In this video, Maggie models The Equalizer, an ostomy support product by Stomaplex.com. In full disclosure, Maggie was paid to create this video, and Nadia and I haven’t tried this product ourselves.
The Equalizer seems like a pretty handy product for getting a tight seal on your ostomy flange. However, at $34 it is significantly overpriced: it’s just a short length of clear plastic tubing, after all. You could go to any hardware store and buy a small length of plastic pipe that does the same thing: just look in the plumbing section (check out this short length of plastic pipe at Lowes for $0.61!). Just measure the width of your appliance (the ring, so you know how much space you have around your stoma), stroll through the plumbing section, and basically get a useful appliance tool for pennies.
Here are some tips on helping deal with stress. Mostly intended to assist in dealing with stress when you have inflammatory bowel disease, but these are good tips for anyone. Although this is a serious subject, it became difficult to film this video at times. Many times I use bullet points on topics I want to cover, but it is difficult to think ahead of all the points I want to make. I show my frustration in the end of this video with a couple of bloopers!
“Give your stress wings and let it fly away.” ~Terri Guillemets
Recently I told you how my J-pouch was doing after three years, now for another perspective. In this video, Sara gives her thoughts on living with a J-pouch for three years. She brings up some issues that I haven’t talked about as much in my videos, as she’s had a slightly different experience than me.
If you have any questions for Sara, please visit her YouTube channel. She is not an official contributor to this blog so if you leave questions for her here they won’t be answered.
The video you’ve all been waiting for…the three year J-pouch update video! I don’t really have a lot of new information in this video: this last year was pretty mild. But I guess no concerns is good news in and of itself.
To get a sense of how this year compared with previous years, check out these previous update videos:
“Eating is not merely a material pleasure. Eating well gives a spectacular joy to life and contributes immensely to goodwill and happy companionship. It is of great importance to the morale.” ~Elsa Schiaparelli
The following videos describe how the da Vinci robotic system is used in colorectal surgery: one video discusses surgery for ulcerative colitis, the other for colon cancer.
The da Vinci system has been around for over a decade now, and roughly 1,000 of these units have been sold worldwide. I, however, have never talked to anybody (as far as I know) who has had robot-assisted surgery before, so I can’t speak to how they work in practice. One misconception about this surgery is that the robot does the surgery itself: not true. The robot can’t perform any functions on its own. Rather, the system is a highly advanced extension of the surgeon’s hands.
Proponents of the da Vinci system claim it yields better results, faster recovery time, and smaller incisions. Opponents think that the high cost of the surgery, and the steep learning curve for surgeons, might not make the surgery worth it, especially compared to laparoscopic surgery, which is also an option.
Besides the obvious difference–temporary being for short term, and permanent being forever–this video covers the difference between the type of surgery each of these are, as well as, the reasons why a patient may need temporary ileostomy surgery or permanent ileostomy surgery.
In some cases a patient may undergo temporary ileostomy surgery only to later have to undergo permanent ileostomy surgery–as in my case. Despite having two temporary ileostomies, I now live with a permanent ileostomy. In this video I talk about both.
Well, it’s happened again. In November 2011 I got my fourth case of pouchitis. It wasn’t that serious, more annoying than anything. Watch this video to get the full scope.
If you haven’t heard much about pouchitis before, check out my previous videos to see how this case differs from the previous cases.
In this video Nadia and I discuss possible tests the doctor might perform if you have continuing problems after bowel surgery. Nadia and I have had some of these tests performed ourselves. This video is just for your information: hopefully surgery works out well for you and you don’t have to undergo any series tests again.
Stick around for the end of the video for a rare bit of humor.
