me, the Adapt lubricant/deodorant not so much.

Bring a pillow along in the car to sit on, and perhaps another for your abdomen during the ride.

I am a wild sleeper - back, side, stomach - and have never had a leak at night though I don’t think I ever put much weight directly on the pouch.

Best of everything to you.

LL

Posted by: @cygo

In the USA when you leave the hospital post surgery do they send you with only the necessities or do you get also nice to have supplies? I know this probably depends on the insurance but I am wondering what others experiences where.

It may depend on the hospital, too! I've heard from many people that their hospital didn't give them *anything*, no supplies, no instructions, nothing. 

It's advisable to request samples from the various ostomy companies, so you can try things until you settle for an appliance that works best. THIS link should be helpful.

Just remember that your body will be changing during the first several months, so I would also re-evaluate your appliances after you've fully recovered, too.

Will they provide a pillow for sitting? ( I have a 3 hour commute home )

I've never head of that, but I did pick up a gel liner for the seat in my car. I was also told NOT to get those doughnut pillows, since they can put extra pressure on your bottom.

Are items such as adhesive removal sprays, barrier rings and accessory belts are considered necessities or will they fall into the nice to have category that I will most likely need to buy myself.

The private insurance I had covered those all. It may vary with each provider, and yours should be able to send a list of qualifying items and if there are any limits. 

Post Surgery diet, do you go home eating solid food or liquid diet.

Here's my list.

How difficult is it to sleep on your back after the surgery (if you are a back sleeper already)

I don't really remember how sleep was, but I don't recall any difficulties, other than with waking up often to empty my bag during the first little while.

Good luck!

Adhesive removal spray in particular.

At first I did need it for ease of removal. But I was changing more frequently so the edge adhesives still had good grip and were a pain to peel off. Now i change less frequently and the adhesion to skin is less at that point. So I can peel off without much trouble.

But. It seems quite difficult to remove all the remnants of the adhesive off my skin before placing the new wafer on, unless I use the adhesive remover. It may be that the particular soap products I use don't work well on that glue. Other brands might.

Food.

Be very careful. I ended up back in hospital, fully blocked within days. My surgeon had to go through my intestines and do some tune ups here and there during the initial surgery. So I guess there were several spots that may have been constricted, rough, before healing up more. A frozen breakfast meal of potatoes and scrambled eggs had a tiny amount of potato peel in it. That was enough to block me up. You may not be as prone to this, depending on how much slice and dice was required throughout your intestines.

No particular issues sleeping. Stoma comes out on my right side. Laying on that side seemed to cause less pain. Helped to curl the belly a bit. Time the pain meds.

The butt took a while to really become pain free. I would get random bad stabbing pains. Short term but bad. Various surface pains. Certain movements would give pains that felt like I was tearing the skin. Constant low level irritating surface pain for a couple weeks. Even after fully healed, I had what I describe as webs from one side of the butt crack to the other. It took a few months before these stopped giving me little pins when I stretched them in some position. That is all gone now.