03/03/2019
When I was transferred back to Ward 6 I was still very drowsy from the aesthetic, this took several hours to wear off and after it did I was able to see my post operative abdomen. I had a drain on my left hand side and my new stoma on my right. I had around a 30 cm scar starting from towards of bottom of my rib cage down to by very lower abdomen (red line on the image at the bottom of this blog).
So, meeting my stoma, at first a clear bag was attached so the nursing team could keep an eye on its discharge. The best way I can describe a stoma is a sock that has been turned inside out a little, obviously skin, and had stitches holding it out of my abdominal wall. It was sore around the area of the stoma site due to the waste making contact with my skin for the first time, but the stoma itself is not painful at all. In fact, the stoma has no sensation because there are no nerves in the intestine.
Seeing the stoma for the first time did come as a bit of a shock as i'd never seen one before nor had I ever heard of one either. The hospital staff were amazing though, telling me what to expect over the next few days. At this point I was only on liquids but food was introduced over the next couple of days which was hard as I had no appetite. If I could explain the output of the stoma, at the start is would be mainly blood from the trauma of the surgery and progresses to a black tar like consistency as the bowel kicks back into action. I have been told by consultants this is because the bowel doesn't like to be disturbed, and like myself when they bring all of the small and large intestine out of the body to clean and remove certain parts, it is a lot of disturbance for it to go through.
As I began to eat (a low fibre diet) the stoma began to produce more waste as expected and started to change colour back to the normal brown colour that we are all used to seeing.
I was told to expect wind (farts) to come through the stoma as we all do them now and then, but obviously mine come through the stoma. My first experience of wind passing was very funny and is something I will never forgot as it frightened the life out of me, in a good way! I was laid there watching TV and all of a sudden an almighty loud fart produced. It was the highlight of my hospital stay and if you have been through this experience, I'm sure you will understand too!
All in all I was ok with getting to know my stoma and was willing to adapt my lifestyle to accommodate this (after all, it saved my life) and is important to remember to.
