Your ET nurse will help you with this and you will get a home visit from an ET nurse once inflammation has settled. The hospital will send you home with a one-size-fits all supply. I wouldn't pre-order anything.

Sue

As far as supplies go... Nothing needs to be preordered, my ostomy nurse was nice enough to do my first order for me :-) but they'll try different appliances (bags, barrier rings/creams, wafers, etc) on you to see what suits you best... The only advice I would give is maybe check out some YouTube videos on changing the appliances and just do as much research as possible... That's how I got the head jump on my ostomy nurse... She was shocked at how much I knew... After one brief lesson... I was giving her possible suggestions for a better seal of the bag lol good luck on this journey your embarking on... It WILL have its ups and downs so definitely be prepared and this site is an awesome referral tool... I wouldn't of gotten through my surgeries without Jpouch.org. Again, good luck :-)

I did no research in advance... you're going to have to learn one way or another, I see no reason to worry about it before you have to!

The hospital will send you home with enough supplies to last you for at least a couple of weeks. After that a nurse (it was a visiting home nurse for me, sometimes it will be the ostomy nurse at your hospital) will help you make your first order. Some people always do their orders through their nurses, others just do that initial order through the nurse and then have instructions on how to "renew" each month, usually by calling the mail order pharmacy.

Somebody dropped the ball in my case and I had to pay $100 for supplies from a
a local medical supply store until my GP could write an Rx. The supplies from the hospital dont last long when you are just learning and screw up several times.

A couple days before my first surgery I watched a video on youTube and burst into tears. It freaked me out...and I was no better prepared for watching it. Our late friend Rick (Kaboom) was my saving grace...he calmed me down when I was about to go off the edge...miss him.

Make sure you try different kinds and even brands if necessary if the first one doesn't seem to fit you right. It is going to feel weird and it won't hurt to try a different kind. There are some with belts that seem weird at first and I ended up liking that kind the best. The reason I suggest this is whatever kind you pick out you will probably be stuck with after you leave the hospital.

You can also order free samples from the manufacturers (i.e. Convatec, Hollister, Coloplast). Go to their websites to find more information. I was able get through the 1st 1.5 months on nothing but free samples.

Good Luck!!!

Brian

Thanks for the all the good info, everyone. I really appreciate it.