An afternoon appointment

This afternoon I had to go to see the Stoma nurse team at Withington Clinic.
I don't see Stoma nurses regularly as when I find products I like to use then there really isn't any need, for me anyway but its nice to know just a phonecall can get you an appointment.

I have this urostomy thing, or as they are better known, I have 'a bag', its a one for wee not for the other.  I had my bladder removed when I was 4 years old, at Pendlebury Children's Hospital.  My bladder didn't work, a consequence of the spina bifida I was born with.  Back in the day, there was no choice but to have a urostomy so I underwent a long operation and have had a bag ever since, its very second nature to me now and on the whole I don't have a lot of trouble with it.

But just lately its been 'leaking' a lot.  This is where wee seeps under the plaster and out causing the whole fitting to become unstable and needing changing instantly.
It was happening with the slightest movement, a bend forward whilst seated, turning over in bed, anything and after a few incidents too many I made an appointment to see a stoma nurse.

I had to go to a local clinic, at Wythenshawe and saw a lovely and non patronising nurse called Julie (Julie Roberts - which is how I was able to remember her name!).
We discussed the problems I was having, and she asked me to remove my bag so she could see my stoma.  Now I don't even like looking at my stoma, I know Hari's not keen either but having a stranger, albeit it one who's probably seen thousands, look at it, prod & poke it was a bit beyond my embarrassment and squeam levels and I prayed for it all to be over as soon as possible.

As I sat there on the bed with my top hoiked up and my parachute pants hoiked down, bagless and swathed in tissues and padding in case my bud should decide to have a good long wee, Julie kept glancing back at the stoma and then back at the wall which was stacked with boxes of all manner of stoma related products.  While she was pondering what products to choose, she asked me what my stoma was called.  I admitted to not having named it.  I didn't really want to personalise it, it was just 'there', as far as I was concerned, it didn't need a name!
She told me most people she'd encountered had named theirs which seemed very bizarre to me.  When I was in hospital having it done back in 1971, there was a lovely nurse who looked after me and I knew her as Tilly Bud.  She called the little piece of ilium which comes through my tummy and is what I wee through, my bud so she became Tilly Bud so I guess if I was going to name it anything it would be that.  But I'm not that kind of person I don't think.

By the end of the naming conversation she seemed to have chosen a couple of new bags and cut them to size and put one on for me.  It was a snugger fit that I was used to but I would probably change it anyway when I got home.  But it did feel secure so she gave me a box of them to take home.  The best product she gave me though was a can of adhesive remover spray which I'd never seen before.  When my bag leaks a lot, I can change it and then it might leak ten minutes later so again I have to pull that one off to put another on.  As you can imagine all that pulling plaster off the skin can cause the skin to become tender and red and sometimes bleed.  But this can of spray was going to put an end to all that.  You just spray a little off it under the plaster and it's like putting a knife through butter, it just instantly removes the adhesive and the bag comes away from the skin so easily. 
Another new thing she gave me were barrier wipes.  Little wipes to rub round the stoma before putting a clean bag on to put a thin, invisible film between my skin & the plaster in order to protect the skin.

I really ought to see a stoma nurse more regularly as things appear all the time, new products come on to the market.

Thanks Julie for making a bad situation a whole lot better.