Things You Need To Know About Ostomy

The key to living an active and healthy life after an ostomy surgery depends upon how well you take care of your ostomy. And that is possible only when you follow instructions by your doctor and ostomy care nurse. A huge prerequisite of this process is to understand what your ostomy care nurse is saying to you. People in the field of medicine often use too many medical terms that feel like beyond a normal person’s understanding. That’s pretty much OK if you are not an ostomate. But if you have an ostomy, you are going to have to learn these terms to fully understand what your nurse or doctor is saying to you.

It is definitely worth mentioning that understanding the ostomy terms along with the main concept of ostomy may very well be the difference between a healthy life and a life which is affected by an ostomy based obsession. The first thing that ostomates and their caregivers need to understand is the fact that ostomy is never meant to make a person handicapped or somehow dependent. On the contrary, it is an important procedure that helps a person with a problem in excretory system to effectively manage this problem.

Ostomy care nurses have huge role to play in this regard. They are the individuals who have the responsibility to do their best to make a difference in the lives of ostomates for good. Helping ostomates understand the ostomy, its possible impact on life and the way to live with ostomy without getting the overall health impacted is an important part of an ostomy care nurse’s job.

Another worth considering fact is the inability of ostomates and their caregivers to describe the problems properly due to their lack of understanding of ostomy terms. Since they do not understand what their doctors or nurses talk about while using some specific medical terms, they are unable to answer the questions accurately. And because doctors and nurses are well aware of the terms, they assume that their patients also have that knowledge, which they don’t really have. While patients should ask their doctors and nurses about the terms, they should also educate themselves by doing a little bit of research.

Know the type of ostomy you have

At the very least, you need to have knowledge about the ostomy you have. There are three major types of ostomy.

• Colostomy: An ostomy that is made in the large intestine. It bypasses a part of the colon
• Ileostomy: An ostomy that is made in the small intestine and it bypasses the entire colon
• Urostomy: This type of ostomy uses a portion of the small intestine to drain the urine out. The bladder is bypassed

Know how to describe your stoma

You can look into the front mirror to see what your stoma looks like. Below are the shapes a stoma may be in.

• Round
• Oval
• Irregular
• Smaller at the top, larger at the bottom
• Larger at the top, smaller at the bottom
• Has one opening
• Has two openings

A stoma can be in any of the following colors:

• Red
• Pink
• Brown (not normal)
• Black (not normal)
• Maroon, Blue/Purple (not normal)

The position and level of the stoma can be described as any of the following:

• Below skin level ( in a skin fold or sunken)
• Flush to skin level/at skin level
• Above skin level

These are just a few things but they should tell you much about your stoma. You can describe these factors to the ostomy care nurse to know whether or not you have any issue.