Stoma Bag Covers – What are they?
If you don’t know what a Stoma bag is, let me quickly explain. It is a medical device that is worn by people who have undergone Ostomy surgery to relocate their natural Stoma. Next question….what is a Stoma?
In anatomy a Stoma is any natural opening in the body. For example, a mouth, a nose and an anus are all natural Stoma. But some health conditions can leave a natural Stoma damaged, or cause it to become unreachable for it’s normal function.
For this tutorial the Stoma that has become unreachable is the anus. The location fecal waste exits your body, or as my retired nurse mom calls it BM (bowel movement). No one wants to think about that, let alone talk about it! Unfortunately, some people have to think about it a lot more than others.
There is a surgical procedure called an Ostomy where a surgeon creates a new Stoma and redirects the internal piping to this new opening. Where the new Stoma is placed will depend on the condition of the patient. This new Stoma is where the feces will now exit the body. There are a variety of reasons a doctor may have to perform this procedure. It may be temporary, or it could be permanent.
A Stoma Bag/Pouch is then required to be worn by the patient at all times, except when bathing. This is to completely seal the Stoma area, so any waste can be collected into the ,bag. Unfortunately, the new Stoma does not work exactly the same way as a natural Stoma, so there is no ability to stop or start the waste.
A Stoma Bag Cover goes over the Stoma Bag/Pouch for the comfort of the person wearing it. The cover not only helps the patient feel more comfortable, because the bags can be a bit itchy and scratchy, but they also conceal the bag for more privacy.
There are different types of Stoma bags. The Stoma Bag Cover Tutorial I created is for one of the most commonly used Stoma Bags made by Hollister, the Premiere One-Piece Drainable Ostomy Pouch. There are almost 40 different pouches/bags to choose from, but the bags themselves are all the same size. The 40 choices are based on the size of the Stoma opening on the body, and the color preference of the bag.
This Stoma Bag Cover Tutorial will work for all of the Hollister Ostomy pouches linked above, because it creates a 2″ hole.
If you are making this for one particular person, it’s a good idea to make one Stoma Bag Cover based on this tutorial, have the person wear it a few days, and then tell you how they like it. Based on their feed-back you can alter the pattern to their personal satisfaction. I made a few alterations to my Stoma Bag Cover pattern using this method with my mom. The pattern I created for this tutorial is the final result of several patterns.
Which brings me to why I know as much as I do about Stoma Bag Covers. My mom had rectal cancer when she was in her mid 60’s, she is now 90 years young. The surgery to remove the cancer was a complete success, but it also meant she would have a new Stoma for the rest of her life, and had to say good-bye to the original one. That had to be tough. She took the news as she does everything in life, head on and with no complaints.
As a retired nurse, and a decent sewer, when she found the Stoma bag uncomfortable, itchy and didn’t like how they looked, she got to work creating her own Stoma Bag Cover. This was over 20 years ago. Her best friend was also a nurse, they met in nursing school. They sat down together and created a design that worked great for mom. Here are a few pictures from her sewing basket of the pattern and type of fabrics she used; felts, soft fleece and cotton materials and a soft fuse-able material as backing:
Hmmmmm I wonder where I got my love for DIY? It starts out of necessity, over time it becomes a lifestyle. Mom has never liked waste. That happens when you have 8 children.
Unfortunately, mom lost her eyesight due to Macular Degeneration (a story for another page), so she was no longer able to make her own Stoma Bag Covers. This is where I came into the story 😊
After finding blood on mom’s sewing machine, I knew it was time for me to take over making them for her. After all, she taught me how to sew when I was a kid, so it was time to pay her back. They looked fairly easy to make, and I was right, they are very easy to make.
Mom always thought it would be great to share this pattern. I told her there were already other people on the internet sharing their patterns, but there is always room for one more!
Even though my Stoma Bag Covers don’t look a lot like mom’s, she loves the new design and finds them very comfortable to wear. I hope my step by step tutorial will help you create comfort for yourself and/or others. After you make a few you’ll be on a roll!
Here is a link to my tutorial, I hope it helps:
Best of luck!
Keepsake Crafter