Paintball tournament burst my ostomy bag

Paintball, the professional term being speedball, is a five vs. five sport where you are trying to hit the enemy players with your paint, and it splatter on them. You use what is called a paintball gun or marker for a more friendly term. The field you play on has as assortments of bunkers that come in all different shapes and sizes. They can range anywhere from a tiny cylinder, called a cake, to a giant box that is called a brick. All players start at the starting box with the tip of your barrel touching it. Once the buzzer sounds, it is go time. Players break out from the box and rush as fast as possible to the bunker you play to shoot a lane. Lanes are the visible points from a bunker you can see in front of you. The job is to put paint in a spot and keep it there so the enemy team can not move up. 

Playing in a tournament with an ostomy bag is a bit different. Yes, you are still part of the team and have a job to do, but you must be careful. The paintballs fly through the air at three hundred feet per second, which is equivalent to two hundred and four miles per hour. If a ball hits your ostomy bag, there is a good chance your bag can rupture and leave discharge all over. Looking all over but it is hard to find something that can cover and keep the pouch safe. This will give you more confidence and reassure you that the bag will not burst. Unfortunately, it is hard to find something of the sort that works, so you keep risking it. 

Walking onto the field, the refs check your gun speed and make sure you are not shooting too hot. After that, it’s time to line up on the box and get ready to break out. As the countdown buzzer starts, you count it in your head to get it just right. Ten, nine, eight… the buzzer sounds, and it is go time. You are a back player, so you rush to the tall can right in front of you and begin holding your lane. You hear your teammate right by you give the call that someone is moving up the right side, so you adjust your lane to keep him from progressing. Suddenly you feel pain in your side. Not sure what it was you quickly glance down to see you got hit, right on your bag. The realization sets in that your ostomy bag has just burst. 

As you are walking off the field, you start to feel the fluids drip down and soak into your clothing. This is the worst-case scenario for you. No backup ostomy bag, with a heavy heart, tell your coach what happened and that you need to go back to the hotel for the day. Reluctantly he agrees but not without some words as you were doing the most for the team. Why didn’t you bring an extra bag? 

Paintball is a fast-paced, high adrenaline sport. With an ostomy bag, you are limited to the length you can run and the slides you can do. The restrictions of an ostomy bag put a dampener on your abilities. It is dangerous to play in a paintball tournament but regardless, you still push through and have learned a valuable lesson. Bring an additional pouch with you to tournaments. 

Stoma For a Colostomy

A stoma is an opening in your belly that your surgeon creates to help you get rid of bodily wastes when your rectum is unfit for the job.

You might get a stoma if you have to undergo surgery to remove or bypass a part of your colon. This surgery is known as a colostomy. During this surgery, the surgeon brings a part of your colon out through a cut in the belly. As a result, bowel movements will leave your body through the stoma instead of the anus. You will have to wear an ostomy bag over the stoma to manage waste evacuations.

Your healthcare team will educate you on how to change your ostomy bag and how to take care of your stoma to prevent future complications.

Reasons you may need a stoma

You might need a stoma for a few reasons including a blockage in the bowel, Crohn’s disease, cancer, injury, and diverticulitis.

Sometimes, doctors perform colostomy surgery to give the damaged part of the bowel time to heal. In such cases, the stoma created is usually temporary. It may remain there for a few weeks or months, depending on the severity of your disease.

Once the damaged part of the bowel is recovered, the surgeon will reverse your stoma during another surgical procedure known as stoma reversal. However, you may need to have the stoma for life if a large part of your bowel is removed.

What happens during colostomy surgery?

During surgery, your surgeon will remove the damaged or diseased part of your colon. Then, they will bring the healthy part of the colon out through a cut in the belly to create a stoma. It will reroute the passage of wastes away from the damaged part of the colon.

After the procedure, you will have to stay in the hospital for a few days. While in the hospital, an ostomy nurse will educate you about the ostomy pouch and the process to empty or change it when it’s full. The nursing staff will also teach you some peristomal skin care practices.

Caring for your stoma

You will need to empty or change your ostomy pouch a few times a day. The best practice is to change it when it is one-third to half full to prevent leakages. Remember, a leakage exposes your peristomal skin to contact with the stomal output. This contact can result in skin irritation.

While changing your ostomy pouch, you have to peel off the skin barrier without letting your skin gets damaged. After removing the skin barrier, clean your peristomal skin with warm water and pat it dry.

Possible complications

The most common complication of a stoma is skin irritation, which tends to happen around the stoma. The best way to avoid this complication is to wash and dry your skin.

During the first few days, the stoma will be dark red. It will get lighter over time. However, you have to contact your doctor if the dark red color remains persistent.

Since there are a lot of blood vessels in the stoma, it can bleed even with a gentle rub. This bleeding, however, is quite short-term and should subside within a few minutes.

Park Ranger with an ostomy

As a park ranger, my days generally consist of walking around in nature, making sure that anyone who is here is safe, and not doing anything that is considered not public appropriate. I really enjoy my job as a park ranger. When I was a child, I really loved being outdoors. I did not have many friends growing up because I had an ostomy bag. The other children thought they would catch my disease, and that really hurt my feelings. I learned that nature was a good outlet for me as I can escape the fast paces world and get back to the roots of humanity. 

When I was born, I was born with a defect. That defect is called imperforate anus. This means that when I was born, my anal opening was nowhere to be found. The doctors had to perform a quick colostomy procedure on me as a baby. To this day, I can not imagine the thoughts rushing through my parent’s minds when they were told this. Your newborn baby needs to have surgery; can you imagine that? As I said, I can not even imagine hearing this as I am a parent myself. If the doctor told me that, I think I would have been heartbroken. 

Today I am a park ranger, and I have been for the last five years. I have met a lot of people like me who also enjoy being outdoors as an escape from the fast-paced world. As a park ranger, it is my job to make sure that people are enjoying their time at the park. I also need to make sure that no one is doing anything that is not considered public appropriate. Most of the time, I spend my days either walking or riding an ATV around the park. I prefer the ATV; it’s a lot of fun to drive around. Having an ostomy bag in this field is not restricting by any means. It does not get in the way as some may think. It only limits my ability to lean to the left, but that’s about all. Plus, I don’t need to lean much, so I never really notice it. Having the bag is also a plus when I’m deep in the woods away from a bathroom. 

I love my job because I can be out in nature. I love taking in all the sights and smells. Even though I have been at this park for five years, I still love being here. I can’t get enough of nature and everything it has to offer. There is a special place I enjoy going to that is next to a waterfall. It is really peaceful to sit there listening to the rushing water and chirping birds. I love being out in the nature, and I am so glad to have gotten a job that allows me to do what I love on a daily basis. 

Being a park ranger has been a life-changing experience. I have been able to meet many people who are in the same situation as I am. It is refreshing to know that I am not alone in my journey with an ostomy. Having this job has allowed me to be in nature every day, and as I mentioned, I love the outdoors; I have since I was a young kid. It has helped me escape the negative people in the past and has helped me grow into a better person. 

Ileostomy

There are many reasons a person may need an ileostomy. This procedure is like a colostomy. The ileostomy procedure can be temporary or permanent, creating an opening in the abdomen called a stoma depending on the severity of internal damage based on an accident or disease. A stoma is a pathway from the opening in the stomach to the lower part of the small intestine called the ileum. This helps solid stools pass as well as gas without going through the colon or rectum. The waste is collected and stored in a pouch worn on the outside of the body over the stoma. 

One reason for needing an ileostomy would be because there is a blockage in the large intestine or has been severely damaged. A kind of example of an injury that will require an ileostomy procedure would be if you were to get hit in the stomach by something challenging and very fast like a boulder, as unlikely as it would be. This will without a doubt require an ileostomy as your internal organs would be a wreck. A kind of blockage would be if someone ate something really bad for them and they could not properly digest it, a blockage would form, leading to the need for this procedure.

Another common reason for needing this procedure is if a large part of the large intestine was removed during surgery. This is not uncommon as many people can have digestive issues leading to worse outcomes than just a minor blockage in the intestines, as mentioned before. If this were the case, then that person would see a doctor about their digestive problems. After an evaluation, the doctor would determine if the digestive system problem is severe enough to require a large intestine removal. This removal of the large intestine would also lead to the need for an ileostomy procedure as you are now missing a big part of your large intestine.

A ruptured colon is also another reason for needing an ileostomy procedure. Believe it or not, a ruptured colon happened many years ago during the medieval times. A poor man was invited to dine with the king of his region. The poor man accepted the king’s request for dinner. When he got there, he used the bathroom before seeing the king as it was inappropriate to leave for the bathroom during dinner with a king back then. After dinner was finished, the food was digested and needed to come out. The poor man knew he could not get up as it would possibly lead to death. After a while, the pain set in. Shortly after that, his colon ruptured, and he passes a few weeks later. If ileostomy was around back, then that man could have lived a long and prosperous life, maybe even become something to the king. 

An ileostomy procedure is a life-saving procedure and a life-changing procedure all in one. The need for this procedure can vary in reasons, but in the end, the person is living a better life and not in pain. I know I personally would not want to experience the pain of a ruptured colon or a big hit to my stomach. Ileostomy procedures are a lot like colostomy procedures, and the end result is relatively the same accept the internal connection and location of the stoma and bag. 

Ostomy 2 piece drainable pouch

The new ostomy 2 piece drainable pouch by Hollister seems to be a great and easy type of bag. This bag offers a unique way of draining. With this bag, you are able to leave it on and do all your draining needs. This bad also comes with a unique slow air release that helps to dispel odors, gases, and pressure that are built up in the bag. The 2 piece pouch is also known for its superior comfort. With infused products to aid in comfort, this bag will be the last bag you will want to buy. 

This bag has a new design allowing for it to be drained while it’s still on. The new ‘lock n roll’ micro seal utilizes durable ABS plastic fasteners to tightly lock the bottom opening of the bag. Similarly, the newly designed AF3000 filter also helps reduce and at times eliminate smells from the ostomy bag. This is the filter that dispels odors, gases, and pressure in the bag. This feature is very handy as no one wants to carry around a smelly bag. The filer does need to be changed as it provides a nice smell, like a candle. This function helps so when you are draining the air it does not smell too bad. 

These bags are best used for a colostomy or an ileostomy. A colostomy is when a hole is created through the abdominal wall. This bag will fit snugly and comfortably with little to no irritation. An ileostomy is when the hole is created from the small intestine to the outside of the abdominal wall. Since both ostomies are in the same area there is no reason this bag can not work for both. This bag will be able to hold all your excrement needs. 

The 2 piece drainable pouch offers superior comfort. The adhesive side of the bag is infused with ceramide. Ceramide is a natural component of human skin. This infusion helps with transepidermal water loss that can happen from damaged or eroding skin. The ceramide helps provide soothing feelings and will help prevent rashes or rubbings. This infusion alone makes this bag a stupendous decision to use if you have a colostomy or ileostomy. The ceramide infusion helps keep your skin healthy and hydrated. The sides of the bag are made of a plush micro cotton. Out with the old plastic rubbing against your abdomen. This feature will keep your skin rash-free as you will not have to worry about rough plastic rubbing against you. 

If I had a colostomy or Ileostomy this would be the pouch I would get. This bag offers superior comfort and functionality. The ability to empty it without having to remove it makes it very handy and user-friendly. The infused ceramide sounds like it will help keep your skin healthy and safe while wearing this pouch. The AF3000 filter is also an amazing function to the bag as well. Being able to vent the pouch seems to be a great function. The filter claims to help eliminate any odors and pressure that are in the pouch. I know I would not want to carry a smelly heavy bag around with me all day so I would be very grateful for a function like this. I would recommend this ostomy drain pouch to anyone who has a colostomy or ileostomy.