Home Care After Stoma Reversal

[Katillac, RN]

I'm a private duty nurse who will be caring for my patient before and after her stoma reversal (surgeon hopes to do it laparascopically), and I'd like to get a sense of what her postop course might be. At the time of the reversal, she will have had the ostomy for 12 weeks. The ostomy is in the descending colon and was placed in emergency surgery after ischemic colitis, etiology unknown. Her recovery from the ostomy has been terrific. She's in her 80's but very fit and was fully independent with no comorbidities before the colitis.

How long might she be in the hospital? What will the significant nursing issues be? I'm assuming she'll have some incontinence, how long is that likely to last? What will the prep be? Anything else I need to be aware of?

[annaedRN, RN]

Sounds like a pretty uncomplicated course of having her ostomy and hopefully the takedown will go smoothly as well. Prep will probably be/usually a clean out - make sure she has extra bags or her "emptying" container close by. She could be in hospital for a few days to a week..really depends on how well she does with the surgery, takedown site, etc. Postop care would be assessing hydration/nutrition/elimination, pain, s/s infection and any wound care to take down site (in a nutshell) - there could be anticoagulant/DVT precautions to follow maybe. The wound care could be simple packings or even a wound VAC - depends on wound and the doc. It does seem to take awhile for the stool to become formed - some people longer than others. Sounds like she is in good shape going into all this - hope her recovery goes well.

[Katillac, RN]

Thank you so much for a quick, comprehensive reply!