Ostomy paper
Weruche uzoaru
Lakeview college of nursing
Danville Illinois

Journal
11/7/2010. 
	A nephrostomy is an artificial opening created between the kidney and the skin which allows for the drainage of urine directly from the upper part of the urinary system (Taylor 2009). For this journal I am going to try as much as I can to relate how I wore the nephrostomy bag for 2 days. On the first day I really didn’t have a problem wearing the device as I felt minimal discomfort with it. The first day was spent trying to find a good position to lie in as I felt it pressing against my skin constantly, or almost pulling it off when I touch it without thinking. I also had a good time grossing out my younger siblings as I managed to convince them I had a procedure in school that enables me pee in the bag and that the yellow stuff was actually my urine. Initially they fell for it but eventually realized there was no way I could have had major surgery in a few hours and get back home that same day acting normal. Luckily too I had classes that whole weekend so I didn’t get to go out or socialize as I had to prepare for my exams and finish up the papers I had to turn in that weekend. So that saved me the awkwardness of walking around with my friends and a nephrostomy bag. I did have to go to the grocery store and I made sure I had it tucked properly under my clothing, but I still felt like people were staring at that spot. I am not sure of this though as I might have just been paranoid and it made me understand how self conscious people that have to wear these devices feel as they go about there normal daily living. 
	The second day was a different issue altogether as I had to take a bath with the device. At first it felt fine and was just peeling off a bit around the edges but by noon I was on full itching alert. I managed to rub the edges a bit to sooth the edge but at some point with my shirt hanging over it I just pulled it right off and the relief was out of this world. I am dark skinned and I cloud see a red patch where it was sitting on my skin. I think it irritated my skin a bit too as the mark took a while to fade too. In all I hated having the nephrostomy bag the whole time I had it on, granted I got to gross people out with it but generally it is not something I would like to have to deal with on a regular basis. So basically the experience gave me a new understanding of how it feels for people who have to wear this sometimes for their whole lives. 

References
Taylor., Fundamentals of nursing- The art and science of nursing.5th edition. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins 2009.