hi,
background: colostomy surgery (including removal of rectum) May, 2005.
since then, the anal opening has not healed. in the meantime, i had
another
surgery in dec. 2006 to repair a perforation in my bladder, and the
colorectal
surgeon moved "omentum" down into the pelvis to promote healing. for
the
first time in 13 years, tissue removed from the pelvic cavity/anal
canal opening
proved to be cancerous (recurrent rectal cancer from 1994). now,
after
a year of radiation (one month) and folfox chemo (six months), the
pelvic
cavity has shrunk, and no evidence of the cancer is showing up in ct
scans,
and CEA has dropped to 1.4.
now, to get to my question, there still is discharge from the opening--
usually
a pinkish fluid with some mucous (the amount of mucous has diminished
significantly over the year)--presumably by eliminating the cancer in
the
pelvis, the anal wound should be healing. what are the features of
"normal
healing" after a colostomy? is the pinkish discharge normal? mucous?
and
how long does it take "normally" for the anal wound to heal.
thanks in advance,
--ralph p.
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