Abdominoperineal Resection

Hi Jeanette, I can't give you a woman's view but did have the same surgery. Having been in medicine for many years I had always heard, and had a few patients-years ago- that it was a very severe and almost disabling operation. Thus I had alot of anxiety before the procedure 15 months ago. I found that the actual surgery and recovery from it were not that bad. They get you up to walk right away and while there is soreness it is a very important part of the recovery process. I like music with a beat so brought an Ipod to the hospital and walked up and down the halls to music. It helped alot and mentally made me feel better.

The initial response I had to the colostomy was "how am I going to deal with this the rest of my life?". At first, they use a clear pouch and that is sort of depressing. As soon as you can it is helpful to switch to an opaque pouch. Having a good ostomy nurse is very important as well. It didn't take long to adjust to taking care of the pouch and now it is just another thing like brushing and flossing. I have not changed the way I dress but have had to make a few adjustments. If you do much in the way of lifting it would pay to get a hernia belt as soon as your stoma is a stable size. Having a hole cut through the abdominal muscles makes you susceptible to getting a hernia at that spot. I found that being limited to lifting 10 lbs or so the rest of my life was not going to work and did develop the hernia. At some point I may have surgery for it but in the meantime I wear a belt to help lessen the effect. You will also want to always have an extra pouch and supplies with you. I think, at some point or another, most people will have an episode where you start to lose the seal and the pouch starts to come loose. It is very frightening the first time especially if you are not prepared for it. Some people do irrigation daily and are able not to have to wear a pouch but just have a cover. I'm sure you will get more information on that here and on the ostomy websites.

At this point I really do all the activities I did before. Stay positive. You will do well with your surgery.

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I had an laporoscopic abdominoperineal resection the end of November. They loosened everything up laporoscopically, then removed it from the incision below. I was in the hospital for a week. I had the services of a home healthcare nurse twice a week for a little over a month to help me learn to take care of the colonostomy.

I went back to work part-time after a month and worked up to full time as I felt like it.

I lost the bag once at home during the Christmas holidays (cried like a baby) and twice after I went to work (where I handled it fine.) I live near home, so I just went home to change. If I didn't live near work, I might keep a change of clothes handy at work, just in case.

Now that I've learned to take care of things, it is just another form of normal. Sometimes it makes rude noises, and sometimes it makes rude odors, but nothing traumatic. I have already had 9 every-other-week chemo sessions out of the 12 the doctor wants to do. Chemo does stir things up a bit, so I swing from one extreme to the other in my toilet habits.

I was completely honest at work about what was going on, and they have been understanding and supportive. I was complaining about the odors to a coworker this week, and she confided that she had the same problem without a colonostomy!

The soreness on my bottom took a little while to go away, but go away it did. I haven't changed my clothing size, but finding underwear that doesn't cut across the stoma is difficult. You have to have some with the waistline at or above your waist level. I have found that some lycra or light stretchiness helps. My home healthcare nurse suggested taking very lightweight girdles and cutting an opening over the stoma large enough to pull the pouch through and using an overcast stitch to keep it from raveling would help support the abdominal muscles. It's comfy, but a pain in the bathroom, and the pouch could use a covering, because it isn't really pretty, but that's just the girly girl in me talking.

Follow all their instructions in the hospital, especially about diet, walking, and lifting. I'll remember you in my prayers. Let me know how you do.

kathleenss said:

I had an laporoscopic abdominoperineal resection the end of November. They loosened everything up laporoscopically, then removed it from the incision below. I was in the hospital for a week. I had the services of a home healthcare nurse twice a week for a little over a month to help me learn to take care of the colonostomy.

I went back to work part-time after a month and worked up to full time as I felt like it.

I lost the bag once at home during the Christmas holidays (cried like a baby) and twice after I went to work (where I handled it fine.) I live near home, so I just went home to change. If I didn't live near work, I might keep a change of clothes handy at work, just in case.

Now that I've learned to take care of things, it is just another form of normal. Sometimes it makes rude noises, and sometimes it makes rude odors, but nothing traumatic. I have already had 9 every-other-week chemo sessions out of the 12 the doctor wants to do. Chemo does stir things up a bit, so I swing from one extreme to the other in my toilet habits.

I was completely honest at work about what was going on, and they have been understanding and supportive. I was complaining about the odors to a coworker this week, and she confided that she had the same problem without a colonostomy!

The soreness on my bottom took a little while to go away, but go away it did. I haven't changed my clothing size, but finding underwear that doesn't cut across the stoma is difficult. You have to have some with the waistline at or above your waist level. I have found that some lycra or light stretchiness helps. My home healthcare nurse suggested taking very lightweight girdles and cutting an opening over the stoma large enough to pull the pouch through and using an overcast stitch to keep it from raveling would help support the abdominal muscles. It's comfy, but a pain in the bathroom, and the pouch could use a covering, because it isn't really pretty, but that's just the girly girl in me talking.

Follow all their instructions in the hospital, especially about diet, walking, and lifting. I'll remember you in my prayers. Let me know how you do.

I started using the Adapt Lubricating Deodorant (which comes in packets) and some M9 odor eliminator drops (comes in 1 oz bottles for when you are out and 8 oz at home) with each emptying of the pouch and it has really taken care of the odor. In fact if I do notice any odor it is usually a sign that the pouch is coming loose-fortunately hasn't happened much EXCEPT 3 times while on vacation.

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