The Colon Club

Hello, everyone. My mother (a very spry and feisty 82 years old) was diagnosed last November with stage IV colon cancer. It had spread to her liver and a small spot on her lung. She has been taking Keytruda since January, and her lung and colon have been responding very well. The liver, not so much. Monday, they removed the right lobe of her liver and her gallbladder. She is doing super well. However, she has a little tan bag attached to her abdomen about 3” below the incision where her wound vac is attached on the incision. It doesn’t seem to be removable, we didn’t get instructions on how to take care of it, and nothing is draining into it. She is having normal bowel movements. Does anyone have an idea what this might be?
Thank you

IamBT wrote: . . . However, she has a little tan bag attached to her abdomen about 3” below the incision where her wound vac is attached on the incision. It doesn’t seem to be removable, we didn’t get instructions on how to take care of it, and nothing is draining into it. She is having normal bowel movements. Does anyone have an idea what this might be?
Thank you

Am I correct to assume she is having normal bowel movements out her rectum?

Because they did not do surgery on her colon, I am going to assume that is not an ostomy bag, butt at the same time,i do not know what it is. I have a colostomy bag & I have a wafer attached to my stomach & the bag is attached to the wafer like a tupperware system.

Is she still in the hospital? If not, any type of follow up care? Can you call the surgeon or the surgeon's office?

Hopefully someone who's had this type of surgery can give you a better answer.

Good luck,

Lee

This is definitely a question for her doctor's office! Call the surgeon's office! I am astonished that this was not addressed when she was leaving the hospital, frankly. Presumably she has a follow-up appt with her surgeon scheduled?

Yes. let us know. I am puzzled too. There was a guy in our ostomy group that talked about a wound vac he had for about 6 months with a fistula draining pouch also I think is what he said. Maybe its something like that?

So I didn’t have anyone I could call that night, and when she went in for bloodwork the next day (she was discharged 5 days after surgery, on a Friday, and I moved in to take care of her) the blood draw nurse said it didn’t look like a colostomy. She had a follow up visit today, and the woundvac and the bag have been removed. The skin looks normal where it was, and there is no dressing on that area. I couldn’t go in (thanks for making all this more difficult, COVID) and we still don’t know what it was for.
Sh’s going incredibly well for an 83 year old woman who has never had any surgery before this, or really been sick at all.
Thanks for trying to answer my question. I am glad to have found you folks.

It sounds as if it was a bag for the wound vac to pump fluids into. I had a wound vac in the hospital, but I do't recall what it was hooked up to. Probably something like that.

Any way, it sounds like she is healing well! May that continue.

Does she have surgical staples? Does she have an appointment to have them removed?

No staples or stitches outside. They used some kind of superglue. She has steri-strips supporting the wound, but they will fall off by themselves. Her incision looks great, actually.

boxhill wrote:It sounds as if it was a bag for the wound vac to pump fluids into. I had a wound vac in the hospital, but I do't recall what it was hooked up to. Probably something like that.

Any way, it sounds like she is healing well! May that continue.

Does she have surgical staples? Does she have an appointment to have them removed?

She's lucky she doesn't have staples. I found them highly uncomfortable. I was so relieved when they were removed!