Hi exit4, did you experience any mucus drainage? I might need a
colostomy and I keep reading some points about mucus drainage, and am worried it would keep re-infecting my
fistula, or it would build up and become uncomfortable.
Next, do you know how often laparoscopic surgery for this is offered? I see it mentioned online but I often see videos of people who have a large scar down the middle, obviously they weren't able to have it done laparoscopically. Is it purely based on surgeon skill?
Also, I was wondering what made you decide on an ileostomy over a colostomy? I was thinking of doing the later since the rest of my colon is fine, I mainly just deal with recurring fissures/fistulas in the peri-anal area. I've heard that stool is more formed and since I have a very specific schedule (I go within 30min of waking up in the morning) that I might be able to wear a smaller appliance for later in the day.
Finally, did you read anything about the mortality rates for the surgery? I found one scary article on ncbi.nlm.gov that showed a mortality rate of ~10.7%, which seems crazy high. Maybe they were also counting people who eventually died of cancer or whatever they had?
Thanks so much for any answers!