Hi, I wonder if anyone here could offer some advice to my brother. He has stage 4 bowel cancer with liver and lung secondaries. He has been told he likely only has 6 months although he is not in a great deal of pain yet.
His main problem post stoma a few weeks ago done because of extreme diarrhoea and then an obstruction is that he is still passing large amounts of bloody mucus, and is still having the urge to go every 45 minutes or so including throughout the night. As he still feels well enough this is incredibly frustrating as he is virtually housebound and doesn't get ant decent sleep at all. So far his stoma nurse and onc nurse have not been able to offer a solution. He does wear pads at night but as he still gets the urge to go so still gets up to pass the mucus that he has been told the tumour is producing.
Has anyone experienced this to any degree? Has anyone found something that works for them? He would consider anything including supplement, diet, medication. His palliative care nurse has asked the gp to prescribe sleeping meds. The pads he uses unfortunately leak as he is not producing side, just watery bloody mucus. He is 56.
Thanks in advance for reading and any reies you offer. At this stage even outlandish ideas would be considered. I thought a pre bed enema might help clear to give a few hours relief but apparently they don't recommend it - not sure why.
Many thanks
I see your concern for your brother and am so sorry for the situation he finds himself in. I can’t offer a solution unfortunately as I have an end colostomy which means I don’t have anything coming out of my back passage-effectively it is sewn up.
This must be incredibly difficult to deal with for him and absolutely exhausting. One thing I would recommend is not using pads, but changing to incontinence pants which will at least contain the discharge. These can be prescribed by the gp, and your brother should have a visit from the incontinence nurse to assess him and arrange for regular supplies. Is he able to liaise with his gp to arrange this? Or could the palliative care nurse arrange this? In the meantime, incontinence pants can be bought online or even in supermarkets. Pads are really not a very satisfactory solution to any kind of back passage/faecal type incontinence incontinence, due to slippage and seepage, but pants might be more comfortable and effective.
If the cause is the tumour, it is difficult to know what might help but I’d probably want to go back to the oncology nurse to get advice direct from his consultant. Diet will affect the stoma output, as would medication, but if the stoma is functioning well, then it doesn’t solve the bloody mucus issue and its frequency. Sleeping pills are at least a solution to the lack of sleep, but even that is clearly not ideal. However, in conjunction with incontinence pants, might it possibly help?
I’m sorry I don’t have more useful advice for you, but I would be inclined to push the oncology nurse for more help via the consultant or the surgeon who performed the op. I hope he can get a solution which can make things more comfortable for him.
Sarah xx
Unfortunately, the stoma nurse won’t be able to help as the stoma isn’t the issue, but it may be that others within the group might have encountered a similar issue and have some advice for you to share with your brother.
Sarah xx
