Living with Both Colostomy and Urostomy - Seeking Advice and Experiences

Hi. Does anyone have experience living with both a colostomy and a urostomy at the same time?

I have a colostomy and am now faced with deciding between an indwelling catheter (urethral or suprapubic) or a urostomy.

I don't like indwelling catheters, so I am seriously considering a urostomy.

Did anyone have a urostomy when they already had a permanent colostomy or an ileostomy, or the other way around?

1. How was the urostomy surgery compared to the colostomy or ileostomy surgery? Pain, recovery period, complications, etc.

2. How does it feel to have two bags on your abdomen?

3. How challenging is the maintenance of two bags, e.g., emptying, changing bags, showering?

4. Anything else that is useful to know?

Your candid sharing of information regarding your experience would be of great help and will be deeply appreciated. Thanks.

There are a couple of people on here that have two bags. I don't know their names, but hopefully they will see your post.

I got both my bags in the same surgery, in 2008, an ileostomy and a urostomy. It can be a little difficult to manage two at first, but it gets easy. Deal with one bag at a time when changing, always do the urine one first to avoid any cross-contamination. I shower every third day; that's the only time both my bags come off at the same time. At night, I sleep with a urine night drainage bag, but still have to get up to empty my ileostomy bag once or twice a night. I sleep on my sides; with the urine bag draining, I can roll over on one side more than the other. Quite a few times I've had my poo bag blow out in bed; sometimes I don't wake up in time to empty, or I roll over too far. A colostomy is easier to manage than an ileostomy. So my opinion is, it's not a big extra inconvenience having two stomas.