A leaky stoma story

So, for every person with a stoma, a leak is pretty much our worst nightmare. I wanted to share my recent experience with the dreaded leak in an effort to hopefully make you feel a bit better if it ever happens to you.

I had just finished getting ready to go out for the evening, when I saw that the edge of my bag had started to lift ever so slightly. I knew I was at risk of missing my train if I changed my bag and when my output is quite liquid, changes can take even more time.

I whacked my flange extenders on so even if my bag leaked, it should be contained long enough to give me time to get to a loo.

I was sat at the meal with my friends, constantly having my hand hovering over my hip to see how full my bag was. I was up and down to the loo, constantly making sure my bag was empty to try and avoid a leak at all costs.

As the meal went on, the conversation was flowing and my ‘safety trips’ to the toilet got less frequent. Just before dessert, I felt my bag was suddenly full of more liquid than it had been in the last 12 hours and yet I was having such a good time that I didn’t excuse myself from the table.

I continued excitedly chatting away until I felt the whoosh of my completely full pouch giving way!

I grabbed my handbag and hurriedly said “oh no, I need to go!” as my best friend watched me rush through the busy restaurant towards the toilet.

Thankfully I was in a rather nice restaurant that had lovely toilets! There’s nothing worse than having to do a bag change in a toilet cubicle that looks a little too similar the bathroom from Trainspotting.

I’d never been more thankful that I’d worn trousers and thick support underwear as they maintained most of the damage!

Normally when I’m at home and my output is so liquid, I lay flat on my bathroom floor to get a new bag on, in the hope that gravity will stop my stoma from causing chaos. However, even if I was at Buckingham Palace, I wouldn’t be laying down on the bathroom floor and I certainly wasn’t going to do it in a restaurant.

Thankfully I’d packed extra dry wipes, but they were running out quickly. I ended up almost horizontal on the toilet leaning back, looking like I was trying to limbo under the toilet door and after 3 tries I managed to secure a new bag on. Slapped on new flange extenders and off I went.

I was in the toilet longer than most, but with my pre-prepared bag of tricks I was cleaned up and ready to go back to the table and enjoy dessert with my friends, instead of having to go home.

Moral of the story and the best advice I can give: Always have spare supplies!