Opus 2014-224: Healthy Insights: Stoma Saga, 4 of 7, The Making of a Stoma

When the colon is removed it is still necessary to get rid of body waste.  This is done through constructing a stoma.

The stoma is the end of the small intestine that is extended through the muscle and skin and sutured in place.  It becomes a combination rectum and anus but without the sphincter muscles that allow control.  It puts out feces whenever it feels like it and there is nothing you can do about it.  Modern medicine has developed technology, commonly called bags, to contain and control the output.

The stoma is a short section of the small intestine which, in the ideal circumstances that are used in the teaching videos, protrudes from 1/4 to 3/4 of an inch through the wall of your lower abdomen near your belly button.  The exact placement on right our left depends on the type of surgery.  Picture a jumbo hot dog that has been peeled sticking out of your side and you get the picture.  It is red, glistening and rough, just like the tip of a hot dog would look without the skin.

The bag consists of a barrier, sometimes called a wafer, that sticks to your skin and a bag to contain the waste.  They come in two piece and one piece.  They come in different shapes sizes and materials.  The difficult part is finding what works best for you and learning how to apply it.

In a perfect world you come home and are able to do the whole process of applying and changing the bags yourself.  Life goes on.

We were not in a perfect world and from my reading on-line, neither are others.

To be continued...

homo unius libri