[People with stomas - issues and responses in critical periods]

People with stomas who have either been cured of cancer or are living with cancer have achieved good interrelationships among the three issues of"establishing self-care","dealing with stoma complications", and"accepting stomas", and they are maintaining stable physical and mental states.However, self-care may become difficult due to stoma complications and adverse events caused by chemotherapy and radiation therapy in the cancer treatment period, and in advanced phases of cancer serious stoma complications may occur due to deterioration of general condition and advancing cancer. Therefore, there is a risk that those stable physical and mental states will collapse.In order to deal with this critical state, in the cancer treatment period, stoma skin care is used for handling skin problems around the stoma, and for adverse events such as hand-and-foot syndrome, braces that are easy to operate are chosen from among various types of stoma braces in order to cover impediments.During advanced phases of cancer, care is conducted with the main priority placed on physical stability in order to ensure that the three major complications of stoma varicose veins, stoma prolapse, and parastomal hernia do not worsen and significantly affect general condition and daily life.Stoma outpatient treatment that provides lifelong support for such issues, and the existence of skin- and excretion-care certified nurses who provided highly specialized selfcare support, are extremely important for cancer survivors with stomas.