Lucky for me a forced retirement in 2020 due to Covid. Now just a house husband.

I restore antique cars. I feel lucky to be self employed. I can adjust my work to make more bathroom breaks as needed. I have some very good employees who ran the business in the six months I was away when I was getting sick and needed my colon removed. I have to be careful not to put pressure on my pouch while I'm leaning over a fender or working on an interior of a car, except for those things my life pretty much went back to the way it was before.

I'm a nurse. I work 12 hour shifts in a hospital, in mental health. My job can be very active, I don't always get breaks, and getting enough time to eat and drink enough is challenging.

I have a very small cloth bag with a peri- bottle to rinse the bag, a small bottle of pouch deodorant drops and a package of flushable wipes just in case. I also have an extra wafer, pouch, Eakin ring and disposal bag in case I need to replace the appliance quickly. That all fits in the pouch that the wafer comes in (I pre-trim the wafer to size, so the plastic pouch is opened). The whole thing is 6" x 8" and I carry it in my backpack; I sometimes work in different units in the hospital, so I need to be able to grab and go. 

I have a larger change kit that I keep in a staff washroom relatively near my unit. That has stoma powder, wet and dry flushable wipes, adhesive remover wipes and adhesive wipes. In case I need to change AND have time for a more deluxe version! Lol! I keep them in an empty gloves box in a drawer unit, clearly labeled. 

I work as an Internal Auditor (Accountant), so I pretty much sit 10+ hours a day. 

I work 4 10 hour days a week, so I get a 3 day weekend every week. ?

@bagbob yes self employed would be most preferable for having a Stoma.

@kirsten you are so lucky to be able to keep your things safe without anyone messing with them. I was working with developmentally disabled for 8 years and jealous coworkers and clients that they provoked to help with their sabotage were messing with my bathroom bag and my deodorant drops. Spraying perfume all in my restroom bag which made things oily. Bags falling off etc. then putting perfume into my deodorant drops that I left in the restroom. It was a nightmare. I’m hoping this new profession is much kinder. I just need to figure out how to keep the cleaning supplies from seeping into my gloves and where I can keep my bathroom supplies.

@squeakyandliza that’s awesome!! Congrats!!!

@rick congratulations!!! That certainly makes things easier!

I retired two years ago, and going back part-time after Christmas. I work in an office; luckily, right across the hall are the men’s and women’s bathrooms, and a single gender-neutral bathroom. I use the gender-neutral if it’s clean (the hallway is heavily used), otherwise the handicapped stall in the women’s, which is spacious and pleasantly tucked in the corner.

To keep emptying or changing as stress-free as possible, my supplies are minimal: for emptying trips, a mini-bottle for water, mini-bottle of M-9, and two disposal wipes for if needed, in little ziploc bag. This fits in a pocket or sleeve, or can be discreetly carried in one hand. Supplies for changing, if that should become necessary, are a pouch, plate, and ring folded into the gray plastic disposal bag, zipped into clear little plastic bag. This, too, is discreet and easy to carry, also - I keep it in my purse, which is in a desk drawer. 

I saw a woman who wore a very small backpack instead of carrying a purse. I think the supplies would fit very well in something like that. That might work for you. And she looked sporty and stylish.

I retired 11 years ago; I was a counsellor. I worked for the local school board, but I also maintained a private practice in grief counselling. I never had to deal with an ostomy at work. 

Laurie

Good Morning Chelly

I was a IBEW Electrician for 30 years . I was forced to retire when I first got sick  with Colitis since it was to hard to work and deal with it in the field  . I had my colon removed in 2016 and I was told not to lift over 25 Lbs. As an Electrician we were required to be able to lift 100 Lbs . It's a pretty physical job with alot of lifting and pulling etc. In 2021 my rectum was removed  . Now I take care of the house but I basically have a fairly normal life able to do quite a bit .

Robert

@tigerlily congrats on the retirement!

@llholiday congrats on the retirement! It sounds you had a perfect set up for emptying!

@njewell I like you had my whole colon and rectum removed and then hernia surgery 3,years after. I too am told not to lift over 25 pounds. I recently took on this job of office cleaning. It can get pretty strenuous but I’m home in my own bed at nights now as my last profession was 3rd shift overnight which was hard. 
So I came up with a plan for emptying at this new job. Have my bathroom bag all packed and together in a small back pack and found a place to keep it. The bathrooms I’m finding are perfect for emptying as well. Lots of hand rails to set things and a toilet paper roller that is easy acccess.
congrats in your retirement!!

@chelly So far I haven’t had to do a change at work, but least I have a plan …. ?!

@llholiday oh my gosh I haven’t brainstormed that one yet. If I had to change it would be in a large bathroom with several stalls. I would have to ask the supervisor to lock the door. The building is closed at that time but I’d hate for a coworker to walk in on me. This is something I may have to talk to the supervisor about in case it happens.

@chelly Somewhere a few years ago I read about a woman’s system for what she called a “ninja change” in urgent situations - wish I had saved it. I think she had a plan for quickly assembling everything she needed: her disposal bag opened for her old stuff to be removed and quickly stuffed into the bag and tied, her new stuff assembled and ready to pop on. Again, wish I’d saved that; it was positive and heartening!

If I did that I would expect to have to check and perhaps re-do things once I got back home; in the meantime though I’d get through the day.

I'm getting ready to celebrate my 73rd birthday in December and have been retired since 2017. I was an artist/photographer so I worked at home. I live with a health issue called Hemiplegic Migraine - rare form of migraine that mimics stroke rather than giving one a headache. It is that disease that forced me to find a way to work from home years ago. I got anal cancer in 2019 and the treatment [radiation/chemo] damaged my colon. It wasn't until this year [May] that I had the colostomy. For me the colostomy has actually improved the quality of my life. My radiation-damaged colon had resulted in my being homebound almost all the time. Only way I could get away for a day was practically overdose on Imodium [I exaggerate, but only a little ☹️] So I'm six months now into my new 'normal' and can have 'grand days out!' My husband and I enjoy going to our local national wildlife refuge and photographing birds. There is a botanical gardens on the California coast that we used to go to twice a year that we haven't been able to get back to since my cancer. Now we're planning to visit again next spring. Maybe even a trip to Tennessee to visit younger daughter. All possible due to my colostomy. My Hemiplegic Migraine disease still rears its ugly head from time to time, but then everyone lives with something don't they?

@llholiday yes wished you could find that post. I’d be interested. Since my posting I have found a wheelchair bathroom that is a single bathroom with no other stalls and a sink. Only problem is no table to set supplies on top of but as gross as this sounds in an emergency maybe i could take a garbage can and set sideways on top the toilet and then make sure I carry a disposable bed pad and lay that in top of the garbage can to lay out the supplies. Regardless I’m so glad I found that bathroom as it’s the only one this far like that in the building. I’m working evenings so no workers are there except us cleaners. I mean I guess I’m emergencies we have to do what we get ya do right?