Hi, I'm new to this forum although I registered almost 2 years ago when my husband had to have a colostomy due to rectal cancer. He copes very well with it, but he started to get infections in his rectal stump and was in and out of hospital several times.Eventually his surgeon suggested the removal of the stump was a possibility even though his age at 78 was against him.
Last year he started to be sick after meals (nothing to do with my cooking I may add) and his stoma stopped working properly. He was in quite a state and after many visits to the doctor and hospital they discovered that part of his intestines had fallen into his pelvis and kinked like a hose pipe. He needed an operation to correct this but by the time he was admitted he was so weak he had to be tube fed through a line, needed blood and iron infusions and was in hospital two weeks before he was strong enough for the operation.
His surgeon suggested that if he was strong enough and survived the first part of the operation to remove the affected bowel, it would be an idea to remove the stump at the same time as the problem of infections had not been solved.
My hubby agreed to this and thankfully the operation was a complete success. The problem now is, the operation was in March but the stump wound has not healed yet. A nurse used to come every day to dress the wound and she taught me how to do it so that she needn't come as often. Nowadays we go to the surgery once a fortnight for the nurse to check on progress. There is so much exudate coming from the wound I am worried it will never heal. When ever we ask how long this will last we're told 'it's normal and it will dry up eventually'. Within the first couple of weeks after he come home, the nurse sent a sample off to check for infection but the result came back negative.
Has anyone on this forum had this problem. If so, how long does it last? Will it ever get better?
Sorry for such a long rant
Maggie
I can see you first posted in this forum a couple of years ago and my friend Mike Thehighlander recommended that you joined the bowel cancer forum and also the ileostomy, colostomy and stoma support forum. In view of your post today these would still be good forums to join as it will give you the chance to ask questions and share experiences with others who may have had similar experiences to your husband.
To join these forums, just click on the links I've created and, once you've joined, you can start a new post in the same way as you did here and join in with existing conversations by clicking on 'reply'.
It would be great if you could put something about your husband's diagnosis and treatment to date into your profile as it really helps others when replying to you and also when looking for someone on a similar pathway. It also means that you don't have to keep repeating yourself. To do this click on your username and then select 'Profile'. You can amend it at any time and if you're not sure what to write you can take a look at mine by clicking on my username.
"Never regret a day in your life, good days give you happiness, bad days give you experience"
