How small is to small?????
Im new hear and have a problem with blockages
and think that my stoma could be to small????
Or are blockages just part of the whole deal
please let me know as they want to do another op and move my stoma to the right hand side ,
but Iv had enough as I had my last op 5 months ago and dont want to go through another one .

King regards from Geek Girl

I'm not sure how small is too small but when I had an end ilio mine was an inch to an inch (25mm) and an inch and an eighth (29mm). Now that I have a Loop Ilio it is about 3/4-7/8 of an inch (19mm-22mm). I don't know if mine were small or not but I still get blockages on occasion. I got them more after my first surgery (twice a month) but only get them maybe once a month now. Probably less. I guess I had an adhesion that was removed during the second surgery.

I hope this helps

Hi and welcome to the site.

I'm not quite sure what you mean by your stoma being too small. Are you having problems with expelling stool? It could be that there is a stricture (narrowing) where the stoma is stitched to your abdomen. This can sometimes be dilated by a doctor but if the stricture is too far north of the stoma it might not be possible to do anything other than to do a stoma revision. It's quite common practice to move it to the other side of your abdomen if you are having problems with the position it's in at the moment.

I have suffered from bowel obstructions due to adhesions many times but that is because I have had a lot of abdominal surgery. My last operation 2 years ago was to free off some of the more troublesome adhesions and untwist a loop of gut which was also because of adhesions. I have been fine ever since and can now eat just about anything I want in moderation.

I can quite understand why you are fearful of another operation. This kind of surgery is no fun to go through. However a stoma revision is usually a lot less traumatic than your original surgery so should be a lot easier to recover from. If your quality of life is being impaired by the problem with your stoma then I think you should consider the operation to correct this. If there are any other reason (adhesions) that are causing problems then your surgeon will be able to rectify them while he is in there.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do. I hope you feel better soon.

Take care.

Shell

I have a loop ileo and have had it for over a year and it is about 1" in diameter. I have never had a blockage and I eat anything -- in moderation and I chew my food very well. I think that is important.

Shell had some very good advice about seeing your surgeon. You should not be having a problem with blockages as long as you are eating properly and chewing well.

Good luck and keep us posted.

Jim

Hi Geek Girl,

I think the stomas vary per body size of the person, so yours may be smaller if you are on the smaller size. Here are pictures of Mark and his stoma. He did have a few blockages but not becausse of his stoma size, turns out he was forming some scar tissue.

Megan

thank you all so much for your help its appreciated a great deal. the opening is so much smaller than anything you all have spoken about, think smaller than a five cent piece.
But I wont give up searching for the answer.
I will take on board every thing that has been said its all good advice, I wish iI had of thourght to hook up to one of these discussion groups befor.
Anyway folks kind regards from Geek Girl.