Blog - Life Hacks

The new annum has arrived, and with it a slew of new year resolutions designed to make everyone’s life better. It’s a simple enough concept that requires nothing more than discipline to see success. But all too often these resolutions fall to the wayside. How do you make them stick? It all circles back to setting the right ones. For someone living with an ostomy,…

Inner Good’s head office is located in the Lower Mainland of BC. We are surrounded by world class snowboarding, with Whistler Blackcomb in addition to Grouse Mountain and other smaller but no less notable hills and slopes at our doorstep. That means we have first hand experience fielding questions and abating concerns about carrying on with the snowboarding lifestyle after receiving an stoma. While we…

As I shared in a previous post, I used to eat pretty much whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted.  When I was a kid, a teenager, and especially as a young man, Christmas time took this dietary approach to a whole new level.   “Turkey dinner with all the fixings…sure, I’ll have a third helping, mom!”   “Yeah grandma, I have some room for another…

Part 1 of “Ostomy Success Stories” detailed the lives of two Canadian ostomates who have chosen to live exceptional post-surgery lives.  Rob Hill took his love of the outdoors to another level after receiving his ostomy, achieving the ambitious goal of climbing the Seven Summits (including Mount Everest) to raise public awareness of intestinal diseases.  Jessica Grossman had surgery as a young teen, and her…

If you’re recovering from ostomy surgery, you might well wonder if you will ever really live again.   Everyday activities such as climbing stairs may be next to impossible.  And the thought of eventually having to go to work or shop for groceries with an ostomy appliance attached might be a depressing prospect.   Or perhaps you had your surgery years ago now, and while climbing…

We weren’t kidding when we wrote our mission statement to facilitate an extraordinary life for those living with an ostomy. So far, we’ve provided tips on surfing with ostomy, martial arts with a stoma, delivered a passport to globetrotting, and put together a comprehensive guide to ostomate sex. What more could you want? Well, given that we serve one of the most outdoorsy populations in…

When I was a child, my parents were always encouraging me to share with my sister, and now that I’m a parent, I’m constantly encouraging my own kids to find ways to be generous to one another. One thing I never expect them to share, however, is their body odors…but as young boys, they sometimes do that anyway!   After almost a decade of living…

There are very few sports or activities that define someone like surfing. It’s an exclusive tribe, albeit a big one, with millions of people paddling out everyday. It can bond you to another when you cross paths, be it out in the water or in the corporate boardroom when it comes up in casual conversation. If you count yourself amongst this lot, you know that…

We recently posted a guide to having sex after receiving (or living with) an ostomy. The next logical concern for many in their fertile years is in regards to the ability to have children after receiving a stoma. Inner Good doesn’t beat around the bush when it comes to the big questions. Thus, to ease your concerns, we can state that a successful stoma operation…

In my last post, I focused on the value of attending ostomy care conferences as a means to personally connect with companies, professionals, and fellow ostomates. Doing so can have a direct, immediate and powerful positive impact on your quality of life. When attending such a local conference myself, I was struck by the thought that all of the people there were actively seeking to…

In my last post, I shared a list of items that have become essential, must-haves when it comes to my own ostomy care supplies, regardless of whether I’m doing daily life at home or traveling to another location on business or vacation. Today, I want to encourage you to improve your knowledge of ostomy issues and expand your network of people who can both support…

In your quest to live life with your ostomy more fully, you are probably wondering which ostomy supplies to use.  Like most products these days, there is no shortage of choices and brands when it comes to ostomy bags and related ostomy care equipment.  In today’s post, I’m going to share some items that I’ve found to be “must haves” over the years.   A…

I walked as carefully yet as quickly as possible down the aisle of the darkened airplane, trying not to make any noise that would awaken the sleeping passengers.  Those who weren’t quite asleep must have thought they were dreaming, as I stumbled past, my hands clutching my pants somewhere between my knees and my upper thighs.  At that moment, I wished I was dreaming, but…

“This one leaked again last night too.  Am I going to have to sleep with a plastic sheet for the rest of my life?!?” I sat on a chair across from my Enterostomal Therapy Nurse (called “ET nurse” from here on), slumped forward as I relayed the details of another night-time ostomy bag failure.  I was feeling frustrated and dejected.   It had been several…

New ostomy patients have a lot of questions when it comes to their lifestyle, after the procedure.  One of the first that comes to mind, is “Can I swim with an ostomy?”. You most certainly can. But it can be more complicated than that. Some of you may have heard the unfortunate stories about those living with an ostomy being asked to leave public pools….

Let’s be honest. Doing life with an ostomy can be challenging – wearing a bag can be inconvenient at certain times and downright embarrassing at others. Thankfully, there are ways you can reduce the possibility and the frequency of those times where your ostomy supplies “malfunction”. I’ll never forget one of the first public incidents I had with my ostomy bag. It was a hot…

Growing up, I was the kid who never got sick. Naturally lean and always active, especially in the outdoors, I could eat what I wanted, when I wanted, and never seemed to suffer any ill effects. By the time I was a teen, I had just as much reason as anyone to feel like I was invincible.   Fast forward past high school, through university,…