dear Q, Don't Freak out. Last Sept. I had to get a supra-pubic catheter,a J tube and a colostomy so they could remove part of my stomach. Now I wish I had the colostomy long ago. 36 years of watching my diet. (wondering how I got a damn ulcer). You have to let gas out of the bag now and then, it's called burping it. I still use acidophylus to keep the stool well formed. That way I can put two needle holes in the high side of the bag and not mess with burping since I only get two aid visits a day and I can't burp it myself. I am using more cologne. I wish you luck.
john ________________________________ From: Quadius <[email protected]> To: quad-list <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, March 14, 2012 8:37 PM Subject: [QUAD-L] Re: colostomy? I forgot to mention I am just about 17 years post injury. That will happen in another couple of weeks. On Wed, Mar 14, 2012 at 8:00 PM, Quadius <[email protected]> wrote: Well, I'm back asking questions again. I went in for my consultation about a week and a half ago and unfortunately I've had too many days of feeling bad wasn't able to get back with you all. > >In the consultation for the ileovesicostomy the doctor noted that I had had a >previous doctor recommend that I think about doing a colostomy in the near >future. Well, now they're wondering if I want to consider doing a colostomy >at the same time I am having the ileovesicostomy performed. I'm about 90% >sure I'm going to have the ileovesicostomy, because I really don't see any >alternative. > >As for the colostomy, everyone I talk to down here seems to think it's a good >idea, including at least one quadriplegic who has one as well as >ileovesicostomy. > >When the doctor made this recommendation I was having a terrible time with my >bowels. Fortunately he was able to diagnose several of my problems and I have >improved quite a bit since that time. I am still having difficulties though. >The list of fruit and vegetables I can't eat or can only eaten very limited >quantities is much higher than the list the list I am able to eat. My lactose >intolerance has gotten progressively worse, to the point where I almost >completely have to eradicate dairy products if possible. I have difficulty >processing tomato sauces and am having trouble almost every time I go out to >be in a restaurant. > >Let me put this into perspective. I don't really have problems with >incontinence, but when I do have problems it's usually terrible pain followed >up by very loose stool. My bowel program has gotten much longer over the last >year and a half. A lot of this is because my body produces a lot of mucus >after the stool has passed. We usually check about every 15 minutes and sadly >my bowel program is now averaging around 3 1/2 hours. We can probably cut it >down to two hours and 45 minutes if I didn't worry too much about the mucus >and then had my caregiver cleaned up in the morning, but she asked small >fingers and I also risk having the mucus attack while I am seated in the >wheelchair if I do this. > >I'm leaning towards having the procedure done, but I haven't really heard that >many negatives other than the few comments I saw all on one forum. I know >darn well there's got to be negatives, so I'd appreciate if you could pass >them on to me. > >One of the quadriplegics who I talk to last year told me about some sort of >burping, but he didn't elaborate. I do not have the ability to move my hands >or arms at all, so I don't know what would happen if I need to do something >like burping. > >I'm going to continue to search the web, but I would appreciate some >feedback. You guys have been great on the ileovesicostomy and I really do >appreciate it. These are, as all of you know, decisions which we have to live >with. Sure I guess they are reversible, but I have known one person who had >his colostomy reversed after he went into remission and he had a horrific time >getting his bowels to work properly once again. In fact, he ended up in the >ICU on life support at one point. > >Thanks everyone, >Quadius >PS hopefully there are too many problems with this e-mail. I am in need of a >microphone change. :-) actually a soundcard would probably be better, but I >need something which improves my accuracy. >
