stoma bag removal.

[raqmc]

hi all. I am getting my bag removed and was wondering how long does it take to heal.

[MrsD-unit]

Are you having the removal by keyhole or open laparotomy? I’ve just had my reversal by open surgery & am 7 weeks post op. My surgery also had to include extensive surgery to free adhesions & scar tissue (this was my 17th op since Sept 16!) when I woke up I discovered the stoma itself was closed with dissolvable stitches using a ‘purse string’ technique. It looked like a little volcano & gradually disappeared into body & is now a nice flat scar. The stitch only came out last weekend.

The main incision was painful initially (2-3 weeks). It was glued & the scar is great. my abdominal wall & core strength is trashed after so many surgeries but I am so surprised & delighted with how quickly I have regained my strength & healed. I put this down to trying to be in the best shape possible pre op! I still have some mild pain, particularly if I over do it!

I spent 9 days in hospital, I won’t lie to you, once things start moving along it’s not great! I had a couple of days where I barely left the toilet & I became very sore. I was unable to eat until around day 8, my tummy just wasn’t accepting of food!

A few weeks in I still have urgency to go & find that I have to go between 3-6 times per day. I find the foods that caused issues with the stoma cause issues after! The frustration for me currently is I can eat the same meal twice, be fine on one occasion & then have horrific diarrhoea the next.

Overall I’m delighted with my outcome & wish you every success with yours. Good luck!

[Chopper3221 in reply to MrsD-unit]

Did you have soma lapostpically. And did you ever bleed out the bum after

[MrsD-unit in reply to Chopper3221]

Hi, my surgery was all open surgery. I don’t recall any bleeding & would suggest you get this checked out by your doctor. Good luck

[sarahemlee]

I had my ileostomy reversed 3 years ago and haven't looked back. I was in hospital for 5 days, and initially was going around 9-10 a day. But this eased off pretty quickly and am back to a much more normal 2-3 a day now! Food wise I have the same issue as MrsD-unit, garlic caused issues with the bag and still does, I put up with it though!

It's not comfortable after the op, I had 30 staples and the stoma site took some time to heal, but for life without a bag it's so worth it.

Good luck