Life Post Ostomy Surgery Isn’t Always What You Expected
Just When You Think Things are Returning to Normal, Along Comes a Common Thing or Two
A Shoulder Shrug, A ‘Who Knew’ Utterance, A Solution
Fearful but optimistic…that pretty well describes how many of us feel as we’re being told we need ostomy surgery. Scared of the surgery, apprehensive about living life sporting an ostomy, but filled with hope that the physical pain and the need to miss out on life because the recurrent attacks are over. Done! It’s probably that last, the hope part, that drives most of us to concede at last (if we’re able to do so) to agree to have the surgery.
And so, we return home from the hospital and go through a period of adjustment: the cumbersome aspects to changing the bag, the increased gas, the mishaps usually in the form of leaks. But eventually we get through these inconveniences and get on with our lives…and inconveniences they are compared to the persistent painful bouts we’d all suffered.
And the other shoe drops
Then just as we begin to feel more at ease in our new skin, things happen. In fact, you might say that in some cases the other shoe drops. Our skin around the stoma gets sore and red. Or one day, we see a bulge that turns out to be a hernia. Or our mouths and tongues get dry, and we sometimes feel dizzy only to learn that we’re dehydrated. And these kinds of things can make you afraid.
But “These are common occurrences” is what they tell you if you’re lucky enough or have enough initiative to get to see your doctor. Your first reaction may be a shoulder shrug. The next, the utterance of the words “Who knew”?
That’s right, just when you thought you were back to a pretty close version of normal life, these new relatively routine “inconveniences” rear their ugly heads. We’re surprised, ill-prepared, and maybe even annoyed that we must deal with condition-related challenges yet again.
Lots of common things can happen
Turns out, there are any number of things that we come to learn can happen following ostomy surgery. In my case, I’m one of the 48.1 percent of ostomates who end up with a parastomal hernia, apparently one of the most common complication of ostomy surgery. A parastomal hernia occurs when your intestines press outward near your stoma. This causes a bulge under your skin. It can also cause pain and bothersome leakage, something I’m pleased to report hasn’t happened with me.
I went to the surgeon recently seeking help with the recurrent skin problem around my stoma, and the subject of the hernia came up. My surgeon emphasized its common occurrence, talked about an intermediary step that would take me through the next 5 years with it, and referenced a more extensive surgery we might do at that time to correct the problem permanently. In my case, actually, because my stoma protrudes a bit more than normal, we might go in and fix that, too.
It’s funny really that I had 4 surgeries to deal with bowel obstructions over the years, the last being the one that got me to my ostomy. And it was that last one with the midline incision right down the center of my belly that caused the hernia…none of the others. If I allow myself to think about it, it’s ironic that the big “final” solution surgery was the one that caused this problem, but maybe my stomach muscles were so shot and contributed to why it happened.
All those surgeries left their scars by the way, and one of those scars is pretty intense. But I don’t much care how the scars look – wasn’t ever concerned about how they look. Ironically, I was more concerned with following directions post-surgery about not lifting anything more than 5 to 10 pounds within the 6 months immediately following surgery. So, I didn’t. But one day about 5 months after surgery I was working on some cabinet lighting in the kitchen. Yep, leaning over our cabinet, I felt the pull. Yeah, and a couple days later I had the first small sign of a hernia. I guess I needed not to be flexing as much.
So much to think about
We started talking about fixes and one of the things that I'm a little hesitant to do is fix the hernia by use of a mesh. There’s a lot of negative press out there about what can happen if you use a mesh. Although, in reality, you usually only hear about the negatives.
It’s not a pleasant thing to think about, but it is, after all, the worst-case scenario. And it’s no worse a scenario for me as an ostomate than for someone else who has a hernia cause by something else. While I am prone to parastomal hernias the incisional hernia can happen to anyone. I’ve learned that you just can’t dwell on this stuff, and you certainly can’t say, “Why me”? In fact, it makes far more sense to figure out what exercises will strengthen the stomach muscles surrounding the stoma. Learning about what exercises will help is a hard bit of information to get out of doctors. The definition of light core work is different from person to person and very few people have dealt with helping ostomy patients regain core strength. Coloplastcare.com has a core workout routine that I have been most comfortable doing and I worry least about it hurting me.