Ostomy Reality (Bites)

The Correspondents, July 29: Dugtong ng Buhay

The Correspondents

“Dugtong ng Buhay”

July 29, 2008

They were able to survive cancer. But in exchange for their life’s extension, they have to live with a bag everyday – literally. Ostomates have undergone surgical operation to remove the cancer-stricken part of their intestines. Now, their intestines are peeking through their bodies, with them having no control of their bowel movement. They have to use colostomy bags to catch the involuntary dispersal of their stool.

They live in fear of being discriminated upon. Although the presence of the colostomy bag under their clothes is hardly noticeable by those they encounter, they are afraid that they would suddenly smell, or would uncontrollably defecate in the middle of a long journey. And worse, a lot of ostomates in the Philippines cannot even afford the colostomy bags: a disposable colostomy bag costs P350 and is good for only three days.

Ruben Gidacan, 42, has his ostomy since 1998. But a tragic string of events befell on him – his wife agreed that they separate because he could no longer support his family financially, he no longer was able to drive for a living. And just very recently, his brother Ariel died from the cancer – something very similar to what he had years ago. The only hope he is holding to now is the possibility that his ostomy is only temporary. He could go for a restorative operation for his condition.

Cita Guanzon, 39, could not afford the colostomy bags. She places household plastic bags inside the colostomy bag to extend the days of use. Whenever stool would come out, she would throw the plastic bag away and replace it with another one. Although cheap, she has very serious rashes around her colostomy. She used to hide her condition at the beginning, but her husband’s unconditional love keeps her intact.

The lives of Ruben and Cita, among other ostomates the episode will feature, are stories of sacrifices and hope.

Take your Tuesday evening with Bernadette Sembrano and The Correspondents team in this episode on ostomates. Watch with an open mind, and an open heart. July 29, after Bandila.

Link taken below.

Thank you to scarredempress

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Addendum:

The sad fate of the ostomates here in the Philippines continue. The television exposure for this documentary worked both ways: both good and bad. Some people were willing to help and at the same time some people were not ready to accept the situation.

I am writing in behalf of Ruben my fellow member of the Ostomy Association of the Philippines. He would share that it was a joy to be featured in TV but the joy was shortlived.

Many people who were his usual customers stopped buying from him upon learning of his condition. A month after since the August airing, "wala na siyang kinikita sa trabaho niya."

Some OAP members are planning to get help from other sources because the media exposure had somehow backfired on us. These are lessons learned on the situation of what ostomates in the Philippines encounter. There is no wonder that many ostomates would hide and never reveal the condition to others even to one of their closest friends.

Dacawi: Humanitarian golds

By Ramon Dacawi
Benchwarmer

UST hours before China unfolded its pageantry and fireworks display in Beijing, Edgar Dacanay, a 36-year-old barber, was fidgety. Edlyn Joy, his two-year-old daughter, was an unsure starter for her next crucial bout. The kid is in a personal combat event of sorts she's too young to comprehend and wage and her family simply can't afford.

Edgar couldn't watch seeded Filipino boxer Harry Tanamor's debacle Tuesday night in the hands of Ghanaian light-flyweight Manyo Plange. He had to be at the corner of her kid. He learned of Tanamor's fate only the following morning, when he and his wife Merlinda were on their way to bring home Edlyn Joy. The kid had just pulled through her fourth bout and will rest for her next fight.

Each victory of the kid - and kids all over - is worth more than an Olympic medal. Her battle is protracted - against a dreaded Goliath who has no regard for disparities in age, weight and height, and too wily, deceptive and painfully brutal. Edgar and Melinda can only be relieved, thankful people came to cheer for their daughter and hope they will be around before the next round.

Edlyn Joy is battling cancer. The big C is at her tailbone, diagnosed as sacrococcygeal tumor. Doctors said it's malignant.

That's why hours before the opening of the World Olympics, people who heard came to see her being admitted for her next chemotherapy session at the Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center.

Juliet, a public school teacher, handed Edgar P5,000. She said it came from her brother Irwin Ilustre. Earlier, a woman delivered P4,000 at the barbershop, saying it was from an anonymous donor. A mother and son added P1,000.

As Edlyn Joy was being wheeled into the chemo room, a man caught up with them. He handed Edgar a wad, and reminding him of the power of prayer. When he has settled the kid on her bed for her six-day chemo confinement, Edgar remembered and counted the man's support. He then called him up, saying it was too generous - P16,000.

The man said he understands how difficult the ordeal was for Edgar and his family. He said he knew because he, too, survived cancer survivor. That's why he came, he said.

That's also why when Edlyn Joy's illness was diagnosed, her uncle Antonio, a farmer in Tubao, La Union sold his cow and had the small family land he was tilling tied to a loan. With no land to farm, he came up to watch over the kid, so her father can cut hair at the United Barbershop behind the Tiongsan Bazaar. So her mother can go back to work and repay her wage loan as a salesgirl at the Maharlika Building.

So Edgar and Merlinda could attend a court hearing last Thursday morning before bringing her home to their rented house in Loakan Proper Barangay. The hearing was about what happened to John Emerson. Edlyn Joy's elder brother, three years ago.

That was when John, then eight, and a classmate of his were walking to their second grade class when a passenger jeepney bumped him. He died two days after the accident in late January 2005.

Edgar said John, his second son, was able to push the other kid, saving him.

That's why Edgar can't give up on Edlyn Joy, whose other brother, Edmher, now 13, is in first year high school. That's why members of members of the Chrysanthemum Lions Club came to her hospital bedside, handing colostomy bags so Edgar won't worry about having to buy them for a while.

SunStar Baguio

Ostomy News Notes (Philippines)

I would like to share with you this months issue of the Ostomy News Notes. Once again, contributions are most welcome.


click below to read in pdf
August Issue 2008

Happy Reading to all.

Ostomy Association of the Phillipines

Dugtong Ng Buhay
The Correspondents

Esteem Synergy Convex Wafer and Bag

Convex Wafer and Bags

What is a Convex Wafer?

The special kind of wafer adjusts to the stoma inasmuch as it does not protrude but it is situated inside the abdomen. There are stomas that are flat and follows the normal contour of the stomach. This will require ordinary stomahesive wafers.

The use of convex wafers are especially helpful for the stoma that is deeply embedded. This will ensure that the wafer will stick and last long as it follows a convex shape.

See figure below.

I have excess convex wafers and I am giving it out for free. My stoma is not embedded but it lies flat. I will be most happy to give it to those who are in need. Please feel free to contact me so I can give you the wafer and bags.
Maraming salamat po.!

Poor housewife finds help for son born without anus

Poor housewife finds help for son born without anus
By Jeannette Andrade
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 22:28:00 06/02/2008

MANILA, Philippines -- After Jennelyn Guansing, a 35-year-old housewife, gave birth to Sam, her youngest son, she and her friends attributed his condition to her inexplicable preference for snails during her pregnancy.

Sam was born on January 26, 2006, with an imperforate anus, a condition that afflicts only one in every 5,000 children. Without an anus, the baby was unable to get rid of the waste in his body the normal way.

"I found out about his condition two days after I gave birth to him with the help of a midwife in our home. I was cleaning him up with a cotton ball soaked in baby oil when I noticed he had no anus," Jennelyn told the Philippine Daily Inquirer, parent company of INQUIRER.net.

Jennelyn is married to Moreto, 43, a farmer in San Jose, Occidental Mindoro. The couple and their children live in a nipa hut, which belongs to the owner of the land Moreto is tilling.

Despite their poverty, Jennelyn said she was determined to let Sam live a normal life, even if it meant seeking help from relatives and strangers in far-off places, including Metro Manila.

She turned to her aunt, Angelita Guansing, and her cousin, Annie Magbanwa, for help. The two women, residents of Batangas City, consulted doctors at the Batangas Regional Hospital, who recommended an immediate operation to save the boy's life.

Sam needed to undergo a colostomy -- a medical procedure where an opening in the abdomen is created through which a small portion of the colon is brought up to the surface of the skin. This new opening, called a stoma, allows stool to pass directly out of the body.

"My husband asked his employer for a loan and he was lucky that he was given one because he has been working there for 10 years," Jennelyn said, explaining that the loan was in the form of several cavans of rice, which they sold.

With the money, Sam immediately underwent a colostomy.

The boy, however, needed to undergo another procedure, an abdominal perineal pull-through operation where the rectum is "pulled down" and sewn into a newly-made anal opening in the perineum. The operation costs at least P100,000.

With the help of Senate President Manuel Villar, who agreed to finance the operation, Sam was operated on at the Philippine General Hospital.

Dr. Esther Sagui, the PGH pediatric surgeon who led the surgery team of four doctors, told the Inquirer that the procedure took three to six hours but remarked that it was good that the operation was done while Sam was still young.

"Children should be given a chance to live normal lives. It was good that the procedure was done as early as possible to allow the child to develop normally," she said.

Sam is expected to go through one last operation -- the closure of the stoma on his abdomen -- a source of relief for his mother.

"I am sure now that he will live and grow up normally like other children," she said.

Ostomy Association in the Phillipines

The first board meeting was held this second quarter of the year that saw the new set of officers laying out plans for the smooth running of the Ostomy association. It was held at the Getz Bros office, Pasig City upon the kind accommodation of the marketing and sales manager Ms. Madeleine Cunanan. The issues that were discussed focused primarily on setting a scheduled agenda every monthly meeting on behalf of the members. This will at least give a semblance of order and participation. Somehow, it has been a common recurrence that monthly meetings had no direct objectives and goals achieved. Likewise, there has been the common observation wherein members just attend the meetings in order to receive the free ostomy supplies that is being distributed. This is sometimes unavoidable and excusable since most of the members are really poor and in need. Nevertheless, it has been argued too that each and every member can play a part in further establishing the betterment of the association

The pressing decisions taken and upheld were the urgency to get support through solicitations that will be able to fund activities and supplement budget expenses of the groups. In line with these, the group intends to thank in a special way the sponsors and benefactors who have been supporting the OAP since the beginning by sending Thank You cards as sign of gratitude. The setting up of a website for the OAP was also approved and should be functional by the end of the year. This will allow the association to be reached online.

There have been lively exchanges among the board officers with a mixture of 3 senior citizens and 2 young adults represented by the two namesakes.