❄Hi Stella, yup, I failed at the whoop too. Oh well! I can still skip if I have an elastic type shirt on.

If it was deep snow all down hill why not just roll? ☃️⛄☃️ Snowman it!

We got hit with a sticky type snow here too. Temps are to drop to minus double digits in the next few days. I love watching snow  fall. I always have to eat some as long its on my little fence, without bird foot prints and it's not yellow! 

I've sometimes found bending to be an challenge, but it really depends on what I'm wearing. I would imagine snow gear is what made it harder for you.

Hula hoops is an interesting one! I'm almost certain that the neoprene hybrid stealthbelt I've got would allow it, but I honestly don't have a hoop to try with. 😂

Time for a hula hoop support group.  

Stella, you should check - there may be a Guiness Record category for hula hoop over a stoma, and it might be something like 1 or 2 rotations.  I'm in your corner.  You've got this.

I've never been good at either bending over or hula hooping or hula hooping while bending over, so I'm out anyway.   

Really appreciated everyone's input 👍 (better than output, eh?).😂 It certainly gave me some laughs!🤣

so, what are the ostomy limiting factors in troubles with bending?  I'm rather curious, I bend all the time where my knee is tight against my chin and thigh is tight to the abdomen(squatting).  some say the ileostomy intestine in more sensitive? is that true across the board or sporadic?

I see no problems with a colostomy.  but if you are wearing a so-so bag with so-so attaching quality, I see the problem.

the first generation Mio was a closed end bag, then they made it drainable, but being a closed end flange is intended to be removed daily,  it did not have sufficient adhesion for my liking.  , it started failing too soon.  tried it last year, not much improvement in adhesion, plus the added bulk.

if you have physical limitations, bad knees,hernia , bad back, etc you don't need to reply.

Stella, 

I totally get the bending thing. I do okay to the left, but struggle a bit to the right. Probably the area I notice the most is in shaving my legs. My left leg looks great, but my right, not so much. 🤣

@dogtalkerer

I'm just 5 weeks post op, so my input probably doesn't count, but I can still bend down as I used to.  It feels a bit weird in the area of the stoma.  My abdomen is still sensitive at the incision site and the stoma, and I am still sensitive in the backside where things were removed and closed up.  I assume most of that will return to normal.  But I don't think the weird sensation of squashing the stoma will change much.  

glen,you get a free pass for sure.  at 5wks i was still mainly on the couch. didn't get going til 6wks.

but what is sad to see is no encouragement here that you can return to normal movements.  kinda sets a wrong impression I think.  having a stoma may just need one to try a little harder.

i smash my stoma all the time, I just ignore it, it won't break its tough tissue.  but as i said, i have a colostomy, an ileo might be a different story.   

Posted by: @dogtalkerer

but what is sad to see is no encouragement here that you can return to normal movements.  kinda sets a wrong impression I think.  having a stoma may just need one to try a little harder.

Not to speak for Glenn or anyone else's situation, but sometimes you physically can't have a full range of motion after surgery and it can sometimes be related to the stoma placement itself.  This is why patients are encouraged to have their stoma marked by their nurse before having surgery - it reduces the risk of having mobility limitations afterward. 

But what I don't want to see is someone being told that having a full range of motion after surgery is just a matter of trying harder, when in fact, they may truly have a physical limitation due to scaring, stoma placement, stoma type, surgical complication, etc., and putting in more effort won't make it easier. 

Posted by: @dogtalkerer

i smash my stoma all the time, I just ignore it, it won't break its tough tissue.  but as i said, i have a colostomy, an ileo might be a different story.   

I don't recommend that, personally.  My stoma has bled several times after impact, which is why I will use a stoma guard when I'm in a risky situation. With protruded stomas, there's a risk of tearing the skin, bruising, and shearing. Not worth the risk in my opinion. 

That’s very true a lot of factors are involved, we can’t give a one size fits all advice as we don’t know the full extent of the personal circumstances. I have pretty good movement but it’s also too do with what I wear and if the bag is full or empty. 

Posted by: @veganostomy

Not to speak for Glenn or anyone else's situation, but sometimes you physically can't have a full range of motion after surgery and it can sometimes be related to the stoma placement itself.  This is why patients are encouraged to have their stoma marked by their nurse before having surgery - it reduces the risk of having mobility limitations afterward. 

In my case, I went in for what I was told was an “exploratory” surgery and came out with a stoma, so no location planning was done in advance. 😕

I guess I didn't mean for this to become overly serious as I was merely poking fun at myself. I can, in fact, bend over, but when one is bundled to the nines, it does make it harder standing in one foot or more of snow and nowhere near a tree to support myself to put my snowshoe back on. Did I mention that I am 63 years old and that this older body of mine isn't as flexible as it used to be - regardless of all the activity I do? I am not defending myself here, just stating the facts about myself. :-) 

God bless,

Stella