Leaks

I’ve been thinking about Tom Sawyer a lot lately.  No, not the Mark Twain creation.  The Tom Sawyer I have been pondering has on at least two occasions had unfortunate experiences at the hands of Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers resulting in his Urostomy bag springing a leak.

The reason I’ve had Mr. Sawyer on my mind is oddly enough quite simple.  Like Mr. Sawyer I too am a survivor of Bladder Cancer and like Mr. Sawyer I too have had encounters with TSA officers.  Unlike Mr. Sawyer though, I’ve had quite literally hundreds of encounters with TSA officers and none of the encounters have resulted in any leaks.

Mr. Sawyer attributes the unfortunate outcome of his encounters as a lack of sensitivity and procedural training for TSA officers.  On the other hand I attribute the success of my encounters to the appropriate training of TSA officers.  I know they have appropriate training because I am a TSA Supervisor and actively monitor the officer’s training.  A LOT of training.  All year long training.  Constant training.

During that training I have served as the training subject for hundreds of officers.  I can’t begin to count the number of times I have been searched.  Good searches and poor searches.  Gentle and rough.  I’ve patiently stood there and been searched over and over and not once have I experienced what Mr. Sawyer experienced.

I believe it when Mr. Sawyer describes what happened to him but I can’t resist speculating why.  I’ve talked about this with Marvina and we are not without some thoughts.

When I was discharged from the hospital after the surgery to remove my bladder and sporting a brand new and quite painful stoma, I was given a limited supply of Urostomy bags to take with me.  They were two part appliances from ConvaTec.  There was the wafer that adhered to the skin surrounding the stoma and a bag that snapped onto the wafer somewhat like the lid of a Tupperware container snaps on.  I was also provided a supply of paste and adhesive wipes to help with leaks.

The next couple of months were terrible.  I experienced frequent leaks.  It didn’t matter what I was doing leaks just kept erupting.  I was miserable.  Marvina was miserable.  We were both exhausted as many of the leaks happened overnight when we were trying to sleep.

In desperation we contacted my hospital social worker and all but begged for help.  Initially they wouldn’t.  Apparently once discharged you are basically on your own.  But we persisted until they gave in and referred us to a group of Oncology nurses who had formed their own business called Restored Images.  The rest, as they say, is history.

My friends at Restored Images explained that the Urostomy supplies given me by the hospital were meant to be used post-surgery during the patient’s initial recovery.  They were not intended for long term use.  The nurses measured and fitted me with a new bag from Hollister.  It was like night and day.  The bag was comfortable, easy to use and most importantly, didn’t leak like the post-surgery version.

I’m telling you this story not to put in a plug for Hollister.  ConvaTec makes excellent products too.  Instead, I’m leading you to the first speculation that Marvina and I have about Mr. Sawyer.  We wonder if he may be still using the post-surgery supplies.  If that’s true and he’s going through what I went through then he is a very unhappy soul.  If so I hope he is fortunate like me and finds someone near him who can give him the level of care and support Restored Images has given me.

But whatever the case, while the experiences of Mr. Sawyer are unfortunate, it has not been my experience and as I explained above I’ve been subjected to many more searches than he has.  Which leads me towards my next blog entry, a kind of first steps I recommend for new patients.  Stay tuned.