Hello again everyone. After 19 years with ileo 2.0, I have my first infection. It started with a swelling above my stoma, which I attributed to my gallbladder (I've had a few episodes lately), but the latest swelling turned to redness and eventual hard swollen section directly above the stoma. When I changed my appliance, I noticed the hard reddened area was the top half of the wafer area. It became more and more painful over the next 2 days to the point where I couldn't straighten out while standing and couldn't sit without severe pain. So here I am 7 days later in the hospital with a drainage tube and an IV for antibiotics and morphine (so I apologize for any typos or rambling in advance). The doctors, after reviewing my ultrasound and CT scan, have confirmed my gallstones but don't seem to be able to assess much more than a random general infection. The tube comes out tomorrow and I just started getting antibiotics orally tonight. After having an ileo for so long, I thought I had experienced it all. But after reading through some of the other posts on similar topics, I guess the old adage is true - you never stop learning. So my question is this: has anyone else had a similar experience? The swelling of the stoma (more length than width), is that in any way related? How do I avoid this in the future?
As an aside, I can't begin to describe how grateful I am for this site and all of you. Just reading some of the recent posts has helped me tremendously. Again, I'll apologize if this rambles a little or the typos make it hard to read, but between the morphine and the iPad autocorrect... well, need I say more? Thanks, Michael
As an aside, I can't begin to describe how grateful I am for this site and all of you. Just reading some of the recent posts has helped me tremendously. Again, I'll apologize if this rambles a little or the typos make it hard to read, but between the morphine and the iPad autocorrect... well, need I say more? Thanks, Michael