In April of 2012, our daughter underwent colectomy surgery as treatment for severe ulcerative colitis. While still in the hospital, we were looking at ostomy supplies and came across pouch covers. Covers were infinitely more interesting to look at than flanges, pouching systems and stoma paste but we were surprised with what we found. The size and overall clunkyness of the commercial covers! AND (!!!) commercial covers are open at the bottom…doesn’t being open at the bottom defeat the whole purpose of a cover? Big and bulky, boring fabric, expensive. We decided I could make covers using fabric she liked, and I was pretty sure I could create a better design. My goal was to design a smaller cover without snaps, buttons or velcro. To use fun and lightweight fabric! And above all, to make the covers both functional and small.
In the beginning, like most new ostomates, she tried a number of different brands and types of pouching systems in a very short period of time. Because the "pouch" part of the pouching system are very similar in shape, size, and fabric; we quickly learned one size cover would fit a variety of pouching systems. There were many changes and adjustments but in the end, we had made a cover she loved. After receiving many compliments on both the design and fabric from various stoma nurses and other caregivers she was in contact with, it was a short leap to offer them for sale in my existing Etsy store; Worddrow and Buttons. The covers I sell today are still the same design we created in the late spring of 2012.

I sold my first cover through Worddrow and Buttons the beginning of July 2012; in November 2013, I started selling a Terry Cloth Drying Cover which is also my own design. For many reasons, it was a pretty big decision to separate the pouch covers from everything else I sold through Worddrow and Buttons. The Undercover Company sold its first cover in April 2015 and by September 2015, I had sold my last cover through Worddrow and Buttons. Worddrow and Buttons (www.etsy.com/worddrowandbuttons) is back to its roots selling scrabble and button art, book illustrations and vintage items.
It has been very rewarding selling a product that I think helps an ostomate feel more confident and secure. Learning to live with a stoma is hard but not impossible; it certianly requires a sense of humor. Sometimes the simple act of wearing a cover means taking charge of your life rather than letting your stoma rule.