I wanted to do a follow-up to my original 101: Vesicostomy post.
There are a couple things that have changed since then.
We originally used cloth diaper inserts to place over the vesicostomy stoma (this stoma drains pretty continuously). However, after about a year of using the cloth diapers, we have seen the absorbency has decreased drastically. We know that this is from the creams we use to protect M's skin from breaking down. But because the cloth diapers stopped being as absorbent, the urine was breaking down M's skin even more. I heard about a stripping process you can do with the cloth diapers to take them back to their original state, however, we really don't have the time or energy to put towards doing this.
Thus, we changed to using disposable size 3 diapers to place over the stoma, and her skin has been looking great.
Thus, we changed to using disposable size 3 diapers to place over the stoma, and her skin has been looking great.
When I took the first picture of M's stoma, it was still pretty inflamed, and healing from surgery.
It has been close to a year since the surgery, and this is what the stoma looks like now.
Much, much better!
Much, much better!
In order to keep the skin protected, M's vesicostomy diaper gets changed about every 3 hours or so . She will still get a rash here and there (it's most likely yeast due to all the urine), but it's manageable and doesn't usually last for too long. We apply Nystatin whenever it appears.
I wanted to add that she will still get pretty drenched at times, and on some days it seems like we are changing her outfits every few hours. On the whole, we have a pretty good system, but we do bring extra change of clothes with us everywhere we go.
It's almost been a year, and she has had only one UTI. She used to get them every 4 to 6 weeks.
We are so thankful that there was an option to help M feel better, and become so much stronger. Since she hasn't had to use her energy towards fighting the infections, she's been able to focus on learning to walk ...and chase her brother all around. Along with having her buddy, Brobee, by her side, this girl has been a happy camper.