About 7 yrs ago, I had a sigmoid resection surgery (at about 10 cm
from the anus) becaus of cancer. Since then, I had several bowel
obstructions.
At the hospital, I generally had IV fluid, NG tube and pain killers,
and then discharged a few days later. However, about a year ago, the
emergency doctor gave me an ileostomy without my specific consent,
while my colorectal surgeon was out of town.
My colorectal surgeon, who operated on me 7 yrs ago, now tells me that
he has found harden surgery scar tissues at my sigmoid site that has
narrowed and may have caused my past blockages. He proposes to close
my ileostomy and open a colostomy. In his view, he cannot surgically
remove the scar tissues at the sigmoid site, and he cannot use stents
to open up my sigmoid narrow passage.
However, for the past few months, I have had the barium follow through
and enema x-rays from my stomach to my anus, and the fluid flowed OK
inside my small bowel and colon.
Now, I am not sure if I should accept my surgeon's surgery proposal to
have a colostomy because that is a big surgery, and I dont know if the
benefit, if any, would outweigh the sugery risks.
In my view, as my bowel obstruction comes about once a year, the
hospital may open my sigmoid passage through non-surgical means (e.g.,
pumping air).
About 3 weeks ago, I asked my surgeon to get a 2nd opinion from
another colorectal surgeon. But, he has yet to get back to me.
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