Our meeting for July is…lunch! We’ll meet at the Village Inn in Longmont, 1216 South Hover St, on Thursday, July 5th at noon. Please RSVP to BoCoOstomyGroup@gmail.com.

In the News

Did you get your ostomy due to ulcerative colitis? If so, there’s a new treatment that’s recently been approved by the FDA.  Xeljanz (tofacitinib) is now approved for adults with moderate to severe forms of UC. I was aware that Xeljanz was in Phase 3 trials at the end of 2015 (just before my surgery) and I thought it would have been approved by the end of last year. Expect to see ads for Xeljanz and UC on the TV soon!

The people that the ostomy industry forgot

When I saw this article from the National Institutes of Health I took note to share it with you. Originally published by the British Journal of General Practice in 2012, this insightful article shows how lucky we are to be able to use the supplies we have, and the creativity of ostomates in developing countries. Fashioning appliances from jar lids and plastic bags, the resourcefulness and resilience of these patients is inspiring. Click on the title above to see the article.

Hernias and Ostomies

More and more I’m reading about problems with hernias after getting an ostomy. There are many articles about this, but one I like is from the British Hernia Centre. This straight-forward article describes how hernias are formed, their impact on patients, and suggestions for healthcare professionals. I’m trying to arrange for a physical therapist to come and speak to our group before the end of the year to address this issue.  Do you have any questions about hernias? (For example, is the risk of hernia higher when it’s new, or does your risk go down over time?).  I’m happy to pass your questions along for our speaker so she can address them.

Dementia Stoma Care

The UOAA (at ostomy.org) recently published an article on the challenges for caregivers when an ostomate develops dementia. As the article points out, “According to the Population Reference Bureau, the number of Americans 65 and older will gradually increase from 15% of our population to 24% by 2050”. Here is the link from that article from the DementiaUK website, “Caring for a person with a stoma and dementia“.

It’s Summer…it’s Hot! 

Summer comes with a lot of challenges for those of us that like to spend time outdoors. From sweating, dehydration and swimming, well, anything might go wrong!  Here’s an article by Eric Polsinelli at VeganOstomy that offers suggestions for helping with summertime problems. I also wrote a blog post about my summer heat and adhesive rashes that you can read here. You can also find other suggestions by doing a quick search on Inspire.com.

UOAA National Conference – 2019

It’s still over a year away, but the UOAA is starting to promote the next National Conference to take place in Philadelphia, August 6-10, 2019.  Registrations will begin in January!