Learn with Comfizz

Whether you're new to ostomy life or whether you've had an ostomy for a few years, several years or more, it's normal to come across things that you may find a little more difficult to navigate. It's also normal to also find some things challenge. Not everyone experiences the same challenges but at the same time, no ostomy is the same from person to person. Everyone experiences ostomy life differently.

As Christmas draws near (where has that year gone?!), for a lot of people, it's not about wanting material things for Christmas. It's about time with loved ones, making memories and for some, it's even wishing for things that money can't buy or even wishing for things that don't exist. On that note, Amy is going to tell you what 5 things she would put on her Christmas list as an ostomate. 

Winter brings about many changes, some welcome, some not so much. I love nothing more than lighting every candle in the house, my twinkly tree on, the dark nights and watching GoggleBox on the telly under a throw with the family. But what does it mean for us ostomates? As we all know, we are all so different in the reason why we got a ticket to the club, and what impact that has on our wider health. For some the arrival of Winter may not change that much, for others it can present the need to adapt and tweak a few different things. 

A stoma is considered to be prolapsed when the bowel protrudes to a larger extent than anticipated. This can vary for the individual, anything from a few centimetres to more than ten. Experiencing a stoma prolapse can be distressing and hard to come to terms with, however, it is usually not said to be serious. An ostomy prolapse must be looked at by a medical professional such as a stoma nurse. A larger bag or larger ostomy bag hole may be needed, for example, to account for the prolapse.

My beautiful boy, you have a long road ahead. You were born with the strength of a warrior and the fight to overcome more than most do in their whole lives within the first few years of life. You need stoma surgery like Mummy did when she was born. The word stoma is the opening made in the tummy to divert stool out of the intestine. It is like a rose bud sitting proudly on top of your skin. It moves sometimes like a wriggly worm and can be a bit naughty and poop when you don’t want it too.

Having ostomy surgery can understandably be a daunting prospect and it's perfectly normal to feel scared & unsure.  Today, we would like to be myth-busters (move aside, Ghostbusters) and take you through some of the below myths to reassure you.

You are sore and perhaps bloated from surgery, not feeling quite like yourself. You may be relying on medication, and testing your food tolerances with your new accessory to see what you can and can’t tolerate. With all this in mind, what seemed as simple as going out to catch up with a friend over coffee can bring up many questions: What toilet facilities are there? Do I need a radar key if I need disabled toilet facilities? Will I need to empty my bag there? (You may not have done this in public yet) What happens if my bag leaks and needs changing? Can I have caffeine?

Now the weather is getting colder, it can be handy to be aware of ways in which the colder weather can affect ostomy life.  See it as your self-efficient hot water bottle, if you like! Providing it isn't a leak and output stays in the bag, see it as your little winter warmer!

This time of year means switching the clothes in your wardrobe around and putting those summer clothes away and bringing the warm clothes and layers out! Especially if you are new to ostomy life, you may be nervous or unsure about dressing for the colder weather. You may be worried that layers might restrict your ostomy, but we are here to tell you that you can layer up with an ostomy without it stopping it from working and in fact, our garments can definitely help you do that. Scroll down this blog post after Ant's video to find out how.

At the tender age of just over 65 I was diagnosed, through routine screening, as having a large abdominal aorta aneurism (AAA) and given a 16% chance of surviving a year if it was not operated on quite quickly. The proposed operation was to be done under private medical insurance provided by my employer’s group medical insurance. After other tests and a pre-operation assessment some handful of weeks later I was taken by my wife to the area teaching hospital (the local private hospital did not have adequate facilities for this kind of medical work) for elective surgery to have the abdominal aorta aneurism stented to relief the pressure on the aorta walls. It had been thought initially that this could be done using...