Chronic diseases that impact the digestive system or renal system affect millions of people around the planet. For a lot of them, using adapt ostomy supplies or urological supplies can make all the difference in the world. In hospitals around the world, many different types of catheters are used every day to help people in a variety of situations. Metro News wrote up one woman’s story dealing with her stoma bag.andnbsp;
Hattie Gladwell did not plan to have a stoma bag, nor did she ever expect to need adapt ostomy supplies. She had emergency surgery to correct a problem with her colon. Over the course of her life, it had become so diseased that her doctors told her had they waited even 30 minutes, it could have exploded. When she woke up from her surgery, she had the bag on her stomach and it was a done deal. She reports that it was scary for her at first but that, in time, she learned to deal with it and now appreciates it.
Gladwell lives in the United Kingdom, where she reports that hundreds of thousands of others have stoma bags and use adapt ostomy supplies. The people, in that country and around the world, who use these have conditions ranging from ulcerative colitis, Chron’s disease to bowel cancer. All of these problems can have a devastating impact on a person’s life.
Gladwell talks about the different kinds of adapt ostomy supplies. People can have an ileostomy, a colostomy, or a urostomy. These all deal with different parts of the intestine and renal system. Both ileostomies and colostomies are used for problems with the small and large bowel, respectively. A urostomy is used when a person cannot void their urine through their bladder.
Unlike temporary closed system catheters, having any kind of stoma bag is a life-changing experience. People have to completely change the way they use a toilet. There is often a time of adjustment.
Gladwell talks a bit about how her life changed when she was given the stoma bag. She says that before her surgery, she suffered from debilitating and intractable constipation. Days would pass between bowel movements and she had to follow an incredibly strict and unpleasant diet. Laxatives were a part of her daily life. All of this caused her to bleed and she became very anemic and lost a lot of weight. The stoma bag freed her from all of that. The bleeding stopped and she was able to gain weight to become healthy again. As an added bonus, she can now eat whatever she wants.
Since her surgery, Gladwell has read about how life using adapt ostomy supplies is miserable and that bothers her a lot. She feels that while new treatments that can spare people needing surgery should be celebrated, life with her stoma bag is better than her life before it. She notes that if given the choice between death and a stoma bag, most people would choose the latter.
Gladwell also notes how much better she feels not suffering from terrible stomach cramps, dealing with the constant bleeding was more inconvenient than what she has to do now with her bag. She points out that these are no longer used only on older people but many younger people have them as well. She advocates for more education about what life with a stoma bag is really like. There are a lot of people who suffer from a disease or are in an accident that causes them to need both a stoma and adapt ostomy supplies.
Gladwell would like people to stop viewing these life-saving devices as bad things but see the good things they can do to help people lead better and more productive lives. She would like to see more pieces in the press that highlight the benefits to having these devices not more about how awful they are to have and to need. She says that these negative pieces only serve to heighten the fear and embarrassment people feel when they are told they need one.
It is easy to be scared of things people do not understand. Gladwell’s story can inspire many in the same situation.