UOAA Discussion Board

Hi everyone. I am new to the site and need some help. My son is 28 years old and has a severe brain injury. He is 4 years post injury and we have been dealing with a two-part ostomy wafer/bag combination pretty successfully for a long time now. We had some good training initially but have had to consult an ostomy nurse now and then. They are hard to find!

I have two questions: 1) We change our son's wafer every 3-4 days and dispose of the bag as needed (when it is about 1/2 full). When we remove the bag, we dont worry about getting every bit of stool off the wafer before putting a clean bag back on. We figure that a wafer change every 3-4 days is adequate hygene. Is this OK or should we be diligent about getting every last bit of stool cleaned away? Occasionally the stool left behind gets dry and hard but never seems to be a problem - again the wafer gets changed now longer than 4 days out.

2) Can anyone point me to a video of how to clean a two part wafer where not every bit of stool is removed before a clean bag is put back on. We have nursing help that sometimes changes the bag and gets stool everywhere! We find that one or two simple wipes is sufficient, but I think the nurses believe every last bit of stool needs to be removed.

Many thanks
Tom

Hi Tom. Welcome to the boards!
I'll give you my thoughts, and I'm sure others will be along to add suggestions as well.

1. Sounds like you are doing exactly what you need to be doing as far as pouch and flange changes. No, it's not necessary to remove every bit of output off of a flange when changing pouches...it's going to get output on it again anyway. 3-4 days is generally what most ostomates get from a flange. Some last longer, some shorter, it's unique to each individual. What you want to be vigilant about is making sure than any exposed skin gets cleaned, and that output doesn't constantly sit on the skin. On the wafer, no big deal. On the skin, you'll want to remove that during pouch changes.

2. As far as a video addressing what you are wanting to see, if you check Youtube, there are multitudes of videos of folks changing and cleaning appliances. If there is a video that shows what you are looking for, It'd be there.

Is your son mobile at all, able to sit/stand, etc.? When I have output, I like to rinse out my pouch with warm water. That tends to get everything loose and out without too much difficulty. But, if he isn't that process becomes a little trickier, but I'm sure we could brainstorm a way in which to make that work.

Hope that helps some.

David