A urostomy is a type of operation involving the ileal conduit. It’s the most often done type of operation called a “urinary diversion.”
What happens is that the surgeon will cut a hole in your abdominal wall during the surgery. The medical name for this hole is called a urinary stoma. Next, the surgeon will detach something called ureters from your bladder and then join them to a part of your bowel called the ileum.
This is known as an ileum conduit after the surgery is done for it. Then, one end of this tube is sealed off, and the other is pulled back through the hole that the surgeon made earlier in your abdominal wall. It’s pulled out a bit so it’s partly beyond the wall.
The point of this operation is to make it so that you can take the urine out of your kidneys right down the conduit and out the ileum conduit, which is then hooked up to a bag. Urine will just pour out of the area ino the bag periodically. This procedure is often necessary if something has happened to the area to make normal urination impossible.
Day to Day with a Urostomy
The stoma sticking out where it connects to your stoma bag will tend to get moist and pink, similar to what it’s like on the inside of your mouth. After the operation, it can often swell up a bit. After a month or two, the inflammation should die down a bit, but it might take longer than that, depending. The area doesn’t have any nerves, so you won’t feel anything when you make contact with it. There’s a lot of variation for the body part, but usually, it will be about the same size as a decently sized count.
The ostomy bag you use will be flat and waterproof with an adhesive at the end so it can connect. You’re going to need to change out the bag or pouch about 2 to 3 times every week. The bag will essentially be like a replacement bladder and it will store urine until you empty it. You will often need to do this frequently during the day based on your liquid consumption. You need to get a larger bag at night so that you’re disturbed less while sleeping.
It’s important to take special care of that area and your bags given what it’s doing for you. It helps to make sure that you consult doctors and professionals, and in some cases, you may need their direct help depending on the situation. Due to the fact that you’re externalizing something that is usually internal, it’s going to be especially important to make sure that you’re cleaning the area the way the professionals instruct you to do so, and that you’re constantly draining the pouch and swapping it out entirely during the week.
This is is a critical part of maintaining hygiene now due to your new situation. Things can turn bad quickly if you aren’t vigilant about your bag, in more ways than one. Obviously, for one thing, if you don’t carefully manage your bag, it could lead to embarrassment and messes. But, even worse than that, you could end up with infections and even worse conditions if you aren’t constantly watching the situation and paying attention to it.
Ostomy Basics 