Welcome to stoma support the place to have all your questions answered by people who live with a stoma.
I won't go into too deeply at the moment about what your husband needs to know
It is NOT a disease! It is there to relieve him from troubles of diseases, obstruction and pain.
It is important that he understands and talks about it, but it up to him who he tells
Also, after his surgery, his social and professional life should not be put into brackets. It is necessary and recommended for him to plan and organize activities with family and friends. Having outdoor activities will participate in his rapid recovery and will also help him to avoid unnecessary stress.
There is nothing that your husband was doing previously that he can't resume in about 6 - 8 weeks.
Follow instructions from the stoma care who will advise on the progress he should make, when he can get behind the wheel of the car or pick up the clubs, everything is very doable with stoma and the hundred of thousands of people living in the UK will attest to it on a daily basis.
I won't fool you. He may experience some minor problems which will end up being no more than inconvenience and I will be on hand to talk you through them. So no worries there then.
But there is some good new as your husband has a colostomy (and not an ILEOSTOMY which is different) in about 3 months with the help of his stoma care nurse we can talk him through a procedure called Irrigation which he clears out his bowels one morning, fits a cap and forgets all about it for a few days, then repeats the procedure, we have many members who do this but we have to wait three months before it can be considered.
As I said at the beginning I said I won't go into it too deeply but anything that crops into your head at anytime please ask always remember that there is no such such thing as stupid or daft question everyone is worth asking.
He'll soon find out that he to can Live his Life with a Stoma
The names Ian and I'm the BODACH here to answer ANY question you have 7 days a week from early morning to late at night and into the wee small hours, please don't hesitate to ask me any question.
Hello Ian thank you so much for replying, to be honest the terminology is confusing to me at present, we live in Spain so I have to google translate the notes the hospital give me.
im not sure if you read my profile page as I put some information on there, it’s not just the one thing we are dealing with so it’s a little confusing to say the least.
I know he has had a permanent ,Sigmoid Colostomy but what is the difference with the ILEOSTOMY?
He has a PEG for feeding as he has had Tonsil cancer also so still recovering from that and unable to talk much or swallow easily at present. So he received 7 weeks intense chemotherapy and radiotherapy for that with a five week break before they did chemotherapy and radiotherapy for the rectol cancer which has left him very weak especially after the surgery.
He was in hospital for 12 days due to nausea and vomiting constantly and currently cannot feed him through the PEG as they fitted a new one, ( he had the original PEG since September) somewhere there was an error and it should have been changed to a balloon type PEG but never had been changed so the procedure they have done has left him in much pain for feeding through PEG, the surgeon says this should feel better in a few days but he is now trying to drink Ensure but unable to swallow very easily.
Its very difficult here in Spain as there is no respite care it’s up to family to look after people, even in hospital you are expected to stay with the patient and do most of the care, all of my family are in the UK and with the Carona Virus lockdown there is no help.
im coping most of the time but have mini breakdowns now and then.
My Nephew works in oncology admin department for BUPA in the UK and it was him that suggested I try you for advice which I don’t know why I didn’t think of it before. They have a support team here but only in Spanish and I don’t speak enough to understand.
thank you so much again for your advice.
the stoma looks like it’s healing well I’m cleaning it regularly and he will see the stoma nurse on Wednesday.
how often usually would the stoma pass stools ( or currently it’s just been runny liquid) as he’s only had minimal food intake ( liquid food) he was on an intravenous food drip for a few days due to the vomiting but nothing had passed through since yesterday morning should I be worried about that?
