Appliance Question - What are we doing wrong?

If you have trouble in the future, you can call your surgeon's office and ask them or go to this website to find an ostomy nurse. http://www.wocn.org/


Along the left, click on the "patient information" link. Then there's an option to "find an ostomy nurse near you" My surgeon's office sent me there when I originally started having problems post-op (their office is 3+ hours away from me). I suggest going with a nurse that is part of a hospital system as he/she likely see more patients. When I made my appointment, I just told them that I had an ileostomy and having problems. That was enough to get me an appointment.

And don't be afraid to seek "professional help" - especially if skin is starting to look different. I developed pyderma and it started out as a little red bump (that's rare, don't worry about that in particular). But if I had gotten it looked at sooner, I might not have had to make five 7+ hour round trips to see people in my surgeon's office. I now have some different little red bumps and now I have a yeast infection. So until you get a little more experienced, don't be afraid to see a WOCN for fit, skin problems, etc. I've probably seen an ostomy nurse once every two weeks for the three months I've had my stoma (granted, I'm an unusual case).

My stoma was also small so I use convex pouches and paste only and haven't yet had a leak (5 months). Never used rings before.

Does the paste not do the "turtlenecking" thing?

It is normal for the seal or even the flange to "turtleneck" over the stoma. Sometimes it will almost completely cover the stoma without any damage. As long as the output from the stoma isn't leaking onto the skin, then no harm is done. One of the advertising points of Convatec moldable flanges is that they do "turtleneck" to cover and protect the stoma. Believe me, if the effluence from a stoma needs to come out--it WILL come out. As long as his bag is filling and the seal holds then you're good to go.