Hi all, I'm not a new ostomate, I've had my ileostomy since 2018 thanks to ulcerative colitis (I perforated). I was doing great with it until recently. I developed a large parastomal hernia a couple of years ago and, as time went on, it began causing quite a bit of discomfort. I saw a surgeon that specializes in parastomal hernias and we decided to go ahead and repair the hernia. Hindsight is 20/20; I wish I never agreed. That surgery resulted in a small bowel obstruction necessitating a second surgery. The surgeon ended up having to take down my existing stoma, resect 8 inches of bowel, and create a new stoma. For some reason, the doctor gave me a loop ileostomy (I had an end ileostomy before). I ended up getting a surgical site infection, an intra-abdominal abscess, and an intra-abdominal hematoma. I spent pretty much the entirety of October in the hospital.

I am currently trying to heal from mucocutaneous separation of my stoma. This separation has made it extremely difficult to get my bags to stay on for any length of time. I have tried convex wafers, hydrocolloid sheets under my wafer, stoma paste, barrier rings, etc. I've had some success with trusting, stoma paste, barrier ring, then applying my wafer, but that usually only lasts a.couple of days. Needless to say, my skin is tore up. Unfortunately, I don't have an ostomy nurse where I'm located. 

Sorry this is so long. I am hoping to be able to connect with other people who have been through something similar.