I had a quick question. I had a diverting-loop ileostomy, but I only have one outlet (hole). I thought loop ileostomies always had two. Does anyone else have a loop ileostomy with one hole?
Jjones2007
May 24, 2025 1:33 pm
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Posted by: freedancer
In both of my cases, I had no choice. It was surgery or be put 6 feet under! I thank God that He has been with me all these times. Without Him, I never would have known what to do and might not have gone to the hospital when I did. I don't know if you have had your surgery or not yet but I hope you will hang out on this website when you are done. I have learned a great deal through the people here and it is so great having others who have had the same thing done and been through what you are about to or have gone through. The only thing I have turned down is a reversal of the ileostomy. When the doctors did the emergency rebuilding of my original ileostomy this last February, I told them I did not want to go through this again. My doctor told me at that time that I was no longer a candidate for the reversal. In a way, I was very relieved. The last three years of my life have been a nightmare for me. I do not want to go through any of it again. If you wish to be rehooked up and they say you are a good choice for that, research it carefully. Every surgery I have ever had except for Old and New Maxine and the emergency surgery on my broken foot, I have spent weeks researching. I recently had my C5 C6 disk in my neck replaced with an artificial one. I went to my pre-op with 2 pages of questions for the doctor. I knew everything that they were going to do and could talk intelligently with them. I always try to research my adversaries! Don't cancel your surgery. It is nice not to have to suffer any longer with horrible pain. We all had to change a few things around when we had our surgeries but in the long run, most of us are glad we did it. I know I am. Good luck to you!
IGGIE
May 25, 2025 5:49 am
Mine is a straight ileostomy with just one hole, but I thought all loop ileostomies had two holes.
IGGIE
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Axl
May 25, 2025 9:29 am
Hi J
I have a loop that used to have two holes, but one was closed for reasons I cannot remember; just one now.
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DeMaGo
May 25, 2025 5:59 pm
I have a loop ileostomy, and there is a 'distal opening' at the base of my stoma skin level on the left. I actually thought I'd sprung a side leak when I noticed it. I think because I've been careful cleaning and not taking too long changing appliances, I didn't see it.
TerryLT
May 25, 2025 8:45 pm
I have a permanent loop ileostomy. When I first got it, it was considered to be possibly temporary, as I already had a colostomy, and my surgeon wanted to see if I would do better with the ileo while keeping the option of going back if it wasn't successful. My stoma has a second hole at the bottom, but nothing has ever come out of it, even before it was made permanent. I think the surgeon probably closed it up during my last surgery.
Terry
Bri499
Jun 28, 2025 8:05 pm
Very normal. The proximal side, active side, sometimes kind of takes over and leaves your distal loop hidden underneath. From your view, looking down on it, you probably never see it. But if you gently probe with a pinky, you'll probably find it. It's also very normal to have some mucus discharge from it that you probably never noticed because it all goes into the same bag.
Some people have reported having a small, normal bowel movement weeks or months after surgery that can be caused by a full bag that forces stool into the distal end, essentially completing the loop. Pooping like normal. 😂 So if you ever see that, it is possible, and usually that's why.