For now I set up an appt with the stoma nurse to address some things there bags just are not holding up as usual. 

Oh, the vacuume affect is what I call....   "reverse farting!" Lolol... 

Are you also using the barrier rings? 

I change every three days; at that point the barrier ring has deteriorated to the point where I begin to worry about my skin. All in all I am ok with this.

And I know just what you mean about the vacuum effect! Mine does that sometimes for no reason at all that I can figure out - how in the world does this happen? When I see it I open at the top or bottom to get a little air in (I use a two-piece drainable set). And it is a mystery!

On advice from others here, I remeasured my stoma & was upset to learn it was now a down facing capital letter D with kind of  football ends to it. No straight lines. 

On a lighter paper, less weight then the circle patterns in the box, I made a new circle & cut many wedges in it like a pie & then placed it over my stoma and one at a time, using a mirror & tweezers on some, I folded back each little wedge to fit around my stoma.  Once dried, bcuz the stomas fluids had wet the paper, I taped down the bent wedges & then traced out a new pattern on better paper & gave the new pattern a try.  I ALWAYS cycle the plastic from the wafers to be sure each new one fits & I test it against the new cut. My leaks became so much less I was overjoyed! Waking at night, is not an event I was wanting to repeat.  The new pattern works well for me still, but over time there have been small changes & then I just make another pie to check the fit. 

It seems to me Hollister had a plastic one available not too long ago.  But, they have no way that I could see of keeping the paper one on my boxes of pouches & I couldn't see it as being much use to me anyways,vbcuz,I just use the plastic from the wafer  & I reuse that on a good fit. I use a black marker to date the plastic for good fit reasons as well.

You could use the plastic from a milk jug if that'll work for you too.  *One thing you should be aware of is that bcuz your stoma is NOT round, measure it frequently.  Leaks can be a sign a change has been formed.  If you loose even 5 pounds it can affect the fit of your wafer, so as it's relatively new to you measure your fit with each change.  

We all know how precious the skin beneath our wafer is. Its going to be vitally important to care for it as you would a newborn babies bottom! 

Good luck going forward & I hope you enjoy the videos & information Eric has put together on so many important topics.  Don't be a stranger here. If you have any more questions please know that no question is a stupid question no matter how long you've had your stoma... 

Yeah, those paper templates are annoying. I guess they are cheaper to make, so that's what we get. 

The only plastic templates that I've ever come across came directly from manufacturers (I think they give these to nurses), and I was lucky to get my hands on them.

I'm not aware of any suppliers who sell them separately, but that doesn't mean they aren't available. 

One thing you can do in the meantime, especially if the release liner on your wafer is plastic, is to trace the measured hole onto that, and then reuse it. I did that for years, and it works well. 

You can even use any other plastic material that's thin and flexible. Something like thicker sheet protectors/sleeves could work!

Good luck!