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Night and shower routines??

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Posted 9/23/2015 8:35 AM (GMT -5)
Sorry to be posting so many questions lately, I don't want to hog the board :). But hearing all of your experiences really helps put me at ease!!!

Two questions, first what is your bedtime routine? Do you change to a higher output bag at night? Wakeup to empty? Do you ever have accidents at night?

Second is how your shower? It seems some just let your bag get wet? Then blow dry it? I saw some YouTube videos where people were covering and taping to keep dry? That seems like a pain, I have to do that now with my PICC line, I don't really want to do that every day!!!
Posted 9/23/2015 9:04 AM (GMT -5)
At night, I don't change to a higher output bag (I use a one-piece anyway). I do tend to get up to empty at nighttime though but only once. I don't know exactly what wakes me to empty, I don't know if I stir & touch my stomach without thinking about it, or if I feel it on my stomach as I turn over...but I've never had any accidents, so it's working! I would move a lot in my sleep too and lie on my stomach/side, every way. I seem to wake up on my back, so something must be going on as I'm sleeping! If I eat earlier in the day (like dinner at 4/5), I could get away with not emptying during the night as most of it has come out before bed! But eating later means it comes out during the night so I need to empty.

I seem to be very much in a minority with this, but I change my bag every time I shower, which is every day or two. I shower in the mornings, as it's when my stoma is least active so it's easier. I don't like the feeling of showering with my bag on, and being wet. That's just my personal preference though.
Posted 9/23/2015 10:54 AM (GMT -5)
no routine to speak of, really- I empty before I go to bed, that's it. I usually wake up to pee in the middle of the night, sometimes I empty, sometimes not- if I feel like spending the extra 3-4 minutes in the bathroom, I empty. Usually not.... For showers, I usually let the bag get wet. Sometimes I blow dry it, again- usually not! Every now & then I take off the bag before a shower, shower with just the wafer, then snap on a new bag. I truly can't be bothered with any sort of "routine"- in reality, the bag doesn't affect my day to day life at all, except for making it easier than it was with UC!
Posted 9/23/2015 11:18 AM (GMT -5)
I too, don't change my bag before I go to bed, but I do empty. And sometimes I get up to pee, sometimes I don't. If I do, I usually empty. I've never had a leak or an accident. And I sleep naked (tmi? 😉) so my bag does get jostled around quite a bit.

I shower with my bag on, and just blot it with a towel afterwards. If it's change day, I take everything off and shower without it. I love that!

Ask as many questions as you need to...that's one reason why we're still here!
Posted 9/23/2015 12:02 PM (GMT -5)
I shower with the bag on and I blow dry after. I shower naked when I am going to change the wafer, that's usually 1 - 2x a week. I think I am the lone pouch changer, and honestly, if my supplies weren't covered at 100%, i might change it less often. I just love a new pouch. This morning I changed everything and I put on a mini pouch. Before bed I will swap to a normal size. I don't do this everyday but when it's convenient I do... I change the pouch every other day I imagine regardless. One thing you will notice is that the filters don't work well, especially after you've slept in a pouch. I usually get up in the night to pee. I will feel the pouch and if it feels like it needs to empty, i will empty. mine usually does feel that way because of air in the pouch. The one thing I hate is that i have to turn on the lights in the bathroom to empty so it gets me up.
Posted 9/23/2015 3:07 PM (GMT -5)
Nothing special at bedtime. Just empty. Rarely get up at night. Nothing special to shower. Just put on the little round white sticky cover on my vent/filter. Dry with hair dryer. Less is better.
Posted 9/23/2015 3:22 PM (GMT -5)
Thank you! You guys make it all sound so laid back!!!

Met the surgeon again today and looks like I am not having the colectomy like I originally thought. My GI and surgeon both met with me and discussed my case together and they don't think I am a good surgical candidate right now. I have a sigmoid on Friday and after that they are going to decide if for now I should have a diverting loop iliostomy to rest my bowel and try to get my weight And nutrition to improve.
Posted 9/23/2015 3:54 PM (GMT -5)
That is too bad cupcakes. You will get a lot of relief from the loop regardless. Just to give everything a rest will be good. You will also get a feel for having the pouch. It definitely seems a lot more difficult than it is. When I was reading and watching videos, I felt overwhelmed, when you do it by yourself, it's a piece of cake. The first time I changed by myself was when the home nurse left and I had a leak 10 minutes later... I was forced to do it and I was fine. After that it was never a problem again. I've never had an accident or leak in the night. I've had a few leaks during the day when I used flat, nothing crazy like a UC accident, just a little output slowly went under the wafer, I notice and changed. With convex, I haven't had these things happen. I have a short stoma...
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