--- In ileostomy@yahoogroups.com, "alricca3" <aricci5444@a...> wrote:
> Hi Al,

I usually don't respond to emails, but I couldn't let this one go
by. I want to tell you that I had a very good experience at the
Lahey Clinic and because you are in the Boston area, maybe you could
check them out. My surgeon's name was Dr. Schetz(not sure that is
spelled right, it has been 11 years since I have seen him). I am
sure if you go up on their website you can find out about him. If
you have any problems, I would be happy to look into for you. I
can't tell you what to do, but I feel it can't hurt to look into
another doctor. Clearly, you are not completely satisfied with who
you have now. Let me know if I can help in any way. My thoughts and
prayers are with your son..........Lynne
>
> Hi:
>
> My son had ulcerative colitis and after several years of steroids
and
> trying other medications we decided to proceed with a pull-
through.
> He's 11 years old. The first surgery was completed recently. The
> surgeon decided to perform it laporoscopically with our consent on
> the morning of the surgery (despite the fact that the GI had
> indicated previously that laporoscopic would not be appropriate for
> my son). Damage was done to the duodenum during the colectomy and
> the surgeon made a larger incision to make repairs. My son was
> discharged a couple of weeks ago. But he started getting high
fevers
> and vomiting. We visited the ER after about a week out of the
> hospital and they decided it was a stomach virus. The fevers and
> vomiting continued for another week and we returned to the ER a
> couple of days ago. They decided that there was an infection and
> following a CatScan identified an abcess near where the incision
had
> been made to repair the duodenum. Yesterday they proceeded to
place
> a drain in the abcess but missed on the first attempt and put a 1.5
> mm puncture in the duodenum. (They did ultimately succeed in
placing
> the drain) Because of the recentness of the colectomy, they are
> reluctant to perform additional surgery to repair the new
puncture.
> They have him on intravenous feeding and an NG tube for at least a
> week in the "hope" that the duodenum will repair itself. If it
does
> not, he faces further surgery to effect the repair in about a month
> when he is sufficiently recovered from the colectomy (I assume he
> would stay on the NG tube and intravenous feeding until that
time).
> He is also on intravenous antibiotics to address the infection. He
> is also on the equivalent of 6.25 mg prednisone and we have stopped
> the weaning until the damage to the duodenum is healed.
>
> My questions are -
>
> Are these complications common? This feels like we are slipping
out
> of control with each procedure causing more damage than previously
> existed.
>
> Is there anything else that anyone knows of that we should be doing
> to try to resolve this issue?
>
> Would it be crazy to change the hospital and surgeon to perform the
> 2nd and 3rd phases of the pull-through? We would of course wait
> until my son was stable before changing. My fear is that we have
had
> this hospital perform surgical procedures on my son twice and on
both
> occasions they damaged the duodenum. I understand that the 2nd
phase
> of the procedure can be more sensitive than the first with a
> potential for causing more significant damage (e.g., to the
> reporductive system). On the other hand, the first surgeon has
first
> hand knowledge of what was done previously and so may be the best
> person to "go in" again. If we were to change - any
recommendations
> on how to find an appropriate surgeon? We are in the Boston area -
> though of course travel to get this done "right" would be
acceptable.
>
> Any advice would be helpful.
>
> Al