I WOULD LIKE TO DO SOME SWIMMING AND GOLFING THIS SUMMER
Since a person with an ostomy is, first of all, a person, his or her reason for choosing any kind of physical activity is basically that of anyone else, to feel good, to be healthy and to enjoy the activity.
After recovery from surgery, an ostomy is no hindrance to physical activity. You are free to consider running, jogging, swimming, sailing, skiing, bowling, golf, cycling and tennis, to name a few. There are people with ostomies participating in gymnastics, fencing, football, skydiving, skin diving and hockey. Name the sport and there is no limit Not everyone, though, is meant to be this active but physical activity is encouraged. Even the simplest exercise does wonders for firming the abdominal muscles, boosting one's appetite and keeping the digestive tract in good order. Walking and swimming are among the best activities.
When returning to an activity or first trying a new sport, here are a few suggestions.
Claire Westendorp, RNET, Kingston. ON Chapter.
I do hope all who read this have wintered well and that you are looking forward to the warmer weather.
Now to some business.
Notice is hereby given that the Annual Election of Officers for the Winnipeg Ostomy Association will be held on Wednesday April 21, 1999, in the Auditorium of the St. Boniface General Hospital during the monthly chapter meeting, which begins at 7:30 p.m. All executive positions are open and those elected will assume their positions on September 1, 1999.
Helmut Friesen has agreed to act as chair of the Nominating Committee. Should you wish to volunteer for any Executive Committee position please give Helmut a call either at work, 786-7352 or at home 888-1404. I have indicated to Helmut that I will be standing for reelection as President.
I would ask all of you to seriously consider volunteering. We normally have 9 executive meetings a year along with eight chapter meetings. We need people who make attendance at meetings a priority. It can be very frustrating when, because of other commitments, executive members miss meetings. An executive committee member must make the Winnipeg Ostomy Association a priority in order to best serve their fellow members.
Enough of the soapbox. Somewhere else on this page you will read of a recommendation from the executive pertaining to the National Conference in August. We hope to encourage a good attendance from the W.O.A.
The May Chapter meeting will be in the form of our Annual Wine and Cheese. Forms will be available at both the March and April meetings for those who wish to donate for the Wine and Cheese Party.
See you at the meetings,
Dave
Many ostomates find that controlling odor and/or gas is their greatest challenge. In
addition to pouch deodorizers and air fresheners, you can help to control odor by eating
regularly and by avoiding certain foods if they cause you problems. Gas production is
reduced when you eat three or more times a day. Skipping meals may actually increase
gas production.Everybody reacts to foods differently. You'll have to experiment to see how foods affect you.
Foods that may increase the odor of your stools include:
Foods that may HELP to DECREASE the odor of your stools include:
REMEMBER: There's no need to limit these foods if they don't cause you problems. But if they do, odor and gas can be minimized if you eat the foods listed above in small quantities and chew them well. If you continue to have problems with odor and gas, see your physician, enterostomal therapy nurse or dietitian.
Reprinted from a NUTRITION HANDBOOK FOR OSTOMATES,by Diane Drasnew, RN, MD,ET and Diane Arculus, RD
For relief, straighten your leg and point your toes upward while you gently rub the cramp to help the muscle to relax. For a calf cramp, stand up and put your weight on the cramp, keeps both legs straight and lean forward at the waist. Use a cold pack to relax tense muscles. Use a warm towel or heating pad later if pain or tenderness persists. To prevent cramps, stretch daily. Before bed, stand 2-3 feet from a wall, placing your hands on the wall. Keep your heels on the floor. Lean toward the wall and bend one knee, hold ten seconds, straighten your leg. Repeat with the other knee. Stretch each leg 5 to 10 times.
Drink 6 to 8 cups of water daily. Fluids help your muscles contract and relax. Try not to sleep with your toes pointed (as people tend to do when sleeping on their back or stomach). Sleep on your side, don't tuck your sheets and blankets too tightly as then can bend your toes down.
Your doctor may prescribe a muscle relaxant for frequent leg cramps.
The small and large intestines are as different in function as are the arm and leg. The primary function of the small intestine is to take nutrition from digested foods. The function of the large intestine is to absorb water out of the food residue. Consequently, there is a difference in the discharge from ileostomy, colostomy or rectum.
The discharge from the small intestine, which functions on liquid material and moves contents forward quickly, is liquid and soft.
In the large intestine, the contents are changed from liquid to solid (through the process of absorbing water). The movement is much less rapid, and the discharge is solid or even hard.
Movement of the food mass through the small intestine is never more than a few hours. Movement through the large intestine frequently takes from 48 to 72 hours. Thus, when anything blocks the forward motion of the stream of the small intestine, an immediate chain of events is set up. There is pain, then gripping and cramping. Later if there is no forward motion, a backward motion of fluid occurs, involving vomiting.
The most frequent cause of the onset of this chain of events is blockage at the ileostomy stoma. Usually this is precipitated by undigested food - a bean, pea, peanut, corn, pulpy- type foods or something similar to those.
The best way to handle a blockage is not to allow it to occur in the first place. This is done by chewing foods well. However, if symptoms of blockage occur, notify your doctor and follow his or her advice. As blockages may arise from other causes than undigested food particles, observe these two cautions:
DO NOT take any kind of laxative without your doctor's order. Any laxative may cause additional difficulty.
DO NOT take any medication for pain without your doctor's order. It may mask a symptom that the doctor needs to know about.
HELPFUL HINT: Keep grapefruit juice in the refrigerator. Some symptoms of a blockage can be relieved with a drink of grapefruit juice. It can work wonders sometimes. Editor's note: Grape juice has also been recommended.
Volunteers are people who want to make a difference. Volunteers are people who are already busy. Volunteers are people who not only donate their time, but many times, also the use of their equipment and supplies. Volunteers are people who do not look for rewards or returns. Volunteers are people who have big shoulders, big hearts, and the blessed spirit of serving. Volunteers are people who truly give.
I have a dear friend who has remarked that "serving is a way of loving". He has a sign in his shop that says, "I am here to serve you." He is one of my heroes.
And I might add, I've seen glad volunteers and sometimes mighty mad volunteers, but I don't think I've ever seen a sad volunteer.
This is part 3 of Barbara Skoglund's "Ostomy Myth" series. This series began on the
Internet, in the alt.support.ostomy and alt.support.crohns-colitis newsgroups. Barbara
Skoglund graciously rewrote her newsgroup postings for Inside Out. Thank you Barb!
Further myths will appear in future issues.
Nurse: "How long have you had a colostomy?" Barbara: "I don't have a colostomy. I have an ileostomy." Nurse: - "What's that?"
There are many different types of ostomies and continent ostomies and internal pouches. Yet some people seem to call them all colostomies. Drs., nurses, ostomates themselves seem to lump ostomies together. One type of ostomy isn't inherently any better than another (except the loop - anything is better than a loop) but they are all a bit different. Colostomy, Ileostomy, Loop ileostomy, Urostomy, Continent Ileostomy, Koch pouch, BCIR, Indiana pouch, J pouch, S pouch, W pouch, kangaroo pouch - What are the differences?
(Thanks to UOA and Convatec's Web Sites for some of the more technical definitions.)
There are only two ways you can "tell" if someone has an ostomy: 1. They tell you. 2. You see them in the nude.
Believe it or not you have met many ostomates in your lifetime. You just don't know it because they haven't told you.
I used to think I'd never met any ostomates. The week before my surgery to install my permanent ileostomy I was in a union meeting at work. I was sitting next to the president who was also taking leave during Christmas for surgery. She was having glaucoma surgery and asked me what I was going in for. Although I'd made up my mind to have the surgery, I wasn't going to tell anyone. So I mumbled something about intestinal surgery. She said, "Oh, do you have Crohn's?" I said, "No, colitis." "Oh, are you having an ileostomy?" asked Susan. "Umm. yes." uttered honest Barb. "Rob (her partner) has Crohn's. He's had an ileostomy for years." Oh, my. I'd outted myself for the first time and lo and behold it was to a woman whose partner had an ileostomy. I still wasn't going to tell anyone. Well - I told folks on the internet, but it's a lot easier to tell people via a computer than in person. It was nice that Susan understood, but I sure wasn't going to say anything to anyone else. Then my health insurance company told me that my ostomy supplies were unnecessary convenience items. Mind you if I was a man who needed a penile implant or if I wanted a bedpan they would pay for it. So out I came in full force. I told everyone - my legislators, all of the state employee unions (I'm a state employee,) the newspapers, any and everyone who might be able to put pressure on my insurance company. It worked and after 5 months I won ostomy supply coverage for all State of Minnesota employees - no matter what insurance company they had chosen. (4 of our 6 plans covered supplies - just mine didn't.)
I'm now very OUT about my ileostomy. No, I don't walk up to strangers and say, "Hi, I'm Barbara and I have an ileostomy." But I don't hide it. I mentioned it in my annual holiday letter when I had my surgery. When a co-worker lost her dad to colon cancer I offered my condolences and noted that I understood a bit how difficult it was since I had started developing cancer and had to have my colon removed. "Oh, how can you live without your colon?" I said - "I have an ileostomy." When it's appropriate I discuss it. I'm open to share my experiences with others and share how much better my life is now. I'd speculate that I'm much more "out" than many of my fellow ostomates. I felt forced into that situation when I had to fight my insurance company and I'm also a very self- disclosing person to begin with. Some ostomates only tell intimate family members, others are out like me. Most probably fall somewhere in between.
I'm sure everyone has met an ostomate - they never even knew it. We are everywhere.
What causes infection? Mostly, the reasons are unexplainable. Why do some people get more colds than others do? Infection can be caused by an obstruction, kidney stones, tumours, cysts, or scar tissue. Almost synonymous with obstruction is infection. And then, too often comes stone formation. Once you have stone formation, you can't get rid of the infection. It's kind of a cycle that goes round and round. Obstruction is a cause of kidney damage, not just infection.
Infection can be caused by urine being forced back to the kidneys through the conduit. This could happen if a person fell asleep with the appliance full of urine and accidentally rolled over on the bag, causing urine to be forced back into the stoma through the urinary tract with tremendous pressure. Invariably, the urine in the appliance is contaminated. Germs are not healthy to have in the kidneys.
Patients with the following ostomies were visited in January and February 1999:
Colostomy - 9
Ileal Conduit - 2
Ileostomy - 6
Pelvic Pouch - 0
Urostomy - 0
Total = 17