Hi. 61year old male.  had low down Bowel tumour removed Feb 24 and perm stoma bag fitted. I change it 1 x a day generally. Pleased to say ive only had 1 leakage in 9 months. Just make sure you clean around it properly and press down gluey edges as much as possible after drying the area properly. If you need any more advise ask away and good luck. Dont worry about it! Some drawbacks of a bag not quite as active and i take a small supply out with me in the car etc at all times but never needed it. Stoma nurses really good and helpful. Coloplast supplier deliver in couple of days usually. All seems to work fine

Hi Sarah, I also had a stoma following surgery a few years ago (I was fortunate that it was able to be reversed after 7 months). Like Garry who has posted above, I never experienced any leakages and always made sure I was well prepared when going out. My stoma was very active early evening and I had a very active social life so was worried it would cause me problems but I soon got used to having it and it didnt interfere with being able to go out and enjoy life. I had the odd bad day where I found it to be a bit of a pain having to sort it but I quickly reminded myself that having the stoma had saved my life. I guess what Im trying to say is that its normal to have a bad day every now and again but you will quickly get used to having it, it just becomes a part of you.

Good luck with the surgery, keep us posted how it all goes x