Weekly Update

Being on the clinically extremely vulnerable list due to taking immunosuppressants, I was scheduled to have a COVID-19 vaccine by February 15th and this week I received my appointment.

This time last September I was heading into surgery for the second time after the main colostomy surgery in January 2019. Complications had arisen and a non-healing wound and fistulae that had formed a track inside meant that the best option was to reopen the perineum and let it heal again with the aid of a VAC. 

Despite some lingering issues, things have been better this year than they were last year and the outlook is looking better than it ever has been in the last two-and-a-half years. 

I’ve been irrigating largely successfully for over 7 months but there have been some issues as a result and at first I couldn’t pinpoint the cause but it appears that the parastomal hernia may not be helping.

It’s been a while since my last wound update but it’s something that hasn’t gone away and looks like it’s not going anywhere fast.

It ’s been almost 11 months since my wound issues started and 11 weeks since my last operation to reopen the area with the aim of allowing it to heal fully.

At my recent appointment with my surgeon, stoma nurse and surgical care practitioner (wound nerd and fellow mycophile!) the idea of colostomy irrigation was brought up. There’s always a lot to take in during an appointment but I think it was raised not because of my hernia (which was a big talking point during the appointment) but because of the things I mentioned such as still having issues with pancaking, leakages at night and random noises.

It’s been 10 months since I had a new bum installed and it’s been a bumpy ride. I was n’t expecting further surgery and I certainly didn’t expect to still be having daily dressing changes to a Ken Butt wound. Here’s an update on the wound, my latest specialist appointment, my hernia and my mental health.