What is an Ostomy?
Ostomy, Colostomy, Ileostomy
These three words and the images they convey produce dread in many
people who know very little about them. An ostomy is a
surgical procedure that creates an opening on the abdominal wall for
waste products to move out of the body. It is performed when a
medical condition is so severe that an ostomy offers a better
alternative. The quality of life is usually much improved for
patients with an ostomy, because their previous medical condition
was so deliberating.
To really understand an ostomy, it helps to know a little about the
body's anatomy. The gastrointestinal tract begins with the
esophagus (the tube connecting the mouth and stomach) and continues
through the stomach, small intestine, large intestine (colon),
rectum, and anus.
Food is swallowed in the esophagus, mixed and churned in the
stomach, and digested and absorbed in the small intestine. The
waste leaves the small intestine as liquid. The colon absorbs
water from the liquid material and stores the remainder as formed
stool until it is passed voluntarily out of the body through the
rectum.
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