Meet Squish!
VIDEO IN BLOG!
After posting on Insta and a few groups about a trick I use to seal my bag I was inundated with questions about that and various other points of my bag. So I was excited and a little nervous as I woke my husband to aid me in filming this video. Someone had asked me to do a video to explain the photograph, at first I thought that is a great idea and then my second thought was am I ready to show strangers squish? I had started this out aiming to help others by being a positive image and breaking the stigmas associated with having a stoma while educating those who are interested in knowing more. But when I began I had never thought I would be brave enough to share Squish but in the aid of personal growth and helping others I sucked it up and tada we made this video. It’s not perfect by a long shot but who is, it’s also not viewing for everyone as you will be exposed to my stoma (he’s actually not that bad-looking), so if you’re not yet ready to watch save it for later or if it’s not your thing just skip this post. Before you do though I must say you may be pleasantly surprised if you do watch, it’s not that scary after all.
Key Points in the video:
- Empty your bag before changing if drainable.
- Find a time that your stoma works the least, for most people, this is in the morning as you haven’t eaten all night but this is not always the case.
- Get everything you need prepared and out ready to go.
- Don’t pull at your bag, let the remover spray do its work, it will peel off slowly if you see it slowing then you can add a new spray, no need to hold down the button.
- Use your bag to wipe off any excess stool when removing.
- I use a nappy bin for disposal (if you want more information, click HERE).
- If you use a seal, warm it up in-between your hands to make it more pliable and more likely to adhere to the skin.
- When I don’t have two hands and my husband isn’t within shouting reach, I put one side to my thigh and rub with my hand, sometimes the thing flies off and falls to the floor but shit happens.
- Seal the outside of the base plate (wafer) with body heat.
- I then use the cap from my Brava spray to seal the inner circle of the base plate (wafer).
- This adds pressure around my stoma but not on my stop and helps seal the base plate (wafer).
- You can use anything that fits and is hygienic, get creative.
- Shit happens, you drop things, you forget things, just keep calm and carry on.
- I know how hard this is some days, sending love to you if you’re having one of those days… xx
Few Things I forgot to mention in the video:
- I use a deep convex base plate (wafer)
- Without this, my stoma flattens out and the bag no longer seals correctly leaving me with red irritated skin (potentially bleeding) and potentially leaks, although my skin burning is a dead giveaway that stool is getting under the rim of the base plate (wafer).
- I do alternate between the deep and the shallow base to relieve the skin of the pressure if I think it needs it.
- I use a maxi drainable bag.
- I change by bag every two to three days as my skin plays up if I don’t do it often.
- Find a comfortable place to change, I do it standing up now, in the beginning, I always did it on my bed as I felt comfortable but if I was being totally honest it was probably due to I had no energy to stand.
- I got distracted when I forgot the paper towel and forgot to tell you the other way you can use the spray, if your getting low, you can spray it into the cap, a short burst and then pour that slowly over the base plate (wafer), a short burst creates amazing a lot of liquid.
- If touching your stoma grosses you out, then grab a box of runner unpowdered gloves from the supermarket and wear them, I use them to pick up my dogs poo.
- you can stick the seal onto the base plate (wafer) or your skin directly, its all about preference.
- I stick mine directly on my skin due to the shape of my stoma I find it easier to shape it on my skin than on the base plate (wafer).
Products used in this video:
- Coloplast SenSura Mio, Deep convex ostomy base plate, 2 piece click 50mm/25-30mm. Product No.#16954
- Coloplast SenSura Mio, Click Ostomy Bag, 50mm. Product No#11443
- Welland HyperSeal Washers, 2.5mm Thickness Small. Product No.#XMHWA300
- Welland Medical Adhesive Remover Wipe. Product No.#WAD050 or WAD060
- Coloplast Brava Adhesive Remover Spray. Product No.#12010
- Paper towel
