Hi Welshman,
A few years ago, I emptied my pouch and out poured about a quart of blood. I was quite concerned, so I removed the faceplate. The blood sprayed around my friend's all-white bathroom, walls, floors, etc. It was a mess. Originally, I thought it was from the stoma, so at 5 am, I called my doctor in NYC. He told me to get to the hospital. I didn't want to go to the local hospital. Since I was able to stop the blood by holding a towel over it, I called a friend to take me to the NYC hospital emergency room as the doctor directed.
It turned out that the bleeding was from a very small "bump" or "ulcer" right in the crease between the skin and where the stoma meets the skin. The surgeon's staff doctors (residents) cauterized it and managed to stop the bleeding, but I didn't get to see the surgeon that day. Sadly, it happened again the next day, so I was back in the emergency room for another cauterization. It was "scary," but I was told it wasn't dangerous.
I finally got to see the surgeon the following week, and he diagnosed the bump and subsequent lesions as "Pyoderma Gangarosum," which is actually ulcerative colitis on the skin. I've had a few more lesions through the years caused by a scratch that didn't heal on my scar, on my belly, and on my lower back where a pair of jeans irritated sensitive skin. Instead of healing the "minor" irritation, it turns into a deep hole (an ulcer) that then has to heal from the inside out. Each one took months to heal. The condition is not uncommon in people who have had Inflammatory Bowel Disease. You can Google Pyoderma Gangarosum/Ostomy pictures to see if it looks the same. It seems that it can happen anywhere on the body. Live and learn. And I thought that with the colon removed, the disease was gone. I'm now told that it's one of those immunosuppressant conditions that is systemic and looks for a good place to develop.
I hope this helps all of you so you're not as scared if it happens to you.
Best Regards
Marsha