The stoma saga continues....

the stoma saga continues....

Gotta vent, apologies in advance...

Last week had a small abscess start draining under my flange. Very painful. Since I have a colostomy, I am able to spend a bit of time airing things out, which isn't helping, it's not healing. (went to ER, got antibiotics, ET nurse visited, showed me how to dress it...) I have noticed during these "born free" times the motion which my stoma makes and I'm wondering how normal it is. It still hurts, aside from the abscess, and I can't figure out why...
It really contorts downward during times when it's outputting, or trying to output. It also retracts itself quite a bit inward at these times...and feels like my guts are gonna fall out. Is this normal? They checked me for a hernia and a blockage and found nothing.
I'm really beaten down right now, it has been almost 7 weeks of constant pain with short let-ups. This surgery was a big mistake for me. I had a good surgeon too, very well respected, so I know it's not due to sloppy work or anything, this just isn't working for me.
It's "supposed" to be a temporary colostomy, and I'm counting the minutes!!!

That's totally normal. Your stoma needs to expand and contract to get the stool out. It's just like swallowing...the contractions move the stool along. When oscar contracts really hard, even now, I can feel it. I wouldn't call it pain, but I definitely know what he's doing down there! Even at seven weeks I'd say that some pain is normal. As long as you still have output, I wouldn't worry about it too much (re. a hernia or blockage). It does get better! The first 3 months were the worst for me, with the weakness, and the pain, and the general getting used to this alien on my stomach. Now, after a year and a half, I don't even notice it any more.

I hope you get feeling better soon! I'm sure once the abscess is gone you'll have less pain in general.

Mine is definitely painful when it's expanding/contracting. Part of it is that the abscess is moving along with the surrounding skin. The other part is more like the pain from a charlie horse. Like a muscle spasm that takes your breath away. And at the same time it feels like your intestines are pushing their way out of that hole in your side. And then nothing comes out, or a little bit of formed matter comes out.
It's gotta be constipation. I don' t know how I could possibly be constipated, I drink 6 bottles of water a day minimum and take stool softeners at night, and obviously my bowels are working like mad to move it along.
Today I had to drink some contrast for a scan, and it gave me really big D. I've been going all morning and not even a tiny bit of pain. Even the abscess is quiet, go figure??
I guess I need to go buy a case of that horrible contrast and drink it every day... lol

Glad the stuff helped, although I sure wouldnt advise drinking it daily. Unless of course youre a sado masochist, then hey, what the hell. :shifty-t:

I hope it was just a bit of constipation that was causing the pain, and that the Dr's can help you out with that.

If you were local, I'd tell you come over for a spell, I am the poo fairy and can make anyone shit! (no laughing matter folks...I work wonders on the constipated!)

Misty

It's probably laughing causing the muscles to contract ....

Poo fairy!!! :rof:

Well it's not that I'm backed up. Here I am a couple of hours later, completely empty and back in pain.
Oh well, chalk one up for deductive reasoning!
I'll have to cancel that order for 20 bottles of CT scan contrast lol. ;-)

I sure would be calling the IBD nurse or the GI if I were you about this. One of the things I'm learning is to keep a log of symptoms, because, being mentalpausal I forget once I'm in the Dr's office.

Misty

Believe me I am! I'm just muddling through until next week when I go see him. I am giving my ET nurse a call as well. I am almost out of dressing and I think she should look at it before I go see him. Racing through a flange per day, this is getting expensive and tiring! (I like to take a good hour to change the pouch, air things out good and let Mr Abscess drain) I think I should name that old b@st@ard, I'm thinking "Mr. Burns" would be a good name for him lol.
Have not named my stoma but have now named my abscess.....

Now if you name Mr Absess you may get attached to him, we wouldnt want you upset when he leaves you for another woman would we? :wink:

Sounds like you need a good look over by the stoma nurse and Dr alright. And more antibiotics? :stinks: If you are going thru a flange a day, a one piece may even suit you better for now?

Misty

A one piece, I never even thought of that. Thanks for the heads up! No doubt if this keeps up I'm going to do that. Are they cheaper? I'm assuming so...I always wondered about what the advantage is to a non drainable one piece. Is it the price?

And since this is my thread, I think I'll hijack it by asking my own dumb question. I received a convatec sample of the small bag that has the clamp enclosure (which I'm not real crazy about the idea of).
How the heck does this clamp work???

I'm dying to try out some of these sample of convex wafers and I can't because they press on the abscess so hard it's too painful. Can't wait til this eases up a bit and I can give them a go! Go away Mr. Burns!

poolside said:

A one piece, I never even thought of that. Thanks for the heads up! No doubt if this keeps up I'm going to do that. Are they cheaper? I'm assuming so...I always wondered about what the advantage is to a non drainable one piece. Is it the price?

Click to expand...

Try a one piece drainable. All of the big manufacturers have them. They should be a bit easier for you. I'm afraid I dont know about the cost though.

Misty

Tried some of that duoderm that you sent me the link to Lostnut, and so far it's working at holding my flange on with the abscess doing it's "thing". So far I'm at 28 hours and counting. Hope I didn't just jinx myself!!! Also, it's very comfy on the skin. Gosh I hope this is gonna keep working for me! Fingers crossed. Toes crossed too. And anything else I can get to cross... ;-)

I know how you feel...it's very painful and abcesses are no fun either (I've had several). I use to pour a little bit of Immodium in my bag and then slosh it up on my stoma, it helped a little. Btw..I used the bags with the clamps and those were by far my favorite. I know it's frustrating but be patient...you wouldn't want to do your reversal too early b/c there's always the risk that it won't take.

Oh wow, poolside, so glad it is working for you. I just love that thin stuff.

You got it really fast? How'd you do that??

Just curious what the immodium does by sloshing it in the bag? I'd never heard of that before and now I'm really curious!
Heike, my bro in law is a doc and brought me home a sheet to try. This was the thicker stuff, maybe 3 mm thick or so. I had to use stoma paste as caulking to seal the flange around the edges today.
I got a day and 3/4 out of it before changing it. But I hadn't tried the caulking idea yet. It's on there now so we'll see!

Ya', that is pretty much the thickness of the skin barriers. The link I gave you is stuff that is paper thin like the wafer around the flange. I used it when my home health nurse brought it along after my surgery.
It's probably why they call it a dressing and not a skin barrier.