Tips for Traveling with a Urostomy Bag

On my first post, I would like to talk about traveling with the urostomy bag.

1. Stealth Belt is a product that holds your drainage bag around your waist towards the side. This is essential as your bag doesn't hang down over your waist; it's more to the side, which allows you to pull your pants up, tuck a shirt in over that, and make it much easier. It's great to have one when you have sex because it holds the bag completely out of the way. For those of you that have colonoscopies, I believe they make a bag for those as well. Whereas the urostomy bag is thinner, the colostomy bag has a little round dip in the bottom for your colostomy bag to sit, and it too sits above your waist and helps in all ways.
3. Always take two nighttime drainage bags if you travel a lot, especially outside the country. If your nighttime drainage bag malfunctions, then you have a spare to get you through your trip. I can tell you from experience that you will never be able to find one of these wherever you travel.
5. Next is what I call "the kit": one quart-size Ziploc bag, one wax barrier, one skin barrier, two skin prep pads, two pieces of gauze, and two alcohol pads. I personally use the two-piece Hollister kit for my urostomy because that's what the VA provides me.
7. Also, you will need another one-quart Ziploc bag filled with regular drainage bags for extras; these bags get fouled up sometimes before it's time to change the skin barrier.
9. Now the next question: how many kits do you take with you when you go on a trip? We generally don't change our skin barrier and etc. every day because it's just too hard on the skin and frankly, it's just not necessary. So the question is, how many do you take on your trip? I usually take enough so that I could change mine every other day. What has happened time and again is based on heat, weather, and a number of things depends on how many times you change your skin barrier. For example, I would take eight kits for a 15-day trip. Truth be told, I usually come back with three or four. It is better to have extra than not enough.

Thanks for the advice. I just got my urostomy bag three months ago and I travel a lot. I also love the stealth belt. I have two. One holds the bag vertically and the other horizontally, and yes, they are nice to hide the bag during sex, although I haven't recovered that function yet!

Hi, I'm Beth. I have had my urostomy for 2 years now. Traveling with a urostomy can be a crapshoot. I have a fear of not having enough supplies, and always bring more than I need.

Thank you for your post about the stealth belt. I will definitely look into purchasing one.

Have a fabulous day.