Sunday 29 April 2018

Ostomy Caretaker

As an ostomy caretaker, I have a lot of responsibilities and patients. My job requires me to either say at a patient’s house or stop by from time to time. Most of the time, if I have to stay at a patient’s home, it is no longer than a month. I am there to help the new ostomy patient get used to their unique situation and with any needs they may have. Ostomy patients are not any different from you or me; they just have a few things they need help adjusting to, and that is what I am there for. 


I like the jobs where I have to stay at the patient’s house. I say this because it just makes my job a bit easier, and it is better for them as well as I am there immediately rather than a drive away. Not to mention I have had the opportunity to stay in some charming homes because of my job. As an ostomy caretaker, I have seen some very odd things. For example, I had one patient who still felt the need to sit on the toilet when they needed to make their bowel movements. I say this is odd because that patient had an ostomy bag and had no need to go and sit on the toilet. Eventually, they told me it was because they did not want to forget what it was like to sit on the toilet for bowel movements. 



Another odd thing about my job is that it is really just a lot of sitting around with the ostomy patient and talking. One patient I had could talk my ear off for days on end. They would love to sit on their back screened-in patio and talk and look at nature. I can’t say I blame them. They had a beautiful backyard pushed up against some woods. We would hear the birds singing in the morning, and deer would frequently visit. My patient loved to feed the deer. They told me that they even named them because of how often they see. My patient looked at them as pets at this point, kind of odd. I mean, who can say they have pet deer? I don’t think many people can. 

I had a patient who loved to sing, and they were pretty good at it. They wanted me to learn how to play guitar so they could form a band. I found it amusing and humored them. I knew I had a guitar sitting around at home, so one day I went to get it and bring it to my patient’s house. As the days went on, I learned some cords and could string them together to make some sort of beat. My patient wanted me to know a specific song so they could sing along, and again I humored them and learned their song. I think this was one of my more enjoyable experiences, not to mention I learned how to play guitar. 



Being an ostomy caretaker has some advantages. I have learned a lot from the people I have helped during my time in this profession. It is an enjoyable job and has provided me with a lot of new information about the world. It is interesting to see how people live their day-to-day lives with an ostomy, but as I said, most of them are just like you and me. They can still do just about whatever they want. 


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