Tag: camping with ostomy

On Heavy Backpacks and Hernia Belts

Published on by ostomyoutdoors18 Comments

It has been a long time since I’ve posted on the OstomyOutdoors.com. Just because I have been quiet doesn’t mean life has been void of adventures. In fact, the reality has been quite the opposite. This has been an incredible year full of many wonderful trips in the wilds. In fact, Doug and I spent the most nights backpacking in the wilderness together this year than we have at any other point in our lives. A total of 25 nights were spent in the backcountry.

The biggest of these trips was a 16-day, 90-mile-long backpack in the Wind River Range of Wyoming in August. What made this trip unique is that it was unsupported; we carried all of our food and fuel with no resupply along the way. This led to us both carrying very heavy loads: our packs on the first day of the trip were over 70 pounds.

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I head out on day one of our 16-day trip with my 70-pound pack. Famous Squaretop Mountain is in the background.
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Only 11 miles to go until camp! I made it, but it was a tough day.

Yes, that is an unusually heavy pack. However, depending on the season, my typical pack weight is still anywhere from 35-55 pounds on mountain trips that are over three days. I am sure all my ultralight backpacking friends are cringing!

Though I have incorporated lightweight gear and packing strategies into my backpacking system, an extreme sensitivity to cold (I am wearing a hat and down jacket in my 68-degree home as I type this) means I must bring a higher-than-average amount of insulating clothing and a very warm down sleeping bag–even in the summer season. I also have Raynaud’s Disease which limits blood flow to my extremities when I am chilled. My fingers and toes become waxy-white and numb and are at an increased risk for cold injury such as frostbite.

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At our Peak Lake campsite, Doug shakes out my 15-degree, 800-fill down sleeping bag. It is a great lightweight bag, but wasn’t warm enough for me on this trip. I had to sleep in every layer I brought along and eventually borrowed Doug’s jacket after several sleepless nights due to being teeth-chatteringly cold. Also, we brought our pyramid shelter which is light but spacious (I dislike being crammed in a tiny tent.) It uses our hiking sticks for a center pole which saves weight. Often we will use the shelter without the inner netting which makes it even lighter. However, on our Wind River Range trip there were too many mosquitoes for that option.
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Our trip in the Wind River Range included many river crossings. The stylish rubbery red shoes I am wearing are Vivobarefoot Ultra 3s. They are lightweight and allow me to safely cross streams without injuring my feet or getting my boots wet (which causes Raynaud’s Disease symptoms in my feet.) They also double as great camp shoes.

Mix the extra weight of these body-warmth necessities with the added ounces of spare ostomy supplies, the bear-proof food storage containers that are increasingly being required on public lands in the west and a few minor luxury items like my sketchbook, and the pounds add up. I am quite sure I am never going to be carrying a 25-pound pack on any trip that is more than an overnighter.

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My sketchbook and small set of watercolors never stays home.
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Our 16-day trip in the Wind River Range involved hiking in black and grizzly bear country so special food storage regulations were in place. The white bags in this photo are called Ursack AllMiteys. They are bear- and rodent-proof and are much lighter to carry than regular plastic bear canisters. Fortunately they were a permitted food storage method in the Wind River Range (they are not yet approved for all public lands.) We brought four Ursacks full of food on our trip plus one additional stuff sack full to hang for the first few nights. It was tough figuring out how much food to bring, but we did well and only went home with a few spare energy bars. We each carried 26 pounds of food.
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My spare ostomy supplies weighed about two pounds. I changed my appliance four times on the trip– once every four days. When it is cold or buggy, I usually change in the tent. Fortunately, my output is fairly thick and things are mess-free if I wrap strips of paper towel around my stoma as I work.
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Here is a close-up photo of my supplies as I work on my change in the tent. Though I only changed four times, I brought enough stuff for eight swaps just to be safe. To keep my supplies as lightweight as possible, I did not bring any closed-end pouches as I sometimes do in case I run into situations where it may be difficult to empty. This meant I was always digging holes (about 70 on the whole trip) including at night and in the rain.

For the most part, I seem to do well as a “pack mule.” For a couple of summers during my late 20s, I worked for the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) instructing 30-day wilderness backpacking courses. We carried monster packs on those trips– something my body seems to have retained the muscle-memory for despite 20 years passing by.  However, one of my biggest concerns when hauling a heavy load– or during any strenuous activity for that matter– is developing a parastomal hernia. So far I have avoided getting one and I would like to keep it that way.

So what do I do to safeguard myself?

First, I made sure to work back into exercise slowly after surgery– especially during the first year post-op. For my early post-surgery backpacking trips, I double-checked my pack weights with my surgeon to make sure it was okay for me to carry various loads. After a while, he said it was fine to listen to my body.

Secondly, I keep my core strong by doing planks and other ab-friendly exercises (once I recovered fully from surgery and got my doctor’s okay, of course!). I also am mindful of not gaining excess weight by eating a healthy diet and exercising regularly. Being overweight can cause pressure against the abdominal wall and increase one’s risk of parastomal hernia.

In addition, Doug lifts my pack up to my back when it is over about 50 pounds. Once the pack is centered on my hips and legs, my core is not stressed at all.

Beyond that, my most important tool is a hernia prevention belt. Though I have heard mixed opinions from surgeons on the degree to which these belts actually prevent hernias, the abdominal muscles around my stoma absolutely feel more supported when I wear it during activities that could be hard on the core. These include backpacking, mountaineering, rock climbing, weight lifting, snowboarding, Zumba, yoga, and coughing/sneezing when I have a cold or the flu! I figure it can’t hurt to stack the odds in my favor by using a belt.

So which belt do I use?

I wanted a belt that provided substantial support for the abdominal wall around my stoma, not just a stretchy band. My WOC nurse recommended the NU-Hope hernia belts so that is the brand I went with. I wear their Flat Panel model in the Cool Comfort Elastic option (shown on page 5 of the Nu-Hope link below.) This belt is designed with prevention in mind and is made of a breathable mesh that works great for activities that work up a sweat. It comes in various widths. I use the 6-inch wide model for most of my activities as I find it the most comfortable. The one exception is for yoga when this size prevents me from bending. Instead, I use the four-inch-wide belt for yoga.

Nu-Hope also makes models with even more support for those who already have a hernia. The belts have a hole for the pouch to extend through that is specific to the size of your flange. If you ever change the wafer size of your appliance, you  will have to get a new belt. Nu-Hope can also make custom belts if the regular sizes don’t work well with your appliance or stoma location.

Nu-Hope has a great online guide for explaining belt sizing.

http://www.nu-hope.com/beltlit.pdf

I also found the Nu-Hope staff to be extremely helpful when I called with questions on sizing before ordering my first belt. Nu-Hope does not sell belts directly. Once you know your  style and size, you order through your main ostomy medical supply company. Also make sure to check your insurance policy as it may cover a portion of your hernia belt.

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Nu-Hope belts come in various widths and colors. Pictured here are the six-inch- and four-inch-wide belts in white and beige in the Flat Panel Cool Comfort Elastic option. Note that the circular portion is sized for your specific flange measurements. Belts come in standard sizes, but Nu-Hope can also make custom ones.
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The Cool Comfort Elastic belt is made out of a breathable mesh and is wonderful for active pursuits.

I only use Nu-Hope Hernia prevention belts, but there are other brands out there. Quite a few manufacturers claim that their products are designed for hernias, but I would suggest checking with your WOC nurse for their brand recommendations. You want to make sure you get a belt that provides firm enough support and they would know which belts patients have had good experiences with.

Even though I love my Nu-Hope Flat Panel belt, I do pair it with a couple of other things to improve its performance.

First, because the width of my waist is smaller than my hips, the belt does tend to ride up to that narrow spot. I remedy this by always wearing my belt under a pair of Comfizz brand High-waist ostomy boxers or briefs. This underwear does an exemplary job of holding the belt in place so it doesn’t shift. In fact, I love these underwear for sports whether or not I am pairing them with my hernia belt. They are also wonderful for concealing your ostomy appliance under form-fitting pants and dresses. Comfizz is a brand out of the UK, but their products are reasonably priced and ship to the USA incredibly quickly. They also have great customer service!

Second, I do get some skin chaffing and soreness from the hernia belt when it is compressed under my backpack hip belt– especially with very heavy loads. I remedy this by sliding some 8″ by 8″ squares of polar fleece in between the hernia belt and my skin. This adds a bit of cushion and prevents friction. Fortunately, the fleece doesn’t make the hernia belt too much warmer to wear, as those areas would be under my thick, non-breathable pack waist belt anyway.

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Pictured are the layers I wear for backpacking when a hip belt can cause extra pressure on the belt and my skin. I wear Comfizz Level-one Boxers over the hernia belt to keep it from riding up. I put a layer of folded fleece between my belt and skin to prevent chafing and soreness.
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Putting on my hernia prevention belt set up before shouldering my heavy pack. All the layers mentioned above can be seen. I also wear a cotton pouch cover to keep the plastic corners of my pouch from chafing my leg. Yes– this is many layers but they are oh-so comfortable!
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This set-up works great for rock climbing too, though I usually don’t need the cushioning fleece pieces without the weight of a heavy pack pressing on my hernia belt.

In the first couple of years after surgery, I used my Nu-Hope hernia prevention belt during all exercise. However, as the years went by and my core got stronger, it felt like overkill for some of my milder activities such as running, cross-country skiing and bicycling. However, I still like some abdominal support when engaging in these sports and found a product I love for them: Comfizz Level-two boxers.  Similar in shape to the regular Comfizz Level-one Boxers, the Level-two have an extra-thick section of stretchy fabric over the abdomen which provides really nice support when I don’t want to wear a full-on hernia belt for less core-intensive exercise. These undergarments are also available as briefs if you prefer that style over boxers.

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On the left are Comfizz Level-one Boxers and on the right are Level-two. You can see the thicker fabric panel on the Level-two Boxers. These undergarments are also available as briefs rather than boxers.

Though there is no way to completely safeguard oneself against a parastomal hernia, these products help me feel much more secure during all my active pursuits. If a hernia or fear of developing one is keeping you from getting out in the wilds, I would encourage you to talk to your WOC nurse and medical team and explore belts and other options that could offer protection.

I am going to end this post with a few more photos from our big trip this summer. Happy hiking!

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Only a mile left to camp! I am tired but happy on day two of our trip. This was one of the hardest with 2,700 feet of elevation gain and a heavy pack.
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The snow levels in the Wind River Range were 200-300 percent of normal. Areas that would normally be snow-free in August were still frozen.
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Doug does a map check on the way to the North Fork of Bull Lake Creek–one of the most remote areas of the Wind River Range. We prefer a traditional map and compass for route finding.
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Doug surveys the landscape from our campsite along the North Fork of Bull Lake Creek beneath Blaurock Pass. This place is breathtaking and is one of my favorite spots in the Winds.
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Testing out my new RockPhone. Too bad the reception wasn’t great at our campsite beneath the Knife Point Glacier. 😉
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The Wind River Range was a prime spot for viewing the total eclipse, but we avoided the crowds by taking in the spectacular event from the base of the remote Knife Point Glacier. We even had our very own two-person eclipse-viewing party–complete with special celebratory trail snacks and a goofy commemorative selfie.
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I ascend the Knife Point Glacier after viewing the total eclipse.
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Is there any place in this range that isn’t spectacular? Here I travel through Indian Basin.
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Doug and I have been to the Wind River Range many times, but had never previously explored the popular Titcomb Basin.
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We are jumping for joy to be in this magnificent Titcomb Basin!
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The peaks of Titcomb Basin, seen from Island Lake, glow in the evening light.
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I stroll through the wildflowers near Clark Lake.
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Doug ascends the pass to the Lozier Lakes. Clark Lake is in the background.
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Doug soaks in the peace of the Porcupine Creek Valley. We saw more grizzly bears (a mom and two cubs) than people during the two days we spent this less-traveled area of the range.
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Doug and I feel the mixed emotions of reaching the end of the trail: happy to have had an amazing trip but sad that the adventure is over. It is always hard to return to civilization after living a life of simplicity in the mountains.

Birds and birthday cake

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I turned 43 years old this month and brought in my next year with an overnight camping trip on the wide-open expanses of the Pawnee National Grassland in northeastern Colorado. Unlike last year when I was too stressed out to even celebrate, this birthday was full of calmness (other than the wind which nearly blew us off the prairie.)

All year, I worked hard to re-prioritize various aspects of my life so that I could stop feeling so overwhelmed. This meant saying no to a lot of projects and requests and sometimes disappointing people. It meant spending less time on activities I enjoyed a little in order to make room for things I loved a lot. It meant that, yes, I would miss out on some opportunities and activities, but the reward would be a life that felt closer to my heart and less stressful. Activities like yoga, art and adequate sleep were back in my weekly routine. Pulling into our campsite, I felt light and free knowing that I had rid my life of many of the distractions that had been weighing me down. How wonderful it felt to have no agenda other than to relax and take in this new place with Doug.

We pitched our tent, set up camp and drove the desolate dirt roads that make up the Pawnee’s  21-mile birding tour. With no agenda, we let curiosity be our guide–stopping our car and getting out to explore whenever we saw something that caught our eye. We watched horned larks and McCown’s longspurs devour huge meaty grasshoppers and a saw a green, algae-filled pond that bubbled with squirming salamander tadpoles in its soon-to-evaporate water. Doug took photos of windmills and the landscape while I stopped to sketch.

Windmill-for-webPawnee-Grasslands-journal-pWhen we returned to the campground, the winds died down and we made madras lentils from scratch on the camp stove, ate birthday cake and watched the abundant bird life singing from the cottonwoods around our site. As the temperatures tanked, we burrowed into our sleeping bags in the tent, but not before gazing into the vast night sky. With little light pollution, the stars were so bright that it was hard to pick out some of the usually prominent constellations.

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I crush some garlic for a tasty meal of homemade madras lentils.
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I watch the bird life while eating birthday cake at the campfire.

The blazing morning sun belied how cold it was when we woke up the next morning, but soon hot drinks were on the stove and we were ready to start the day. After packing up camp, we drove to the popular Pawnee Buttes hiking trail. On the way there, we stopped to scan a prairie dog town along the road for burrowing owls. Much to our amazement, we spotted one in less than a minute! I couldn’t believe how lucky we were to see one of these birds. It was a first sighting for us and a big birthday treat for sure!

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Hooray! Let’s celebrate Heidi’s birthday!!!

Though I will always be a mountain girl, it was wonderful to be visiting the plains for a change. When I was a child, I was captivated with Laura Ingalls Wilder and the Little House on the Prairie books. My family went on many a road to trip to visit the places she lived. It had been a long time since I had been back to exploring a prairie landscape and the wide-open spaces surrounding the Pawnee Buttes Trail were awe-inspiring.

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Little hiker on the prairie.

When we reached the trail’s terminus, Doug spotted a horned lizard at the side of the path. I took out my sketchbook and sat down to record the shape of its head, curves of its tail and spiny body.  Had the creature not run off after ten minutes, I could have drawn it for hours. Here I was taking this little moment to sketch this little lizard, yet the peace I felt was as boundless as the prairie surrounding me. I could not think of one thing that would have made my birthday more special. I was in heaven.

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Enjoying the moment as I sketch a tiny lizard in an immense landscape.

It was time to head back to the city. We bounced down the washboard dirt roads and then finally made it to the smooth pavement of bigger highways. Soon we saw the familiar cityscape of Denver. It was hard to believe we had only traveled 100 miles to get home–the grassland was a different world.

In the days of bucket-lists full of exotic trips, it is easy to think you aren’t living life to the fullest if you aren’t voyaging to far-off locales. It’s not that one shouldn’t dream large, but family needs, lack of money, medical issues– including surgery recovery– and other things can make that safari to Africa or a climb of a Mexican volcano hard to manage.

Instead of feeling bad about what you are unable to do at a certain time, make it a priority to get out on some local excursions. Who’s to say that living fully has to happen in distant lands? I found a treasured moment hiding in six square inches of grass on a vast prairie only two hours from my home. I wonder what other incredible things are to be found right outside my front door?

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“Find pleasure in the simple things,” says the wise lizard.

 

On the Road

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When Doug and I became a couple during college, our very first group purchase was a spatula. We were heading out on a camping trip and realized we would have no way to flip the pancakes we were making for breakfast the next day. We stopped at a grocery store en route to the park and pooled our funds to acquire the best turner that $1.99 could buy.

Our next group purchase was a bit more substantial — a slightly beat-up 1985 Toyota 4×4 truck. The lakes of northern Wisconsin, wilderness of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, and craggy climbing areas outside of Madison were calling us, yet we had no reliable way of getting there. The truck became our key to adventure. Every weekend we would load it up and head out to the wilds. During a couple of college summers we hit the open road of the western United States for months on end — living out of the back of the pickup and stopping at every climbing area we could find along the way. Those weeks of roaming freely and opening the map each day to decide where we wanted to go next provided some of our most beloved memories together.

One of the things I longed to do most after surgery was to go on a climbing road trip again. I wanted to remember what it felt like to climb all day, cook up dinner at camp, talk about the day’s adventures over a crackling campfire, and then get up to do it all again the next day. Last summer, I wasn’t quite strong enough to rock climb. After training and gaining strength over the winter, my body finally felt ready to spend day after day doing climbing routes. In the beginning of September, Doug and I set out on a 17-day adventure that would include a week of climbing at City of Rocks in Idaho and several days of climbing at Smith Rock in Oregon. While in the Northwest, we also planned to spend time with some good friends who lived in Bend, as well as meet up with my parents for some sightseeing.

As we were traveling and climbing, I noticed that quite a few things had changed since our road trip days long ago:

  • There is now something called the internet. In our college days, I carried a small leather address book and actually wrote to my friends on paper while on the road.
  • Cell phones have replaced pay phones. We used to have to to load up our prepaid calling cards and look for a pay phone to let our parents know we were still alive. Now we just searched around Almo, Idaho, until we discovered the cell phone reception sweet spot. (It was pretty good at the northern-most table on the patio of the Rock Stop general store.)
  • Our trip food budget expanded to include things other than rice and ramen noodles. Though we still cooked most of our meals on this vacation, it was nice to have enough funds to enjoy the food and drink at some of Bend, Oregon’s great brewpubs with our friends.
  • We looked at some of the climbs we did at these areas in our early 20s and wondered how we had the nerve to get up them.
  • Our truck has been replaced by a tiny, fuel-efficient Toyota sedan. It is amazing how much camping and climbing gear we squeezed into that little rig. However, we did bottom out on some three-inch-tall rocks on Idaho’s back roads.
  • I now had an ostomy.

It was easy to forget about this last big change because things felt so much like they had in the past before I had gotten sick with UC and before I had surgery. I was just out there having fun and my stoma did not diminish the joy of a road trip one bit. Other than changing or emptying my appliance, or having to drink extra water to prevent myself from getting dehydrated, I hardly thought about my ostomy at all. It proved to be no trouble during long days on the road, while living in camp or while climbing long routes.

We shot a lot of footage on our road trip and will be putting together a video about the adventure soon. Until then, the following photos share some of the great times Doug and I had on the trip.

Climbing Theater of Shadows on Jackson’s Thumb at City of Rocks. This was my very first lead climb after surgery.
Rappelling off of a route at City of Rocks in Idaho.
Our very cool campsite at City of Rocks.
Sketching at camp.
I love donkeys. We encountered this cutie while walking near our friends’ house in Bend, OR.
Showing off a fresh wound after a full day of climbing at Smith Rock, OR.
Enjoying the McMenamins salt-water soaking pool in Bend, OR.
Spending time with my parents at Crater Lake.
Exploring the mile-long Lava River Cave near Bend, OR.
No road trip is complete without at least one stop at a giant roadside sculpture. Doug and I getting silly during a major windstorm at the huge Conestoga wagon near John Day, OR.

A Case of 14er Fever Requires a Lot of Water (feat. new video)

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On a three-day backpacking trip this past weekend, my husband and I finished our fifth and sixth 14ers  (a peak above 14,000 feet) since the beginning of July. Most summers before this, I was lucky if I did one or two. I have definitely caught the 14er fever. Hiking these peaks has provided me with the perfect opportunity to get outdoors and challenge myself physically while still babying my abdominal muscles. Indoors, I do a battery of  physical therapy exercises that safely strengthen my core. In concert, these two activities will prepare me for the more rigorous demands of technical rock climbing in the future.

While hiking these peaks, I have been amazed at how quickly I am progressing and getting my strength back. While I walked the first one at a turtle’s pace, I am now hiking the peaks briskly and with little fatigue. All these successful peak hikes have also made me realize how well I have adapted to my ileostomy. Managing my appliance on the trail using both closed-end and drainable pouches has become second-nature. Moreover, changing my wafer outdoors, which is one of the things I was most fearful of, has proved to be very similar to doing it indoors except that I must pack out the trash (and the views while changing are more spectacular).

However, one aspect of my ileostomy that still baffles me is figuring out how much water to drink. One function of the colon is to absorb water. When it is removed, the small intestine is able to adapt and take on some of this role, but not as well. Because of this, ileostomates must drink more water to avoid dehydration. It has not been unusual for me to drink 8+ quarts of water on some of my all-day hikes. Up to this trip, I have not had any issues with dehydration. However, conditions were different on this excursion. The temperatures while making the strenuous uphill hike to camp were in the 80s which is warm for the elevation we were at. Despite drinking almost 3 quarts of water (some of which included a sport drink mix) and eating plenty of snacks along the way, I got to camp with a headache and bad nausea. Before we proceeded to empty our backpacks and set up our tent, I sat in the shade and drank some more fluids. In about an hour, I felt better. I upped my water intake over the next two days and did not run into the problem again.

Continue reading “A Case of 14er Fever Requires a Lot of Water (feat. new video)” →

Starting to forget my ostomy is there

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After doing many backcountry adventures this season, Doug and I decided a fun weekend of car camping was in order. It was time to have a more luxurious trip complete with a larger tent, a cooler stocked with cold beer and soda, a guitar to make music, and pancakes and eggs for gourmet breakfasts.

Gluten-free pancakes!
No camping trip is complete without a little music

Some good friends from our original home state of Wisconsin were vacationing near Gunnison, CO, so we chose to camp along the nearby Taylor River so we could do some activities together. One of these was a three-hour zip-line adventure that I will write about in a future post. We also enjoyed fly fishing and mountain biking.

Suited up to begin my zip line adventure in Crested Butte, CO
Mountain biking on the Lower Loop Trail in Crested Butte, CO

Despite sweating in my waders for hours, bouncing down the trail on my bike, or wearing a harness when zip-lining, my appliance stayed on just fine. Making s’mores also had its benefits due to the output-thickening-power of marshmallows. I found that it was a wonderful excuse to eat many of these gooey, delectable treats.

Honestly, I hardly thought about my ostomy the entire time. In fact, on one afternoon fly fishing excursion, I forgot to bring along my toilet paper and other supplies in case I needed to go into the woods to empty my pouch. Fortunately, I was able to wait until I got back to camp that evening with no problems. Not the smartest situation, but it did prove to me that I am sometimes starting to forget my ostomy is there!

On the last day of the trip I had to change my appliance. The campsites were fairly close together, and we had a campground host that loved to stop by at random times. Therefore, I decided to head into our small pyramid-style gear tent for the change. It was the perfect spot to spread out my supplies and work, and before long I emerged with a new pouch on my belly, ready for the day’s adventures.

Changing my appliance in the gear tent

So, if you are not ready for a backpacking excursion, at least head out on a car camping trip. It is loads of fun. And as an added bonus, you will have a weekend free of splashback while emptying your ostomy appliance in the wonderfully deep campground pit toilets:)