Most people love traveling. After all, why have we been born onto such a huge planet other than to travel it and see the world? Personally, I enjoy traveling but I have never left the country. Granted, I am pretty poor and haven’t really had the opportunity to leave the country yet, but if I could I would like to go to Europe at some point in the near future. All that being said, there is a bit of a difference between traveling for normal people and people traveling with a stoma.
If you are unsure of what a stoma is, it is when someone’s intestines, colon, or some other internal organ is rerouted through their abdomen and then outputs their bodily waste into a bag called an ostomy pouch that is connected to them. I know that this sounds pretty gross, but this is something that we all have to collectively face as human beings and be there for our ostomate brothers and sisters. Anyways, it is true that even people with ostomies like to travel. However, if you are planning on traveling in the near future with the addition of a stoma, then you may need to know a few more tips and tricks before you head out. After all, we all know life is a bit more complicated when you have to wear an ostomy pouch everywhere you go.
The first thing you will want to do before you begin traveling with an ostomy is to calculate how much supplies that you will be needing. People with ostomies know just how crazy it is to have enough stoma supplies on hand at all times. There is actually quite a bit that goes into caring for a stoma and changing an ostomy pouch as well, so usually these people have to lug around quite a bit of gear when going anywhere for an extended period of time. So it might be really helpful to figure out what types of products you will need for your trip and order things in advance.
Obviously you will need the ostomy pouches themselves, but you may need to include various skin barriers, adhesives, stoma plugs, stoma powder, deodorizing products, and other things like that. The biggest tip that I can give you is to pack more than what you think you will need - that way, you won’t find yourself running out of ostomy supplies in the middle of some national forest or something like that. After all, it is a pretty common saying that it is better to be safe than sorry.
Another tip that I have for you is to take care of yourself and your ostomy hygiene while you are travelling. I cannot not tell you how many stories I hear about people with ostomies not taking proper care of their stoma because they are too busy having it or want to take a vacation from worrying about stoma care. This makes me so angry - not taking care of your stoma and your ostomy needs is probably about the dumbest thing that you could do.
Do you want to have to go through another surgery? I’m sure you don’t. That is why it’s important to continue to really clean out your stoma and the area around it, as well as continually apply various stoma products that you need to keep everything working smoothly down in that region.
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