Meet Willy (show and tell)

So I've talking about my ileostomy and stoma a bit and I realize that almost all of you out there have never seen an ileostomy and maybe you're not even quite sure what it is. So as today was happy wafer changing day I thought I'd take some pics and you can meet Willy my stoma.

Ok, so what exactly is a stoma?
Well thats the name for the portion of intestine that is brought through the abdominal wall and stitched to the skin. I've got my guts hanging out! You can think of it like a sock. Yes, I know, that sounds crazy.... but its easier to explain. Think of turning a sock half way inside out, then imagine that the portion where it begins to turn inside is the opening of the stoma and the edge is whats attached to the skin. Now you can push more of the sock out and just like that the stoma is supposed to protrude from the skin. Sometimes (usually when I've eating something particularly fibrous) the stoma retracts back inside (kinda freaky - huh!?!) I call it "burrowing" but most of the time he protrudes just like in this picture.


And yes, that is my midline incision you can see to the left of my stoma. Its actually pretty pale I think. I wear an ilestomy belt that pulls the appliance tight over my belly to help prevent leaking and because it feels more secure. The belt is tight though and it causes wierd indentations on my skin, particularly noticable on my scar because that tissue is much thicker than skin. So I'm not deformed - and yes, I am proud of my battle wounds! And my skin is PINK because I'm sensative but its not raw or sore or anything so its really fine.



Towards the lower portion you should be able to see a small opening, thats where stuff comes out. And when it is thick or if I don't chew my food well enough it feels funny coming out. The small intestine has no nerve endings so you can touch the stoma and I will not feel it, but it is pulled through my stomach muscles and so when stuff tries to squeeze through there I feel it. The stoma is a bright red because it is full of blood vessles and therefore it also bleeds easily. It also is always wet because the bowel secretes mucos naturally. I always think of my stoma like a stewed tomato! Of course that does dampen my desire for stewed tomatos....

Well once I get my skin cleaned up and dry I put on a new wafer. The wafer has adhesive on the bag and I cut the hole in the center bigger to fit snugly around my stoma. I place the wafer over the stoma and the bag then clips to the wafer and PRESTO I'm ready to roll.







And thats it.
So, now you know what a stoma is, and what my ilestomy looks like.



You've just earned a 1 CME Credit in Enterstomal Therapy - Congrats! :)