Why would you need a colostomy bag? Is a colostomy bag permanent?
The Colostomy No surgeon advises a colostomy if there is an equally effective alternative. Likewise no patient wants this operation if there is a way to avoid it. No other aspect of intestinal surgery is attended by so much misunderstanding, unrealistic fear and dread of the future mechanics of dayto day contact and social survival. This is one operation in which the patient has much to gain by meeting and talking with a person who has had a colostomy for several years. Once he sees how relatively little it interferes with normal habits, he will be more courageous about it. Many surgeons have a whole group of patients who, having overcome the same uncertainties about colostomies, volunteer to meet with new patients and show them how things are managed. Surgeons can arrange these discussions for every patient in whom a colostomy is anticipated. It is interesting, too, that the adequately instructed, frightened patient of today becomes the confident adviser a year later. The patient...