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A Urostomy Experience
By Becky Redmond, Forwarded By ReRoute,
I have been reading articles on your site for a couple of years. I had an unusual and frightening experience concerning my urostomy last week that I thought might be of interest to your readers. I have had my stoma for four years now and have had no complications or problems. For the past six months, I had noticed that the skin around my stoma was white and irritated. I tried several different things to clear it up: changing to different brands of ostomy systems; changing the barrier more often; drinking more water and cranberry juice; using different powders ... but nothing seemed to clear it up. I knew, I should get in to see the doctor. But with starting a new job this summer, I couldn’t afford to take time off. So, I just put up with it, hoping that once I had enough time at my new job, I could take off and then get in for an appointment. While at work last Thursday, I went to empty my pouch, and it was full of bright red blood. I noticed two small blood clots. This really got my attention and I went directly to the phone and called the doctor who had performed my surgery four years ago. The nurse said she would leave a message for him and he would call me back. Meanwhile, I continued to work. I started drinking a lot of water and drank a bottle of cranberry juice, thinking this would clear things up. After lunch in the early afternoon, I again went in to empty my pouch and this time it was not only full of bright, red blood but so full of huge blood clots that my pouch wouldn’t even drain! I was so scared that I went immediately to the phone and told the nurse that I had an emergency situation and needed to talk to the doctor. I ended up at the emergency room and had a urologist come in to look at it. When I took off the pouch, the blood had coagulated so thick that the doctor couldn’t see the stoma. He peeled off the barrier and blood was spurting from a severed artery next to the stoma. He said that because the skin around the stoma had such severe erosion it caused the breakdown by the artery and broke loose. He had to put in several stitches to close the artery. I had lost quite a bit of blood but not enough to keep me in the hospital. So, I was released and went home. I was told my urine would clear up later that evening ... which it did. It took several days for me to get over the panic of what had happened. Because of this ordeal, I made an appointment with an ET nurse. She told me that she recommends that people with urostomies wear a convex flange. It keeps the urine from pooling around the stoma area. And, she showed me how to use powder and paste on the white, moist areas surrounding my stoma. I have also scheduled an appointment with my doctor to have him follow-up on the excellent care provided by the emergency room urologist. The ER urologist told me that in 25 years of practice this was only the second time he had ever seen this happen. I guess he doesn’t see too many urostomy stomas. Thanks to -----From the Net- Chicago North Suburban Chapter 166 |