For those with an ostomy

Lovekitties
Lovekitties Member Posts: 3,364 Member
in Colorectal Cancer #1
I found this interesting, regarding the first colostomy.
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The First Colostomy

A French surgeon named M. Pilore performed the first ostomy surgery in 1776, after all other treatment attempts had failed to help his patient. Without treatment, the patient’s bowel blockage was certain to prove fatal. Pilore attempted surgery as a last-resort attempt to treat the blockage.

To perform the surgery, Pilore made an opening through the patient’s abdominal wall into the caecum, the first part of the large intestine. He pulled the free end of the bowel through the patient’s abdomen and stitched the bowel to the patient’s skin, creating a stoma where partially digested food could leave the patient’s body. The first colostomy surgery was complete.

After surgery, the patient used what was probably the first ostomy appliance: a sponge held to the opening with an elastic bandage to absorb any leakage. Without access to today’s appliances, the patient opted to keep his bowel clear by performing regular enemas.

This first colostomy surgery successfully bypassed the patient’s bowel blockage. Two weeks later, though, the patient died of an infection in his small bowel, perhaps complicated by mercury poisoning. An autopsy recovered two pounds of mercury in his bowel.

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I don't know about the rest of you, but I had no idea that this type of surgery was first performed over 200 years ago. Guess we can all be glad we no longer use mercury as a treatment for bowel obstructions and that we now have better applicanes.

Marie who loves kitties

Comments

  • Buzzard
    Buzzard Member Posts: 3,043 Member
    #2
    Mercury...thats what an anecdote for blockage ? Im interested
    in learning more about all of that. That interests me a lot...great read Marie, I like those tidbits of info, but now I want more........I enjoy reading of old medicines tried and failed or tried and true and how it all comes about through trial and tribulation...Im certain this disease will end the same way.......
  • coloCan
    coloCan Member Posts: 1,944 Member
    #3
    Buzzard said:

    Mercury...thats what an anecdote for blockage ? Im interested
    in learning more about all of that. That interests me a lot...great read Marie, I like those tidbits of info, but now I want more........I enjoy reading of old medicines tried and failed or tried and true and how it all comes about through trial and tribulation...Im certain this disease will end the same way.......

    Back then, when you were a kid, Buzz, it was thought that the
    heaviness of mercury, when ingested, would push out the stools....of course, mercury poisoning, the mad hatter's disease, wasn't known then......

    There;s a bit of ostomy history at a site called: stomaatje.com

    as well as nursingcenter.com
  • Buckwirth
    Buckwirth Member Posts: 1,258 Member
    #4
    Buzzard said:

    Mercury...thats what an anecdote for blockage ? Im interested
    in learning more about all of that. That interests me a lot...great read Marie, I like those tidbits of info, but now I want more........I enjoy reading of old medicines tried and failed or tried and true and how it all comes about through trial and tribulation...Im certain this disease will end the same way.......

    Mercury, Autopsies and Surgery
    Mercury was also the accepted treatment for VD. They used to inject it directly into the, well, let's just say "infected area".

    Mercury is still used in medicine, though in very small amounts.

    Religion's around the world banned autopsies for most of the second millennia. It was not until the Renaissance in Europe that we began actually opening up human bodies and figuring out what makes us tick (and why we died).

    Then, in the Napoleonic wars, the barber surgeons were able to experiment further on the wounded, sometimes killing, sometimes saving their patients.

    Later, problems of bleeding and pain were resolved, leaving the issue of infection, which was poorly understood. It was not until 1847 that anyone considered washing hands prior to surgery was important.

    The prevalent theory of the time was that disease (and maggots) were created by spontaneous generation, a sort of miracle.

    In the 1860's the germ theory of disease began to take a foothold, it was not until 1945 that an antibiotic became commercially available to the medical profession.

    Were you aware that ice cream was believed by many to cause polio in the early 1950's? A graph showing ice cream sales and polio incidence correlated almost exactly. It was a coincidence, but it led to a huge drop in ice cream sales.
  • Buckwirth
    Buckwirth Member Posts: 1,258 Member
    #5
    Marie
    Thanks! That was a great post!
  • plh4gail
    plh4gail Member Posts: 1,238 Member
    #6
    Thank's for the interesting
    Thank's for the interesting information Marie!

    Gail
  • Buckwirth
    Buckwirth Member Posts: 1,258 Member
    #7
    Joseph Lister
    Was the leader in antisepsis. He began washing his instruments, hands and the wound with carbolic acid (up until that time its primary use was deodorizing garbage). In 1869, using this technique, and with ether as an anesthetic, he successfully removed a tumor from his sister's breast (who died three years later from metastasis). He was the first to recommend washing hands before and after surgery. For his accomplishments he was made a Baron!

    His name is still famous: Listerine, it kills germs!
  • Buzzard
    Buzzard Member Posts: 3,043 Member
    #8
    Buckwirth said:

    Joseph Lister
    Was the leader in antisepsis. He began washing his instruments, hands and the wound with carbolic acid (up until that time its primary use was deodorizing garbage). In 1869, using this technique, and with ether as an anesthetic, he successfully removed a tumor from his sister's breast (who died three years later from metastasis). He was the first to recommend washing hands before and after surgery. For his accomplishments he was made a Baron!

    His name is still famous: Listerine, it kills germs!

    See, I love this type of trivia.....
    learn a lot I never knew.........

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