Road trip with an ostomy

Do you remember your first road trip.  Boy I sure do. My family used to drive from the top of the country down to Florida every single year.  We have lots of relatives down there and in the great and hot state of Alabama.  Road trips are really interesting when you are going with family.  The vehicle you travel in can really impact how that trip is enjoyed.  I have gone with a family of five in the smallest ford car ever made. Or so it seemed. I have also ridden down in luxury with a nice minivan.  Sometimes there are dogs and sometimes there are cats that come along.  Now there is an ostomy bag that comes along and I have to worry about my ostomy care along with a family. So there are a few tips I have learned over the years about roading tripping and now road tripping with a stoma. 

It is important to plan ahead for your ostomy care needs.  Planning a road trip is simply more than picking a route to go on.  Well let's face it now we simply pull out our phones and put the address into an app and set off.  No more pulling out an actual map and writing down a real plan.  Or if you are old enough to remember mapquest when you would print out step by step directions.  Oh lord help you if you missed a turn, now you are lost forever! But what I really mean is pan out some extra stop along the way.  Or if you see a rest stop, me more affirmative about taking it instead of waiting for the next one. 

Now part of planning out a successful road trip is making sure you have the supplies you need.  I know what I need for every week as for getting the correct amount of ostomy gear I need.  So make sure you bring a little bit of extras.  When packing a road trip things just go wrong.  I find when things get thrown around in a car or may get in an accident that things get destroyed.  So take some extras and pack the amount needed in your  main pack which usually goes in the back. 

Now also pack some that are easily and readily available.  Just in case something goes wrong or you need some extra supplies. Keep some on hand!  There is nothing worse than not being prepared on a road trip where tempers can flair and emotions run high! Being prepared helps to keep stress levels down and fun levels up!

Staying on Top of your Stoma

So the title is a little bit cheesy but what do I mean when I say, staying on top of your stoma.  No I don’t mean push down on it or do a belly flop in the pool.  What I really mean is that if you just got a stoma and went through ostomy surgery then you need to be alert and on top of the situation.  Get into learning mode and put on your thinking cap. 

Now your body has a new way of doing things and you may have to relearn and replan your average day.  It really just means you have a few extra steps to take care of each day and maybe a few wardrobe changes to make.  Don’t worry it really isn't that different and you can still look stylish. So here are a few things you should look into and learn more about when you start out in what I am calling true ostomy care.

Become a dermatologist! Ok, you really do not need to become a dermatologist, but you do need to learn about taking care of your skin.  My wife is an expert on all things skin care and I don’t even wash my face at night.  So you see I had a lot to learn.  So pay attention to your ostomy nurse and surgeon when they are talking about how to care for your skin.  The skin around your stoma is really important and you don’t want it to get infected, or get a rash.  


You have probably rubbed the skin on your body too much at one time or another and it blistered up and ended up basically being an open wound.  Well now think about touching that open wound every single day and making the healing process take much longer than anticipated. Yikes, not fun!  So don’t worry, you can prevent that from happening.  Just follow instructions, and learn about proper techniques to care for your skin.

Become a friend with YouTube.  Yes there maybe lots of political reasons not to love a censoring platform, but there are lots of amazon videos on people who live and have a stoma.  I suggest starting with fashion videos.  If you are a guy or gal there are hundreds if not thousands of videos of people who are literally experts on how to dress with an ostomy bag.  You may not fit all their styles but there are probably a few that can lead you through similar clothing styles and how to stay fashionable and comfortable in lots of different situations! So take your ostomy care seriously and give these few tips a go