Erin's Story

In September, 2003, my husband and I had our first child. Her name is Emma. I had an emergency C-section due to premature labor and some other factors. Prior to having her I had numerous ultrasounds done for a possible heart defect (she was fine) and some other things and always complained how sensitive my belly button was. We would later (post C-section) find out I had a umbilical hernia, it went undiagnosed through my pregnancy.

Post op from my C-section, I never felt well and throughout the week my symptoms only increased. I had a large amount of free air in my abdomen and could not have a bowel movement. The nurses and doctors kept telling me to walk, "You need to get your bowels moving." So, I walked, and I walked, and I walked and still nothing. By the 4th and 5th day post op, I was in extreme pain. Luckily my insurance covered 5 days for a C-section, so I was in no hurry to get home.

On the 5th night post op, my colon ruptured (this went undiagnosed for 72 hours). It got caught in my umbilical hernia and twisted off. The sad part about my story is none of the nurses or doctors believed anything I said, so they let me sit for 72 hours with sepsis. Yes, you guessed it, I was near death.

I ruptured on a Friday and by Sunday my vital signs had deteriorated to 190 heart rate and a blood pressure of 200/100. They had me on morphine and Demerol for "gas pain." My mom is a pediatric nurse and that Monday she demanded that a surgeon be called. With reluctant nurses, they called one. After a CT scan of my abdominal area, I was prepped for surgery. I had my ileostomy done in this surgery and an appendectomy. After sewing me up, I went into respiratory failure and had to be resuscitated. I was listed in critical condition and my family was told that I would not make it through the evening. By the grace of God, I did!

I would later have collapsed lungs, chest tubes, on a vent for 20 days, abscesses to my spleen and liver, abscesses to my lower abdominal cavity, numerous drains, numerous blood transfusions and a large hematomin (sp?) of blood from a drain tube being stuck in an artery.

I had 4 abdominal surgeries after my C-section. I was in ICU for 5 weeks. I had to learn to walk again, eat again, talk again, and, more complicating, deal with an ileostomy. I think it is one thing to expect an ostomy, but something of a whole different magnitude to wake up to an ostomy (unexpectedly). I was in shock. I was scared. I was an emotional wreak. I was ashamed. Everything you could possibly feel, I felt. Let alone I had post pregnancy hormones raging.

I was in the hospital a total of 7 weeks. I was not able to physically take care of my daughter for 4 months. On September 27th, 2004, I said so long to "Stan the Stoma" and started my life again. I still suffer from some minor GI problems and will always have the vivid memory of what happen to me. But, the most important thing that I took away from all this is that an ileostomy saved my life. It beat the alternative. God spared me my life to let me watch my beautiful daughter grow up. I will be forever thankful.

I hope that some people from your site can take away from my story that there is hope after an ostomy. There is so much to live for in this life and although difficult and a pain to deal with, it does beat the alternative. I would tell everyone to enjoy your life to the fullest. You never know when your expiration date is. I was 25 when this happened. Most would say far too young to die.

God Bless you for this web site!.

...Erin

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