When I first got my stoma, it took a while to adjust but very quickly my routine became quite regular. I was very fortunate the stoma didn’t impact my diet much either, just having to be conscious of the size of what I was eating.

During chemotherapy though that really changed everything. I knew that my output may become a little bit more irregular, but I wasn’t prepared for how drastically it changed and wasn’t prepared on how to manage it.

My chemotherapy infusion would be on a Wednesday and then I had 14 days of tablets – Capox chemotherapy. After about 48 hours of the initial infusion, I would find my output would increase so much. It would turn into a paste in consistency and would be extremely hard to drain from my pouch – it used to make me gag trying to drain it. I therefore preferred to use closed bags but was changing my bag 5, 6 even 7 times a day. This change in output would last about 5 days.

I was offered anti-diarrheal medication but as I’d experienced a blockage earlier on, I was anxious about taking that so opted not to.

What I found really useful, and a friend with a stoma told me about this, was to eat bananas while I was experiencing this looser output. For me bananas really helped to thicken the output up. I’d be very conscious about what I was eating and drinking. I find that drinking a lot of water can loosen my output – in general. So, I would drink little and often so I didn’t become dehydrated. Plus, I also tried to drink drinks with electrolytes in them as I was conscious about how much I was going to be losing through the more regular, looser output.

Another thing I found so helpful was to create little stoma bags with everything I needed for a change. I was finding when my stoma had a movement it happened quickly, and the pouch could be full very fast meaning I’d need to dash to change. After 2 cycles of having to ask my husband to get different things for me, I had a lightbulb moment and began making up these kits which meant I was ready to go when needed. Even if I was exhausted and couldn’t get up (chemotherapy is extremely tiring!) I could even do a quick and mess free change from where I was. I now keep kits in the bathrooms at home but also in the car and my handbag, so I’m never caught out.

What I keep in my stoma kit:

• Already cut bag
• Dry wipes
• Adhesive remover

Amy
@mybowelcancerjourney