for others who have had their back door sewn shut....?

Greetings!  I'm a regular from the crohnie board, but just had my rectum, colon, and terminal ileum removed, so I'm officially an ostomate now, I guess.  'Ello Mates.

My question is for others who have had their rectums removed and thus their anus's (or ani? what the heck is the plural of anus?) sewn shut.

My crack looks like a chicken comb... all irregular bumps sewn in a haphazard manner with openings here and there....

And through the random openings things are still oozing.

This oozing disturbs me.  It is sometimes reddish like blood.  Sometimes very smelly.  Sometimes non-existant.

Calmoseptine cream and A&D help.  I'm wearing pantiliners down my backside to keep from oozing through my clothing.

I'm three weeks out of surgery.  I don't see my surgeon again until the 19th.  The oozing is not so much that it warrants a call to the doc, I just was wondering if anyone else had oozing? 

Is this just until it heals, or do I have to look forward to this for the long haul maybe? 

I can at last sit on my butt without pain, more or less, so I really thought this leakage would have ceased by now.

Any experience, thoughts or advice are much appreciated!

THanks all.

 

I'm not on any antibiotics... but that's a very good point. I haven't been running fevers, but that doesn't mean that something couldn't be amiss down yonder.... uhg. I do so hate the flagyl. But, you're probably right about the odor. I'll pay close attention over the weekend and give my doc a ring on monday just to run the situation by him.

Thanks for the warm welcome and encouraging words! I don't do sitz baths so well (tried from past surgeries), I'm a full-submerger myself, but I think one is in order every night until I get this healed up. Good advice, and a good excuse to relax in a nice hot bath!

Hi and welcome!

I think it's a good idea to chat with your surgeon on Monday. My surgeon left my butt wound open, and I packed it twice a day with saline-filled gauze, so it could heal slowly from the inside out. The gauze collected any discharge, and I don't remember there being any odor to it. Doing it that way took several months for it to completely close up.

I hope there's nothing wrong. Things will definitely get better!

Take care,
Cecilia

Hi there!  I guess I'm the only one thus far that has had the oozy smelly stuff!     My surgeon didn't think anything of it, as it was the fluids from the surgery...but it is wise to just run this by your doc to make sure he/she isn't concerned.

I did the same exact thing with the A&D and panty liners!  Awww...the ointment made it feel SO much better!  And  you know, I really can't remember how long I had the ooze...I was in such shock and extreme pain that it really such a small matter at the time.  I had my surgery laparscopically as well, and the area around my belly button oozed some too...it wasn't smelly though, but it looked similar to my bootie ooze.    (I'm blushing a lot in this chit chat!)

I'm super glad you joined us ostomates!  I named my stoma Penelope!     So, WELCOME to our super cool club!!!!

 

Thanks for the replies, guys.

I see my doc on friday now, so we'll see what he says.  I'll keep my fingers crossed that all is as it should be.

Meanwhile, I think naming my stoma is a fabulous idea.  I'm thinking Chloe, for some reason.  We'll see.  lol.

Thanks again for the warm welcome.

Hi everyone! This is SO nice being with people who understand!! After struggling with UC, I had a permenant ileostomy and removal of my rectum 2 yrs ago. (2 different surgeries) it's been 2 yrs since and I still have daily nursing care to clean and re-pack a wound (or gap) that appeared after surgery in my bum crack (which wasn't the actual hole itself.) I have leakage daily, sometimes green and smelly, (infection- which doesn't concern the dr's) and then sometimes just discoloured fluid. I'm recently scheduled for surgery Apr.16th to have muscle taken from both my thighs and placed in the rectum as a 'filler'. I'm wondering if anyone has had this done or even have gone this long without healing??

Sandi :)

To those who were recovering for more than a year, how did you deal with your finances? Did you get Social Security Disability? My State Temporary Disability Pay just ran out and I need help. Can I get Social Security Disability from the government?

Duke, you can get SSDI, but it's hard. Hopefully Brian will be along. He got denied, but appealed and won. There is a tendency to reject the first application, so you need to persevere. You might want to post a new thread that more specifically states your issue in the title, as some folks might skip this one thinking it's about something else.

I was very lucky in that I'm an academic, and I had applied for and gotten a sabbatical for this school year. For my hospitalization in Jan 2011 and surgery in Feb 2011, I went on family medical leave for about 10 weeks -- since we don't have official sick days to accumulate, the school paid me during this time. I'm getting half salary on sabbatical (much of which ended up being more like medical leave because I had to have another surgery and 3 months of bed rest after it).

I know my situation is not typical, and is much better than many people's.

You might want to start w/your work's HR dept to talk about disability. You'll need a doctor on board, and you might want to get a lawyer too. Best of luck.... with recovery and with finances.

I'm here!
Ok so first off my Doctor said that I would be back to work in 6 weeks after my surgery. I didn't have any bills really because I like to keep things paid off and dont like bills hanging over me. Only thing I really had is about 6 car payments left, insurance and phone bill. I lived with my brother and payed him rent, but he said that he would help me out on rent for the next month or two. My mom also said she would help me out.
Well I ended up being in the hospital for 4 weeks and my butt wound opened up. Ok guess it was going to be another 6 weeks. Well long story short nothing was working so I applied for ssdi. Some companies offer temporary dissability but if it's a smaller company they are not required to. Mine only has about 35 employees so they did not offer it. So after filling out tons of paperwork I got denied because they said that my wound is not expected to last more than a year. You have to be expected to be disabled for a minimum of one year to even be considered. At this time I still could not sit at all and needed a home nurse coming every day. I tried everything including a wound vac for a few months and it did nothing.
I appealed and got a lawyer and they denied me again at about 9 months with no improvement on my wound. FINALLY this month I had a court hearing. I was very nervous because they said that if I could work for 2 hours a day standing up then I am not considered disabled. My lawyer also said that they are looking at it as if this is a permanant condition and that they would be paying me for the rest of my life.
So I went to the hearing and they medical professional ended up talking the whole time about my wound history (reading from medical files) and basically said that I would have met the old criteria for perienal wounds, but based on the fact that I have not showed any improvement in a year and a half that I do now. So it's been a month now and I have no idea when I will get paid. I guess they can take their time and it could take up to 6 months.
I've had this wound for almost 2 years and I think it's healing very slowly. I basically get by with the help of my mom for money which she gives me just enough to pay my insurance and phone bills, so I don't really have extra money for other things. My brother ended up getting rid of the house and I moved in with my ex-gf. It's not a situation that I am very happy in, but she is letting me live here without paying rent and she packs me every morning. The trade off was that I take care of her dog every day and help clean around the house and with other things. If it weren't for them I really dont even know where I would be right now.

Another thing I did was I went to Department of human services and I applied for food stamps. When I turned in my application they asked when I got my last pay check. I told them over a year ago so they set up an appointment for that following wednesday. Went for an interview (in a line of over 100 people) and I got approved for food stamps but no other benefits since I wasn't declared disabled by the state. I don't get much at all, but I found a grocery store that is dirt cheap and I make the most of it. I am hoping that once they send my info for dissability I can go back to the office and get my cash benefits so that I can buy laundry soap, bath soap and shavers etc...

So my advice to you is to go to your local county DHS department and apply for the food stamps and get that take care of. They are pretty quick with that. I got my card in a few weeks. If you don't have insurance you can apply for medicaid. It will take a while because they need your medical records. Also they can put you in section 8 housing if you really need it. I am doing everything in my power not to because around here there are shootings and gangs that hang out in those areas.
Also hire a lawyer right away. They are basically paper pushers and they get 25% of your backpay but it looks good with the state. Lets say you are supposed to recieve $1,000 per month for ssdi and it takes a year before you approved. You will get a check for $8500 (if I did my math right lol). After that you start recieveing your full $1,000.
THey will basically coach you and tell you what to write on the applications so that it works out in your benefit.
Best of luck to you and let me know if you have any questions.