Stoma and Stomata

In medicine stoma is an artificial opening, created surgically which connects outside environment or medical equipment with a hollow organ or a part of the human body. This being said, with the help of nowadays surgery, any hollow organ can be operated to having a stoma if this means it will help with the treatment. There are many forms of stoma and I will now say a little or two ( as my research directed me to these )

The most common form of the stoma is the COLOSTOMY (and thanks to this I was able to get rid of my problem too ), but there are other forms like ILEOSTOMY and UROSTOMY and others. I’ll now give you some explanation and helpful information about COLOSTOMY. If you are interested in Ileostomy or Urostomy, I will talk about those in my future posts.

Colostomy

My abdomen got „stuck” as I defined it when the pain started and I had no clue on what my problem was. I wish some one had told me all this becasue man I needed an answer quickly in that horrible moments. I know how hard these moments are so be tough and all will be just fine. We all need faith.

What is it?

Colostomy is the surgical procedure that will leave you with an opening in your abdomen. This is needed so you can get read of the feces through that opening. This can be permanent if you have no other chance to heal or can be just temporary ( happily this was the case for me I hope for you too). Through this surgical intervention a part of your colon will be linked or connected to the anterior abdominal wall.

Reasons, Indications and placement:

The most common reason for having a Colostomy is that the colon just had to be removed because of a cancer in that region and feces can no longer get outside of you body though the anus. This will be bad, it means the stoma will be there for good. There is the case when the colon just suffered some intervention and needs a little time to heal and the stoma will be temporary, because it will be removed as soon as the colon heals and the feces can pass though there. After removal you’ll sadly get a scar but any ways you got to live and this must be good, right? Stoma can be placed on your abdomen and most frequently in the lower side. But the colostomy is planned ahead and you will not have to worry about that just ask your doctor.

Colostomy with irrigation:

Some people can choose the irrigation method.This implies that one must not wear a pouch, but must have a gauze cap over the stoma. This can be good because one can plan when to irrigate. A catheter will be put inside the stoma and will be flushed with water making the feces fluid and get out of the body. This procedure can be done a few time a day.

Colostomy without irrigation:

Modern colostomy prevent the difficulties to hide the pouch and the smell of the feces due to well-designed and odor-proof models. This allows patients to get back to their day to day activities. However the patients must wear an ostomy pouching system to collect the feces and other waste. The pouch must be emptied 3-4 times a day.

Alternatives:

As science evolves each day I know now you can opt for an internal colo-anal pouch. This means your rectum will be replaced by a ileo-anal pouch which will be constructed using a part of your lower intestine. This is an alternative to the other pouches and you will no longer need and external pouch.