Stoma & Car Accident: Seeking Advice

Hi, so I was wondering if anyone has experienced an RTC with their stoma already in place? Not an RTC which has then led to a stoma. My husband was driving me to a hospital appointment on Wednesday afternoon when a van drove straight through a set of red lights as we were coming off the M5. Paul only just saw him, so could steer away a little, brake, but the van didn't brake at all, so hit us full force at the front. I seem to be the only one who is injured, probably as I have multiple chronic illnesses, but the two which are affecting me the most are my joints (EDS) and my stoma/ileostomy. I'm getting really horrendous stomach pains with output that is either pure liquid or tiny amounts of very thick, dark output. Either way, it's very painful, almost like a blockage. My seatbelt wasn't over my stoma, as I find it too uncomfortable. Has anyone else had a similar experience? Does anyone have any suggestions or advice which may help. Thank you XxxX

Hi Gem

I have a friend who had a car accident. He doesn't have an ostomy, but he unknowingly had his appendectomy scar adhere to his intestine after the operation. In the accident, the seat belt strained his abdomen so much that the adhesion tore his large intestine, and he was in a lot of trouble until they worked out what was happening. The point is, go and get a scan for peace of mind.

Go and see your doctor. You could have internal injuries, you could be okay... but please don't take any chances.

You're worried, so get checked out to be on the safe side. As you're in the UK, you could phone 111 and see what professional medical advice they can give you, or go to A&E if you think it needs looking at urgently now. Or wait until Monday morning and phone GP surgery, or better option, phone your stoma nurse.

Thank you for your replies.

I've kept myself dosed up on all the good stuff today, so will see how tonight goes. Normally I wouldn't have a second thought about going in to get checked over, but the way I've been treated recently in hospitals and how everything is going on with my 2 local hospitals makes me wait longer to see if it's really needed or not (Even the ambulance 2nd one, didn't want to take me to A&E) that was straight afterwards with back, neck, hip and knee pain. Maybe I look too much into it, but the standard of care I started to receive after I made a complaint dropped dramatically, even though it was valid and started legal proceedings. Can't ever seem to get a break. I will call my stoma nurse tomorrow, as she's part-time. I will do the same with my pain management team, to see what can be done with my shoulder that's not staying in place properly (it's just clicking in and out if I try certain motions, and it's my dominant arm) also see what can be done about my back pain, as the crash made it 5× worse.

Your response just made me see the problems that could be caused by scar tissue!! The idea that the scar tissue/adhesions could actually damage internal organs if subjected to the pulling/jarring which come with an RTA or a fall etc. Last time I was opened up to have my rectum/J pouch removed, they couldn't continue and said the scar tissue was like a lace curtain covering and attached to lots of organs inside. Your comment made me more aware of the kind of damage even a minor accident/fall could cause. Sort of how a pulled tendon takes a bit of the bone with it!! A seat belt could really do major damage but not using it could get you killed!! I try to keep the lap part of the seat belt as low as possible below my stoma site. Driving carefully yourself is only half of the equation...it's the idiots crossing your path or coming at you that you cannot control!! In Ireland, I have seen tourists driving on the wrong side of the road. A French girl driving on the wrong side ran head-on into a car just ahead of me, demolishing both cars!! Each car was going about 50mph. Thanks to airbags and seat belts, nobody was injured...just a lot of crying and apologizing when everyone came to their senses. That incident brought home to me the value of and the need to use a seat belt even with the airbags, they work together to keep you alive!!

Don't sit worrying about it, I'm sure under the circumstances your GP or hospital would see you straight away.

I never wear my seatbelt, unless there's law enforcement around. I'd just assume go through the window as get the seatbelt. I've been in one minor accident that really didn't matter either way.

I now have a very skeptical view regarding the supposed benefits of wearing a seatbelt at all times, for the following very compelling reason:

My colostomy was actually the direct result of a major MVA: when the driver of a 30 tonne gravel truck + trailer, coming in the opposite direction to my vehicle, slammed on his brakes to avoid running into a couple of cars that had stopped to make a right-hand turn not far ahead of his vehicle. This incident occurred in broad daylight on an almost straight stretch of road, so the subsequent police investigation found that it was totally attributable to his own negligent driving. The truck's brakes locked, and it skidded out of control across the centre line directly into the path of oncoming traffic — which consisted of my vehicle and a Landcruiser 4WD that had been following close behind me. The combined speed of this multiple collision (since my car was rear-ended as well as hit head-on) was well in excess of 90km/hour, since it occurred in a 70km/hour max speed zone, and I only had a few seconds of being able to apply my brakes before the impact.

So it was considered to be something of a 'miracle' (by other people, not by me) that I wasn't killed outright. Instead I somehow survived: trapped in my car, which itself was completely mangled and a total 'write-off', with a multitude of major injuries. It took almost 90 minutes before the emergency services and ambulance personnel were able to cut me out of the wreckage and begin resuscitation procedures. By that time I was unconscious due to massive internal hemorrhages caused by multiple internal injuries (including crushed lungs, a ruptured spleen and a 2.7cm rupture of my descending colon); and a total of 23 fractures: located in my cervical and lumbar spine, ribs, pelvis and right femur.

Shortly after arrival in hospital emergency surgery was performed for some of my internal injuries, which included: the removal of my spleen and almost my entire descending colon, the construction of a colostomy, and the stabilization of my neck fractures (which included the often fatal "Hangman's fracture of the C2 vertebra).

My recovery was complicated by severe peritonitis, due to the massive spillage of bowel contents; together with the damage to my lungs that was worsened by the development of acute bacterial pneumonia. After a week in intensive care — for most of that time I was fortunately maintained in an induced coma — I was considered to be capable of surviving a further session of surgery, and my shattered right femur was stabilized with metal plates and a multitude of screws. I then spent a further three and a half months in hospital. For most of that time I was unable to move due to intravenous lines in my neck or arms, plus oxygen tubes either down my throat or up my nose; but I was eventually hoisted out of bed for short sessions sitting in a chair, or later learning to use a wheelchair or walking frame. I can only describe these months as "hell on earth", both physically as well as psychologically.

The end result — several years down the track from this incident — is that I remain a cripple who is in pretty much constant pain from my spinal and leg injuries, as well as someone who has to live with a permanent colostomy. My life can only be described as highly unsatisfactory, since I am unable to enjoy so many of the activities that previously made my life worthwhile. In particular, I am no longer capable of working as a veterinarian, so what was once a successful and fulfilling career is now completely over.

The most important point I would like to make from this story is that all of these permanent injuries were directly caused by the seatbelt I was wearing at the time of the accident. It is my firmly held belief that I would have been far better off if I hadn't been wearing it, and had instead crashed though the windscreen for a quick and merciful death.

Not surprisingly I developed a severe case of PTSD after this accident: it required many months of psychological sessions before I could even contemplate getting behind the wheel of a car again. The only way I eventually managed to get the car moving was by practicing a procedure that might ensure that I would never have to go through the horrors of surviving another major MVA ever again: rapidly unbuckling the seatbelt and taking my foot off the brake pedal if it ever looked like a collision was once again inevitable.

Think dark output could be blood. You need to see a doctor now