At nearly 70 years old, Sue Bourne received her first designer bag, courtesy of Logan Hospital.
Her “Coco Chanel” (CC for short) is an ostomy bag, a very different kind of designer accessory, one that she said has changed her life for the better.
Emergency surgery in 2022 led to the former bodybuilder needing a stoma and learning to adjust to life with an ostomy bag.
Sue said while the experience was overwhelming at first, she vividly remembered the moment her perspective changed to a state of acceptance.
“That’s when I grew to love CC and gave her a name,” she said.
From that moment, Sue said she stopped focusing on what she had lost and started embracing what her stoma had given her.
“CC doesn’t hold me back at all,” she said. “In fact, it’s taken away all the stress I used to have around bowel issues and constantly worrying about where the nearest toilet was.”
Sue was quick to acknowledge the role of Logan Hospital’s stomal therapy team in her journey, not just for their clinical support but for their time, reassurance, knowledge, and friendship.
During National Stomal Therapy Week, she returned to share her experience with staff attending Logan Hospital’s Wound Care and Stoma workshop.
Stomal Therapy and Wound Management Clinical Nurse Consultant Leeanne Johnson said hearing from a consumer with lived experience added value to the workshop.
"Listening to Sue's journey helped bring the clinical learning to life and reminded staff of the difference their care can make long after a patient leaves hospital," she said.
Throughout the day-long workshop, nurses from Logan and Redland hospitals and Eight Mile Plains Satellite Health Centre refreshed their knowledge of the Stomal Therapy and Wound Management Service, wound assessment and stoma care before putting their skills into practice at a series of hands-on learning stations.
Leeanne and her team were delighted to share their knowledge with their peers.
"Stomal therapy nurses spend countless hours holding patients' hands, teaching and supporting them to learn to care for their stoma and helping them to navigate through the overwhelming number of products and information available,” she said. "This very specialised area of nursing also encompasses expert wound care and continence knowledge, which often goes hand-in-hand with stoma nursing."
The workshop also recognised Bowel Cancer Awareness Month and the importance of early detection.
"Australians are fortunate to have an excellent bowel cancer screening program, which means many colorectal cancers are detected earlier and more stomas can now be reversed," Leeanne said.