Recovery advice

Hi all,

I had an emergency laparotomy and end colostomy in Oct 2015 due to a perforated sigmoid and diverticulitis. It's been a tough recovery and 3 months later I now have a VAC unit in the lower section of the abdominal wound as pockets had formed which initially needed to be packed and dressed. It then turned out the underlying stitch was causing issues and went in for further surgery where they opened the bottom section up and fitted the VAC.

Whilst the wound is superficial, my stoma has been working fine, but I still have moments where I feel new sensations and that makes me worry. My stoma started protruding more and is now about 1.5cm when standing upright. It doesn't seem to be extending any further, but made me worry at first as I have become aware of prolapses and hernias.

What I would like to ask folk who have had similar surgery is what is possible 3 months post op. I do wear a hernia support belt (even though I don't have one I want to prevent it as much as possible)

- Is getting on your knees ok from a standing position?
- Stretching/bending?
- Lying on your side?

I am aware of not lifting anything heavy, but since I used to be an avid DIY'er I don't feel comfortable now getting down to plug things in etc. or do minor maintenance.

I still sleep on my back even though I always slept on my side - lying on my side feels "weird" and I can feel a dull (slight) ache at my stoma and am worried I could be doing it harm. But then I read about people lying on their side from day 1 post op....whilst I am not in pain I just fear I could do myself some harm. My wife reckons the weird sensation is due to my "apron" of flabby skin as I lost quite a bit of weight post surgery.

I guess I just want to try and do normal things again (within reason) but am concerned I am slowing progress by being hesitant. Reading forum posts is not always the best as people generally only post about issues, and not positive experiences :)

It would be great to just hear about fellow ostomates that have overcome similar struggles. All the reading material I have found covers the obvious initial recovery stage, but not long term recovery.

Don

Unfortunately there aren't many people with colostomies on this forum - the vast majority have/had ileostomies :/

I think at 3 months you should be able to do most things, though. The stoma itself is incredibly resilient and lying on it won't hurt it, so you can definitely sleep on your side - I always did with an ileostomy.

The stoma does change shape and size in the first few months after surgery, and if it's anything like the ileostomy you can feel sensations behind it. If it wasn't for the further surgery, I'd say you'd be good to go for bending/stretching, but I'm not sure how the second surgery changes things.

Do you have a stoma nurse you can speak to? If not, I'd see if your hospital has one. I had two after my surgery and they were both excellent.

Incidentally, it takes months for everything to fully heal after major abdominal surgery. It took about 4-5 months before all traces of abdominal pain disappeared for me. I was sore behind the stoma for ages.

Hi, I have a colostomy as a result of diverticulitis. I haven't had the complications you have experienced, though I've had a couple of small abscesses that broke through the skin and drained on their own. Like the others, I sleep on my side, have no problem lying on my stomach if I have reason to do so. As far as I recall, I never hesitated to bend or kneel. I don't wear a belt, but I am cautious about lifting more than 15/20 pounds (much less for some months after sugery), and I do shovel snow, and garden. I had my surgery in January, 2014, and in March was able to fly from Eastern Canada to California (3 flights, 12 hours, customs and immigration), and went for a walk or short hike almost every day we were there.

I think 1.5 cm is relatively short for a stoma, but not sure. Mine is less than a centimetre, which is a pain in the butt, so to speak. Have to wear a convex wafer, and took me a long time to solve the leaking problem. It was virtually flush at the beginning. My stoma's diameter shrunk during the first year, then started to expand, went back up 1/4". I check in with a stoma clinic every 6 months or so; the nurses have not thought these changes are unusual.

Like the others said, don't push it, if it feels uncomfortable, stop. I certainly didn't push things, I've always been too sedentary, but if you have been active, and are probably a lot younger than I am, you should be getting back to normal.

Good luck!
Ann