For Lindsay Hammond, BRHS stoma specialist support nurse Kylie Antonopoulos is a key to his independence.

Lindsay was diagnosed with bowel cancer in late 2020 and subsequently had a section of his bowel removed. He has a stoma, a surgically-created opening in his abdomen that bypasses his bowel and discharges his waste into a bag he wears discretely on his waist.

Now 73, Lindsay said his stoma allows him to pursue the finer things in life, including his love of country music.

He said the impact of the news he would need a stoma hit harder than the news he had cancer, but Kylie, a specialist stoma nurse with BRHS, has helped him enormously.

“It’s good,” he said of the stoma. “I’ve had a few little hiccups, just little minor things, but without Kylie, I’d have been lost.

“When I had it done in Melbourne, COVID was just really hitting. As good as they were, they were so busy. When I got back here, I didn’t really know the ins and outs of this stoma bag, I floundered a bit. My wife was great, but if it wasn’t for Kylie, I don’t know what would have happened.”

Kylie, a nurse of more than 20 years including six years with BRHS, developed an interest in stoma nursing during an earlier role in a colo-rectal unit at Melbourne’s Alfred Hospital.

“I like the challenge of helping patients to achieve independence and I enjoy getting to know my patients and helping them through the mental barriers that inevitably comes with a adapting to life with a stoma” she said.

“I enjoy getting out there and doing some education in the wards and in the community. I’m really keen to do a lot more of that because stoma care for patients on the ward is really important.”

Kylie cares for inpatients at BRHS patients and looks after outpatients from her office or on the road, travelling to people’s homes, nursing homes and other accommodation.

 “I offer education to support facilities, and I’m always available to do education in nursing homes.” Kylie said.

She also hopes to launch an in-house stoma education program for BRHS nursing staff that may also include Bush Nursing Centres and Practice Nurses, with a full-day training session and refresher courses every few months on the latest information.

“It would be great to have a few more people within the community and within the hospital that can assist patients,” she said.

Lindsay, a retired timber worker, said his stoma keeps him active and playing lead guitar with his band, the Backroad Boys, which appears monthly at Bairnsdale RSL, and teaching guitar, thanks to Kylie’s support.

“Your whole life changes, and it was something I never grew up learning anything about, then all of a sudden, it’s there,” he said.

“I had to learn how to change it. My wife Gail virtually did it for me for the first few months, then Kylie came out and taught little things like using a mirror so I could see under my pot belly. Simple things, but things that I’d never have thought of.”

Neither Lindsay nor Gail are proficient internet users, but Lindsay said Kylie is always there to help.

“I can’t stress enough the importance of and value of the stoma nurses and people involved with it, even with getting the equipment, the bags, and the accessories that go with it. “We’ve never learned about computers, but Kylie orders me the stuff. The simple little things that are so easy to be overlooked and mean everything to us,” he said.Kylie hopes to establish an East Gippsland ostomate support group and seeks to test interest in the idea via this survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/C2VFQR8