An Overview Of Life After Urostomy Surgery
Urostomy surgery is a procedure to connect ureters to an abdominal opening after moving the diseased bladder. The surgeon uses a small piece of the ileum to create a conduit. One end of this conduit appears on the abdominal skin in the form of a stoma, while the other end connects with the ureters. This way, urine enters this conduit from ureters and leaves the body through the stoma.
Urostomy bag
You are going to have to wear a urostomy bag over the stoma to manage urine evacuations, which will no longer be under your control due to the absence of sphincter muscles in the stoma. The urostomy bag collects urine to allow you to engage in your daily routine until you need to empty it.
Right after urostomy surgery, you may have to stay in the intensive care unit for a short time. You will have drips and tubings attached to your body, but the doctor will remove them later on.
You are going to have to wear a urostomy bag over the stoma to manage urine evacuations, which will no longer be under your control due to the absence of sphincter muscles in the stoma. The urostomy bag collects urine to allow you to engage in your daily routine until you need to empty it.
Right after urostomy surgery, you may have to stay in the intensive care unit for a short time. You will have drips and tubings attached to your body, but the doctor will remove them later on.
The type of stoma bag you will need to wear
You will need to wear a urostomy bag to manage your urostomy. It is generally a transparent bag that allows you to look at your stoma. You will also want to check the extent to which your bag is full, so the transparency of this bag may be necessary in this regard.
After surgery, the surgeon will put thin tubes, also called stents, in the ileal conduit. The purpose of these stents is to prevent the newly formed pathway from getting blocked. These stents will pass out eventually, but if they don’t, your nurse will pull those out gently. These stents pass out once the swelling starts to subside.
Your stoma will be swollen after surgery, but this swelling will decrease over time, and the stoma will settle down to a permanent shape and size.
After surgery, you may experience some constipation, mainly due to the disruption caused by the removal of a piece of the bowel. Your bowel function will be back on its track once you start eating and drinking.
Your stoma will be swollen after surgery, but this swelling will decrease over time, and the stoma will settle down to a permanent shape and size.
After surgery, you may experience some constipation, mainly due to the disruption caused by the removal of a piece of the bowel. Your bowel function will be back on its track once you start eating and drinking.
When does a urostomy start functioning?
A urostomy starts functioning as soon as you have it. You will, however, not be able to hold urine evacuation. You won’t feel when urine passes out of your stoma.
Your stoma may pass out a small amount of urine every few seconds, but the duration and amount may vary. The ideal way to manage your urine evacuations is to empty your ostomy bag regularly. You may want to drain urine out of it way before it becomes full.
Taking care of your stoma
It is significantly necessary to take care of your stoma and the skin around it. Stoma care generally involves using an ostomy pouch that has the right-sized opening. Usually, you will want the hole in your ostomy appliance flange to be 1/8-inch larger than your stoma from all sides. The flange opening of this size will prevent your peristomal skin from coming in contact with urine, which can be quite corrosive for the skin around the stoma.
At this point, it is crucial to make sure that the flange makes a tighter and leak-proof seal with the peristomal skin. Any amount of urine seeping through underneath the flange will not only compromise the seal but also contribute to the development of skin issues that can be quite uncomfortable.
For more details in this regard, you may want to have a discussion with your ostomy care nurse.