Post op stoma

Hi Lilytoad Yes it’s called ileus and it’s not very nice at all. Unfortunately it can take a week to 10 days to get over but he will get there. I’ve attached a link to a post below from a lady who was in a similar situation with her husband which will hopefully help?

 RE: Bowel stopped working post op. 

Hope he turns a corner soon?

Take care

Karen x

Yes the bowel really doesnt like being messed about with and tends to go on strike.

I also had an ileus which took 9 days to start working..the ng tube really isnt nice but necessary

Your Dad will get there.all of a sudden things will start working and he will feel so much better.

All the best to you both

Kath

Hello

I just wanted to give an update to help others in the same situation. My Dad had his stoma fitted on 21 November.

My Dad had a blockage above the stoma of possibly scar tissue and residue. Every time they removed the tube from his stomach within 12 hours his stomach would swell and he would be extremely sick. This happened three times and although it could of been because of his bowels being in shock from the operation, in my Dad's case it was due to a blockage. 

The doctor inserted their finger into the stoma and wiggled it about and this seems to have cleared the blockage and his stoma bag is now starting to work today 2 December. He had only had 2 meals in 11 days and was beginning to become very weak but yesterday they started feeding him by fitting a picc line and he has started to pick up.

We are hoping his stoma bag continues to work and he can start eating food soon. Then next step chemo.

Hi Lilytoad and Thankyou for the update. It’s good to hear that your dad sounds to have finally turned the corner and hopefully his appetite will return and he can put some weight back on.

Just out of interest was his bag still filling up while he had the blockage? It’s always helpful to know for others who might find themselves in the same situation. 

Hope he gets home soon - it’s always nice to be back in your own bed and tolerates the chemo well

Take care

Karen x

Not long after being discharged from hospital my ileostomy was sluggish and I later felt hard lumps in the pouch and also in my colostomy cap. They turned out to be marble-sized spheres of a hard, fibrous material that had passed through my system - quite smooth and almost perfectly spherical. I was taken aback by this discovery but one of the hospital nurses suggested these were old fatty deposits from within my system that could not be cleaned out during surgery but had cleared naturally. This happened again within a few days but has not re-occurred since.

 Dulac I had little yellow things in my pouch which I decided must be sweetcorn from my ‘last supper’ but turned out to be the codeine tablets! The nurse asked the pharmacy for some without the glossy coating but they said if I hadn’t noticed that I wasn’t getting any pain relief then did I really need them

Now that the bag is starting to work you can see that the bag wasn't filling before the blockage was fixed although it was filling with gas which made it look fuller. 

It's looking even better today, yoghurt and tea and coffee so far and no problems.

I used to find fruit jelly and ice cream easy to digest to start with and they are nutritious.

Hoping he’s now on the road to recovery! My dad is having his operation tomorrow tumour removal and stoma fitted and also having his liver scrapped on the left.