This video really kicked off the idea of UCVlog.com in the first place. At the time, the only videos demonstrating how to change an ostomy appliance were sterile, professionally made ones from ostomy companies. These videos, I feel, lack any emotion or character behind them. How was I supposed to connect with a faceless and nameless stomach with a stoma? I’m sure all the people in these professional videos have great stories about their ostomies, but I never got to hear them.
So I made my own video. This video, along with the Emptying Ostomy Pouch video have been super popular on this site. This video, and Part 2 have generated lots of comments. Unfortunately, you need a YouTube account to view Part 2, since I show my bare stoma and you need to verify that you are over 18 to view it. Only about a fifth of the people who watched Part 1 ever saw Part 2, so if you don’t have an account now is the time to sign up and finish watching the video!
Many ostomates have mentioned that they change their pouch differently, or that my way is inefficient. Maybe so. I just want to be honest with you, this is how I changed my appliance for 6 months. Though over time, I got much faster, and sometimes I skipped the steps in these videos or didn’t use all the accessories I mention.
And while this video is geared toward ileostomies, much of the procedure is similar for colostomies. Though the shape and placement of your stoma will necessarily change how you do some of this.
If you are facing surgery, know that this is just one way of changing an ostomy appliance. There’s no right or wrong way. With experimentation, and trial and error, you will find a way that works best for you.
Keep fighting,
~Dennis
Question: How do you change your appliance? Do you do anything different? Respond so others can hear your tricks!
This is the first video I made for this site, and if you’ve watched my most recent videos, you can see I’ve changed up the style slightly and (hopefully) have improved the quality. For one, I would never allow that kind of wind to get in my videos again, so I apologize for those sound spikes.
After speaking with so many people this past year, I’ve found that many peoples’ diagnosis stories are very similar, in that it often takes many months or longer to figure out why they are having problems.
Surprising, though, is how many people have symptoms of IBD for a year or two before they even consider going to the doctor and checking it out. Something I cannot urge people more is that if they have any sort of bowel problems, check it out with a doctor!
In my personal life I don’t meet many people with IBD, but occasionally a friend or coworker will tell me about bowel problems they are having. Usually it’s something less serious, but the thing I always tell everybody is to see a doctor if they have any problems or if their symptoms get worse. It might be embarrassing, but it’s better than living with unjustified shame.
Finally, in this video I mention an early diagnosis of primary sclerosing cholangitis, or PSC. This issue is actually almost nonexistent. My liver enzyme levels are all within the normal range, and my last MRI showed the liver scarring decreased in intensity. We still monitor it, but not seriously. For now, this issue turned out to be relatively minor compared to the colitis.
Hello everybody, I’m starting a new feature on this vlog: Saturday Morning Reruns. Basically, I will repost past videos with additional comments about issues I didn’t cover in the video, or clear up any misconceptions that may be in the video.
I’m not doing this simply because I’ve run out of video ideas.
Rather, videos are very hard to change after they are created without making an entirely new video. And some videos I cannot make over, like my ostomy videos. So instead, writing out additional comments with each Rerun video will provide everybody with the same basic video plus new content.
The first video to be rerun is my world-famous Emptying Ostomy Pouch video. This video has gotten far more views than any other video, so it seems fitting to start with this one.
Since posting this video, many people have sent me comments about how they empty their ostomy pouches. In no way does this video demonstrate the only way. Some people empty by kneeling in front of the toilet, some people use a lot less toilet paper than I, some people empty into the sink (that seems a little gross to me), and some people flush or wash out their ostomy bag. If you get an ostomy, you will figure out your own method in time.
This video simply shows my method, though this method changed depending on the thickness of my stool and how lazy I was. In the middle of the night, I probably emptied and cleaned up the pouch in less than 30 seconds. So my method, once I got fast, didn’t take me that long.
At the end of this video I mention about emptying with a colostomy. Really this only works for colostomies that are toward the beginning of the colon. People who have colostomies farther down the pipe often use a method called irrigation. Visit this C3Life.com Ask the Clinician page to read past questions users have submitted about how to irrigate a colostomy.
Many of us have ostomies only temporarily. And many people around the world are in need of supplies. So if you have any extra unused, new, and clean supplies, send them our way!
We are collecting supplies to send to Haiti with a medical team!
Current progress:
1114 bags and flanges
2108 medical supplies
