Hello everyone!
I've been reading many of the stories and different topics. So today I decided to join and for the first time tell my story. In July of 2022, I started radiation therapy for prostate cancer. All went well until my 40th treatment. I started to feel run down and suffered from fatigue. After my final 46th treatment, I was really sick. I lost 35 pounds. My radiation oncologist said I would recover in a couple of weeks. Well... I got sicker... and sicker. After 2 weeks of misery, my doctor really didn't know what to do. I couldn't eat, had horrible fatigue and fever. Finally, he told me to go to the emergency room. Once there, they admitted me to the hospital and told me I had a sepsis infection. After a week in isolation, they discovered I also had C Diff and peritonitis. I was put on powerful IV and oral antibiotics. I still couldn't eat and continued to lose weight. After nearly 3 weeks, doctors told me the infection was unchanged. I had multiple CT scans, but doctors couldn't figure out why the infection remained. Surgery was a last resort because the radiation permanently alters tissue, preventing proper healing. My infection doctor finally told me: I couldn't continue on antibiotics due to eventual bacterial resistance. Which meant I would probably not survive much longer. By this time I was in intense, constant pain. I refused pain medication. But finally, I couldn't take it anymore. I agreed to emergency surgery. I'm crying as I type this. This is the first time I've ever fully recounted what happened to me. It was so hard. Well, I had surgery that night. I told my surgeon I would live with whatever he had to do. He figured the operation would last 3 hours. Well... it lasted 7 hours. My wife was in the waiting room. Surgery finished at 1:00 am. My wife didn't know what had happened; she figured I would have been in recovery hours earlier. The hospital was shut down, no one was around. So she went back to my room. She thought maybe I had died. The doctor must have come out when she was gone. After I woke up around 4:00 am, I was in my room. I texted her I was OK. She is still mad about how it all turned out. So why was I so sick? 15 years earlier I had 3 hernias surgically fixed with mesh. Over the years, 2 of the meshes migrated into my bladder and intestine. Eventually, my intestine was perforated allowing stool into my abdomen, causing infection. Lucky for me, my surgeon was an expert in intestinal and hernia surgery. He had to remove all the mesh. That's what took so long. When I woke up... I felt normal again, not sick, no horrible pain. What an amazing feeling. A portion of my colon was removed and a colostomy installed. I had hiccups for 3 days which thankfully faded away. A few days later, a huge hole opened up at the bottom of my surgical incision. That took 4 weeks to repair. I was malnourished and really frail. Finally, my appetite came back. For the first time in 2 months, I ate solid food. Fortunately, my bladder didn't get perforated. I gained back 20 pounds and returned to full-time work 4 weeks after surgery. A month later I suffered from post-sepsis syndrome. Most of my hair fell out, my joints were inflamed, and a lot of my skin peeled off. I could hardly walk. But still made it to work every day. I had to buy all new clothes due to weight loss.
So it's now 7+ months since my medical adventure. I have avoided junk food and kept the weight off I lost. I was given the opportunity to have reversal surgery. After a lot of research and thought... I declined. I've had 11 major surgeries with no complications. I'll quit while I'm ahead. I'm OK with the colostomy. I have developed a peristomal hernia. So I occasionally wear a belt to push it in a bit. I have some prolapse. But better than retraction. I use a 2-piece system. Change bags 2-3 times a week. Change wafer once a week. Works well for me. Skin looks good. Never had a leak.
My wife is happy I survived and regained my strength. She does not like the colostomy. She does not like to talk about it or see it. I've shown it to my coworkers. They are amazed to see something that's normally inside the body, now sticking out. Only thing that really changed for me is this: Emotion. Whenever I try to explain to someone what happened to me... I cry. Really hard. I've hardly ever cried in my life. I was a tough cat. I had 9 hours of surgery for stage 4 thyroid cancer when I was 23. 2 weeks later I was surfing again. Never gave it a second thought. But this recent medical adventure really beat me down. In the midst of intense pain, I told my wife I couldn't take it anymore. I asked God to please make it stop. I feel in many ways God did save me. When I'm feeling a little down.. I read Psalm 18: 6, 16. As much as events went wrong for me in the hospital... they went right. My surgeon was one of the few who performed intestinal and hernia surgery at my hospital. And at the time, was the only one available to do it. I received amazing care. Nurses, technicians, doctors, administrative staff were so caring and genuinely concerned about me. I used to think that if I got really sick, I could marshal together my internal strength, my "can do" spirit and carry on. No, no, no. I couldn't do it this time. That's why in the depths of my despair and agony, I asked God for help.
I'm glad to be part of Ostomates. Thanks for reading my story.
