The new stoma

Peter ended up having surgery again yesterday.  The incision from the surgery on the 5th was infected and there was very little transit through the bowel to the colon even after a week.  Peter was having large amounts of green bile come out the G-tube even a week post-op, and had developed a low-grade fever.  

The surgery was another four hour surgery, but seems to have been successful in cleaning out the incision and in increasing the flow of gastic contents through the bowel.  The down side to the surgery, besides the setback to going home, was that Peter ended up getting part of his ostomy back.  This is supposed to be a temporary ostomy, and it is only 7mm big, so nothing, or very little, should come out of it.  The idea is that it will be a "pop-off valve" for gas and stool to pass out if Peter's bowel is having difficulty sending things all the way through and out the rectum.  This will keep the bowel from distending or having bowel contents back up into the stomach.  Peter's bowel prior to this second surgery was distended inside, and that was causing problems with things passing through.  In yesterday's surgery, Dr. Jennings additionally shaved off some of the granulation tissue from the old stoma which may have been causing some partial obstruction, but also adding the pop-off valve should hopefully allow Peter to hurry up home.  The concept seems simple enough, I just hope that it all works this way and we are not having lots out this new stoma.  It is too soon to tell how this is going to go.

Peter is on three IV antibiotics to fight the infection and they seem to be doing the trick.  Peter was up and about today, only 16 hours after surgery, and only needed one dose of Tylenol for pain the entire day.  He has a great spring to his step today, and seems to feel good, not "terrible" as he had been stating to people the last few days.  He even made several rectal stools today.  Perhaps tomorrow he can begin a "clears" diet, and we'll see how the bowel handles that.  Today he was not allowed anything by mouth, other than some meds.  More to follow as time allows.