Colocutaneous fistula from colon surgery/cancer?
My mom found out she had a tumor in her colon during exploratory surgery. Two weeks following surgery, her anastomosis failed leaking stool out the incision site. We were told she has a colocutaneous fistula. Since then (11/17/06) she has been nothing by mouth, has a PICC line to infuse TPN. She has developed C-Diff three times and is currently on Vancomycin by mouth. The doctors treating her are not real experienced with this condition and are not very informative. Our question is, how sucessful would surgery be at this point and is there someone that could be recommended. We will travel with cash if someone can help us. PLEASE. We need to get her chemo started and cant wait forever.
Tagged with: anastomosis • c diff • chemo • colocutaneous fistula • colon • doctors • exploratory surgery • incision • mom • picc line • three times • tumor • vancomycin
Filed under: Surgery
Denisedds (88)
i honestly can’t recomend someone but you could contact someone at the mayo clinic i would think; and if the dr’s don’t seem experience with fistula’s then i would see someone perhaps in a major metropolitan area; while fistulas of this nature are not very common in smaller communities; they are not unheard of. surgery can be done to close and excise the fistulous tract and thus prevent further infection in the incision area; however with having C diff. that has to be taken care of first and completely irradicated before any further surgeries are performed. good luck and your mom is in my prayers.