Is Blood from Stoma normal?

I just had surgery this past Wednesday (Jan 29th). I was released from the hospital yesterday. I cleaned and replaced my appliance last night and when I cleaned the stoma I noticed a trace amount of blood that came out. Well it's the middle if the night now and I'm having some itching which I'm assuming is the scabbing and sutchers healing around the stoma and there is also a small amount of blood. Is this normal? I'm posting here instead of calling the ER because it is a small amount and it's pretty early post-op, if it was a lot is definitely be more alarmed.

What do you all think? I'm going to mention it to my ostomy nurse on Monday either way but i could use the piece of mind now. Thanks.

Thanks!

A small amount of blood is ok. I'm 1 yr and 8 months post op, doing well and even now, I'll occasionally (rarely) see a little blood in my pouch. Larasmom is correct, they are sensitive, especially post op. Glad you're home. Take it one day at a time....before long it will all be second nature.

Thanks for the replies all.

Yea it was a very small amount and has since cleared. It might've been just from wiping it a little to hard. Either way, things are good. Life is good.

Enjoy the Super Bowl everyone!

@byebyeuc I feel absolutely phenomenal. All anxiety regarding the location of toilets or what I eat is gone. I'm still adjusting to everything and getting my "set up" if you will. Overall though the surgery was the absolute best decision I could've made. I am have really liquid output which seems to be normal to experience for the first few weeks. I do need to up my banana and peanut butter intake. I took half a dose of Imodium to hopefully solidify things a bit.

I've also been lucky to have an awesome ostomy nurse who orders me whatever I want with reckless abandon and the VA covers it all. So the setup I seem to like is the 10" opaque stainable pouches from Convatec Natura 2-piece system with gasket. Luckily the VA is going to cover a stealth belt and an ostomy secrets wrap which I'm really looking forward to. She's also sending me these new bags from a company that is focused on ostomy systems for sleeping. Apparently these bags are slightly larger, have a gasket and don't fold over themselves. She seemed really excited for me to try them so I'll let you all know. I told her that if anything new comes in and she wants someone to test it on to just send it my way and I'll let her know. It's a great relationship so far and makes things worlds easier.

I'm very fortunate and happy that things have worked out this way. Thanks for asking about me. If you have any questions just feel free, nothing is out of the question. I'll check back in soon!

yea things are pretty good. just a few new anxieties regarding the stoma itself...just seems so very fragile! As well as obvious insecurities that I need to work through but again i don't regret it and its SO very worth it.

My father just had his reversal, and I would help him with changing. He was having blood, but I started noticing it was coming from below his stoma. Because he had lost so much weight before his surgery, he was rapidly gaining it back. It started to tear below his stoma and blood and a clear liquid starting coming out. I took him to the ER, and they didn't address the real problem and chalked it up to being uneducated about changing the bags, and not having supplies. I bothered the doctor, and then stool started coming out below the stoma where it was tearing. I had a nurse come out to the house and she confirmed to the doctor, and they quickly did the reversal, without any explanation, except that "its common in patients that have surgery for diverticulitis". If you have anyone who can check out the area of the stoma for you, check around it and make sure there are no tears, and good luck!! If I can help with any of your questions, let me know. I basically trained myself on this subject!

Hooray! :-D