Hi Ken,

Thanks for the info! My email address is jl487@.... If
you want to chat, please drop me a line. I would love to hear from
you! My mom was never diagnosed with cancer. She developed the
small bowel obstruction back in 2001, the surgeon said that is was
severely damaged & she came out of surgery having had 17 ft removed
(although we weren't told that much was removed until months later
and now her doctors are having a debate as to how much actually was
removed). Right now, she is having problems with constipation and
bloating and the surgeon feels there is possibly a narrowing or
another problem with her colon. They might need to remove all or
part of her colon. I thought it was much more difficult for them to
do a colostomy procedure because she had her ileocecal valve removed?
What caused you to have the colostomy? Was your valve removed? How
long were you in the hospital after the procedure? How was your
recovery and quality of life since then? Sorry for all the
questions. This is all new to me & I am going through a very
frustrating time. Hope to hear from you! Take care, Jenn









--- In colostomy@yahoogroups.com, Ken Berglund <kenberg@i...> wrote:
> Hi Jenn: I am a senior guy, having had my colostomy 12 years
ago. I don't know how much I can help you about your mom's
situation, but I just felt like commenting a little. Wow! Removing
17 feet of the small intestine sounds very drastic, unless the
doctor determined from a colonoscopy-(a fiber optic snake-like,
flexible inspection tube that is viewed on a connected video screen
will inspect the entire intestinal system)- that that particular
section was cancerous and had to be removed. I've never heard of
such a case. Having to wear a collection pouch might sound
inconvenient, but, like in my case it was the only solution to
continue living. I do have to make another positive statement: as
long as no kinking occurs with the intestine, No constipation will
occur. I wear a 2-piece drainable pouching system, and, if I don't
have diarrhea, I'll empty it once or twice per day, and will
change/replace the system every 6-8 days. That "wear" time varies
from one person to anothe
> r, depending upon what specific type of ostomy operation he/she
had. ...............You can get a lot of applicable help at a local
United Ostomy Association support group, which usually meets
once/month. Through them or on your own you can get a lot of info
from a quarterly magazine called the UO Quarterly, which deals ONLY
with ostomy-related topics and applicable ads. ............. If you
want to "talk" with me personally, please let me have your e-mail
address. ..........Ken B.