Problems post surgery, repeat surgery needed.

Hi,
I'm posting for my mum. She had diverticulitis, and was admitted to hospital very poorly in February resulting in surgery to have part of her bowel removed and a colostomy done.
She didn't have enough bowel to have the sticky out stoma, so it was internal. She had an open wound from the surgery which didn't heal until July. And now her stoma is closing, I think the word they used in a letter she has received is stenosis.
She found out it was closing in May time, and further consultations said they would have to so the whole surgery again and she is now waiting to be called back in.
In the meantime, she is getting daily pains in her tummy, and a lot of blood in her pouch. But there seems no urgency from the hospital to get her back in. Has anyone else been through anything similar? Mum is completely terrified she is going to die. She had so many complications first time round and was so poorly for so long. She was in hospital for 8 weeks with all these months of recovery and is now facing the prospect of going through it all again! Any advice would be appreciated.
Thanks
Rebecca

Hi,

thankyou for your reply.

They havn't done anything. She was given a dialator back in May to try and keep the stoma open. But she can barely get that in now, and it hurts her when she puts it in.

She had a blood test a couple of weeks ago. But nothing came of that.

I just can't belive the lack of urgency over the whole thing. From the post op consultation where they discovered the stoma was closing, it took over 3 weeks before the stoma nurse actually came to visit with the dialator. So to me, that was 3 more weeks where it was closing without anything being done to stop it. That was back in May.

She had another hospital appointment in June where they confirmed she would need the surgery again, and said she'd be back in hospital by the end of July, beginning of August, but she is still waiting, and is now getting these further complications. She's going to the doctors again to try and see if they will do anything but they just don't seem to see this as urgent.

The tummy pains and blood in the bag is sending huge alarm bells to me.

thanks again.

I agree with scarytime - be a squeaky wheel. Call everyday. Call everyone you can. If the worst does happen - you want no regrets on your part. Can you take pictures of the blood in the bag, etc to show just how bad it is? Perhaps create a document with a picture of each bags contents for an entire day - you can email it to everyone, upload to google drive & send links, etc.

I just spoke to my mum. The doctor confirmed she has an infection and has called the hospital for her. They have confirmed for her to go straight to the ward for an assessment. So she is setting off for there now. So we'll see what they have to say. Hopefully this will get things moving with her consultant.

Back home from hospital now. It was a joke. A consultant came. Asked mum why she was there, asked us if WE thought she needed emergency surgery. And said he'll pass the message too her consultant tomorrow to see if she will expedite her op.
He agreed it needed doing soon. But that was it. So back to square one waiting for her consultant again.

Further update!

Mum has had the surgery today. She has had the stoma moved to the other side and now has a "normal" sticky out stoma. They couldn't do a reversal. My dads just been to see her, said he can't believe how well she looks. I'll feel happier when I see her myself tomorrow though!

Thanks again for the support. Hopefully this time she will be out much quicker and will have a much faster recovery than last time :)