Scalpel's Edge

A surgeon's notes

Perspective

A patient undergoing bowel resection for cancer told me that I shouldn’t wake him up if we have to give him a stoma (colostomy or ileostomy).  I told him we are very bad at letting people die for no good reason, but he was adamant.  This patient had an operation that went very smoothly, and we had no issue complying with his issues.

Meanwhile, I am also looking after another patient who required a pelvic exenteration for recurrent pelvic cancer. She had her rectum, vagina, uterus and bladder removed.  As a result of this, she has two stomas – one for her urine and one for her faeces.  She had a long course in hospital due to complications and when she was finally able to go home and be with her family, my mood soared for a week.

Thinking of her makes me want to slap him.  I won’t, though.  They frown on that.

One response to “Perspective”

  1. DrJ says:

    So glad your back

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

(c) 2024 C.Cuthbertson. All Rights Reserved. All views expressed on this website are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of any other persons or organisations, such as employers, affiliations, publishers or colleagues.