Shield HealthCare’s Ostomy Lifestyle Specialist, Laura Cox, attended the annual WOCN Conference (Wound, Ostomy, Continence Nurse) in Philadelphia in June of 2018, and hosted a discussion panel with fellow ostomates. One of her fellow panelists was Eric Polsinelli from Vegan Ostomy. Eric posted a great write-up of his trip and the conference, and we’ve re-posted a portion of it below:
June 2018 – I was invited to speak on a panel discussion at the WOCN Conference and it was amazing!
For those who don’t know, the WOCN Conference is an annual conference held in the United States by the Wound, Ostomy and Continence Nurses Society. This year happened to be the society’s 50th Anniversary, so they’ve been doing this for a very long time!
I was able to attend because the great people at Shield HealthCare had invited me to speak on a panel along with three other ostomates!
Disclosure: Shield HealthCare covered my flight and accommodations for this trip. I also received compensation for my time and participation.
Trip Prep
Not a lot of planning needed to go into this trip. Because I had recently been to both Chicago and Regina, I already had a system in place to make it much easier to pack.
Along with my regular toiletries, I also packed enough ostomy supplies to get me through several weeks if need be. Since my ostomy supplies don’t take up a lot of room, I don’t mind bringing a lot!
Because my flight would be early the next morning, I change my ostomy appliance the night before and put my bag in the horizontal position across my stomach (because I would be wearing my StealthBelt Pro for the entire trip).
And who could forget snacks?! I tend to always bring Clif Bars and Mr. Noodles with me on these trips. Unfortunately, Mr. Noodles weren’t on sale, so I ended up with a Walmart brand of noodles (which, by the way, are terrible compared to Mr. Noodles!).
Read the full recap on Eric’s site.
For the past few months, I've found my stool has been pasty and sticky. Please tell me what to do to prevent ostomy "pancaking" from sticky stool.
