My dad was diagnosed in October with cancer of his esophagas he has had esophagas surgery but unfortunately his esophagas couldn't be rejoined to his stomach he now has a stoma bag attacked to his neck well by his breast bone he can't eat or drink for 6 months I just want to know if anyone has had a stoma bag on their neck we are finding that they leak a lot due to the place they are fitted has anyone got any advice for us and if so what are the best stoma bags or adhesive there is no information about neck stoma a online even the staff in the Royal Liverpool hospital said they haven't seen a stoma for necks as its a temporary and rare procedure
Esophagas cancer : My dad was diagnosed... - Oesophageal & Gas...
Esophagas cancer
I think that making sure that this arrangement works best is something that has to be done with the surgeons at the hospital. I have seen a patient with something that sounds very similar, but I do not understand the working of it properly. I am sure that the surgeons and/or specialist nurses would be able to get further advice from their colleagues at other hospitals (eg St Thomas' in London springs to mind; or Newcastle).
If they leak they do have to be fixed, and this means contacting the ward or the specialist nurses if your father is no longer an in-patient at the hospital. If he is in the hospital at the moment, I suggest that you try and fix up a bedside meeting with the surgeon so that you can all be aware of exactly how to tackle this best.
Further, a likely cause of the problem MAY be that the gastric conduit (the re-shaped stomach that is fashioned into a 'tube') became ischaemic (problems with blood supply keeping the tissue healthy).
The sticking of the stoma bag can be a problem as the area is not flat. The stoma nurses in the colorectal department can usually help.
As you say, these arrangements tend to be temporary. In some cases it is possible to rejoin his system using his colon, but this is a very specialist operation, and I believe that patients from all over the country are taken to St Thomas' for this surgery.
Sorry to hear about these complications, and they are unusual, but they have been fixed and sorted out before, and let's hope that your father's can too.
The reason my dad couldn't have his remaining esophagus joined to his stomach was because he had a very enlarged spleen the spleen was That large it had damaged some of my dads stomach so he had a third of his stomach removed his spleen and some of his esophagus his surgeon has suggested he will take a piece of dads bowler I attach to the existing esophagus and stomach at a later date
I hope your dad is doing OK. These things do sound very complicated, but they have been done before OK.
hope all goes well. I belong to a group here in Oxford and must say I have not come across that, but if I get a chance I will ask at the next meeting.
Thank you for replying to my message I just hope and pray the surgery goes well later this year