It's so nice to have you on the forums, Nancy!

You'll notice some changes over the next year as your body adjusts to its new configuration, but I have no doubt that you'll be able to enjoy your time camping (sounds like a fantastic site that you go to!). 

If you have any questions, feel free to post them in the forums :) 

Hi all im new on the site just joined finding my way around 😊

Posted by: ambies

 

Hi all im new on the site just joined finding my way around 😊

   

Welcome! Feel free to share an introduction HERE. 

If you need help using the forms, you can check out my walkthrough HERE. 

Hi Nancy! So awesome to see your story. I had my colostomy 10/2016 after a two week stay in the hospital. It was not something I had considered before as I never am sick but my colon evidently decided to blow up one day. Anyway, the doctors and nurses were so worried about the mental effects such a surgery could have but I was blessed with a good friend that has a colostomy. So I was not a stranger to it and had had a positive story to relate to.

However, it was not until after surgery and doing research that I realized that ostomies are far more common than I had thought.  So you are not as different as you may think. It does take time to get comfortable with it. I know I'm not quite there but I find that it is not nearly as uncomfortable or as bad as I thought it could be. 

I don't think you'll have too much trouble camping. I got a little plastic, rectangular basket with a handle to put all my supplies in. I keep one at home and one at work. At home it sits on the counter next to the toilet but at work it is in my office so when I need to go to the bathroom I just grab my basket and go. I also have a regular folding metal chair that I take into the handicap stall so I can sit and face the toilet to empty and clean. I am not sure what kind of camping you are doing but maybe the basket and a folding chair would come in handy. Just thought I'd put that out there but I think you'll do just fine. I mean, you have a good dog, what else do you need?

Thanks. I like your idea of the basket. What I'm using now (and I don't leave home without it!) is my Coloplast bag I got at the hospital in an introductory kit which also included a book and DVD with lots of info. I've worked out a half way good system at home; it's just adapting to taking it on the road, so to speak. I just received a folding metal cup (used by hikers) which fits in the bag so that I can rinse my pouch out with water after emptying it. The basket would come in very handy to hold a container of  water from the sink and take  it and the rest of the supplies into the stall.

I empathize with your open wound situation. The staples popped a few days after the surgery, so I, too, ended up with an open wound that I refused to look at until the visiting nurse told me it had healed, and it's only to make sure I avoid it when putting on my wafer. With the close proximity to my stoma, I had a lot of really nasty leaking issues. Switching from a flat to a convex wafer helped a great deal.

I guess we should consider ourselves lucky. Can you imagine what this type of surgery must have been like 20 years ago! I've spoken with people who've had them for around 15 years, but it does take a lot of time to get used to the idea that this is how life is from this point on.

Nancy, Welcome.

A good dog and a plan to go camping this summer sound like just the ticket. You will find lots of us here that are very happy to be alive and ostomates. It does take some getting used to, but you will.

I will look forward to hearing your camping stories.

Hi again Nancy. Also I think zip-lock freezer bags would NOT go unused on a camping trip!

Posted by: ambies

 

Hi all im new on the site just joined finding my way around 😊

   

Welcome Nancy as well as Ambies hope you are both well and im glad that you have found us on this awesome forum, you will find that everyone is very helpful :) welcome to the family <3 

And welcome to Ambies , I will look forward to chatting. Its really great getting to know everyone.

Posted by: nancyab

 

What I'm using now (and I don't leave home without it!) is my Coloplast bag I got at the hospital  

Speaking of that bag - I'm still using mine from nearly four years ago!! I had to reinforce the top hanger as it was tearing, but I love this bag! (So much so that I asked for a second one).

I have a number of bags that were included with some of my pouch/wafer supplies - the zip lock freezer bags are a good idea, thanks.  One can never have too many disposable bags for this sort of thing, especially when traveling and needing to make a pit stop along the way.

Thank you for the welcome   I will be posting about myself  im not a newbie to ileostomy just the forum , but i will talk about my journey  

Im trying to change my avitar to my own picture but no sucsses yet lol   I will get there 😊

Posted by: ambies  

Im trying to change my avitar to my own picture but no sucsses yet lol   I will get there 😊

Let me know if THESE instructions work. 

I loved camping but I have been leery about sleeping in a tent and traipsing to the toilet in the middle of the night to empty my bag. How have you dealt with it? 

Marty Berman 

Posted by: Golem18

I loved camping but I have been leery about sleeping in a tent and traipsing to the toilet in the middle of the night to empty my bag. How have you dealt with it? 

Marty Berman 

Hey Marty, welcome to the forum!

I'm going to start a new thread about camping as it'd be nice to share ideas there.

Morning, Hi to all the new members and its great to see so many new faces joining in. Nancy that's sounds like the beat way to spend the summer the great outdoors and mans/womans best friend. It may not seem like it but the toilet/loo issue out doors may be has some advantages. being form and living and working in the countryside I have always did one thing when needing to GO, Look for the biggest tree you can find lol. carry a few disposable bags and tissues simples.

Welcome Nancy , Ambies and Marty even if you are not brand new welcome anyway . Nancy my wife and I also like camping but nowadays we do our camping in a trailer with all the comforts . I guess just getting out there is what we enjoy the most . We also have a little dog he goes everywhere with us but he is kinda old and has health problems but hey so are me and my wife ! Lol .