Hi John and welcome.

Its always great to have a new voice. I love that you have decades of experience to add as well. A cheerful and accepting attitude I think serves most of us pretty well. That and the fact that we would be right and truly messed up without our stomas.

It is  wonderful to have a community too. I also am new to the social aspects of the web, but I am really liking to be able to communicate with others of 'our kind' .. whatever THAT is!

Cheers Dona, Who wants to be boring and run of the mill lol

Well none of us are run of the mill anyway!.

I wanted to ask you what changes you have seen in appliances in the last couple of decades ( ten words or less... HA). I am just curious where the major changes have been ( if any). Adhesives, bags, etc etc.  Just curious. Thanks.

P.S> I have only had mine for a bit over two years. ( UC , Illiostomy)

most of the brand names have been about for years. the flange/wafers in my option have seen the most changes being thinner and more flexable to adapt to body shapes. I have used a Convetec 2 piece for a long while which has served me well. But saying that it is very much a case of what suits me may be not right for some one else. I did read some where that at the start the first bags where reusable and pretty must like a hot water bottle made of rubber. other changes would be stoma guards and other aids to help with dressing. Did you say less than 10 or 100 words!!! lol.

Thanks, thats really interesting. I think plastics and adhesives have come a long way and I was just wondering how it had changed the ostomy stuff. These new things must be a lot lighter too. I use Hollister two piece and am always surprise that this works at all! Its a good thing too.

I am happy not to have to wear a hot water bottle there!

Actually had a lady at work notice the outline of my Ostomy from under my shirt. We talked about the old school ostomies as her father had one in the 70s. Apparently they were held onto they body with as belt and sealed by pressure. She said he never adjusted well to it, not leaked, he just hated it. She was glad I was doing so well with mine and that I felt so positive about it.

They still make and sell them, I got a catalogue that included them in the back pages.

Meant to say he could not keep it from leaking.

Welcome to the forums, John! I really appreciate your participation and sharing your experiences.

I say some really old appliances when I went to Vancouver last year. Some of them are downright scary and many are DIY :

Found a neat article on the history of Ostomies. At the bottom they show some of the old appliances. Could you imagine a glass collection container? Or a metal one?

https://www.stomaatje.com/history.html

Many thanks, Oh my goodness some of that equipment looks down right lethal, had you not of said what it was I would have guessed you where in a garage buying car parts. The first bag I was fitted with in hospital was SO BIG it should of had wheels and the room to hold a months worth of poo he he!

Welcome John your experiences  will be interesting to hear  . I am also new  I haven't been on in a couple days so I have to catch up . Bag Master those are scary looking devices  . Felicity I am going to check out your article sounds interesting .

WOW, we are living in good times ostomy-wise! Those rubber (?) hoses look like truncheons!

Thanks.

Felicity,

I just checked out that article. Very interesting. I will read if carefully later. Thanks for posting.

The 'below the knee' bag caught my eye! GASP!

Very interesting article  Felicity

Cheers Robert, just new to the site or an ostomy

That historical article was awesome. Thank goodness we live in much better times than what our ancestors had to deal with. One item that caught my attention was the mention of the Coloplast Plug. I have never heard of this and searched it out. Apparently it exists but I do not know if it is available in the US. I have the type of colostomy that is suited for this appliance and would like to try it out. Does anyone know more about it? For all I know, it may be more trouble than it is worth using. I am just surprised after 4 years I am just finding out about this.

Apparently from what google-fu gave me stoma plugs are available abroad (Australia, UK, Denmark) but not in the US. Too invasive or something like. Also turned up a few reports of the plug part coming away from the adhesive and remaining in the stoma.

Searching my suppliers website gave me this: https://www.edgepark.com/search?q=stoma+plug%3AselectSort%3Acategory%3AL1-3 It seems to be molded in a single piece/ mushroom shaped. as opposed to the other

Hello John . Yes new to site as of couple weeks ago . And pretty new to ostomy  1 year ago thus month . So I still have a lot to learn .