Safety may be the top hierarchy for how we judge our lives.  It matters the most and it really shows when you find yourself with some kind of injury or even an ostomy.  I like to be so secure in my life that I am not worried about it. But how does this really happen? That is because there is so much confidence in those items.  We never think about it because we feel comfortable with them.  That is the exact feeling that I think anyone with a stoma should have when it comes to their gear.  It should be so good and they should have so much confidence in it that they don’t even think about it.  That is my personal opinion and the opinion of many people and companies out there.  Confidence is key to being happy with your stoma, and I want to talk a bit about that today.

The information helps build confidence and when you go to the hospital it is the first place it starts. Hopefully, you had an amazing ostomy nurse and hospital staff and they gave you great knowledge on the subject.  The learning curve for learning about how to live with your stoma is steep.  But that is a good thing because the curve is steep and then goes down from there.  But I think it’s important to keep learning and to search for the best products for each task.  So learn all you can from them and take all that knowledge and put it to good use.  Ostomy gear can be learned about from a lot of different places so lets get onto the next.

To me my start of confidence really started at the pharmacy which was a great place to be. This was because I got into a conversation with the pharmacist about ostomy gear.  I was terrified and ashamed on the inside, but the pharmacist made me feel comfortable and was there truly to help me.  I was given lots of tips and he took me through his whole section and why he kept ordering the products that he did.  The feedback he had from his customers over the years led him to have a vast assortment of ostomy bags, seals, and sanitary supplies.  I learned a whole lot and his next suggestion was to call major manufacturers and learn about the really important details that mattered to me.

Going right to the source was key.  There are many online that sell ostomy products and they seem larger than life.  I am an outdoor person and certainly like to do active things.  By talking to a few customer service people at these companies I found a vast amount of knowledge.  They have helped people, run races, hike, and climb mountains.  It was a crazy and awesome experience to hear about what other people used and why they made the gear the way they made it for those purposes. It was a great experience. 

Now the internet and social media are in some ways really helpful.  I find that there are a lot of places to go and people to follow that can give cool ideas and ways to deal with their stoma. With any luck you picked up some tips to helping you on your journey.