“It was working fine yesterday,” his wife whispered, wringing her hands. “Lots of output. Then tonight… nothing. And he started vomiting.”
He groaned. “My wife brought me… nuts. A handful of almonds. I thought… healthy.” blocked stoma
She wrote the orders, checked his vitals—heart rate already slowing, blood pressure stabilizing. A blocked stoma could turn into a perforated bowel if ignored. Tonight, they’d caught it in time. “It was working fine yesterday,” his wife whispered,
As she walked back to the on-call room, she thought of all the simple, terrifying things that could go wrong in a body rearranged by surgery. A stoma was a second chance at life—but it demanded respect. And sometimes, all it took was one almond to remind you. And he started vomiting
Emily’s stomach tightened. Blocked stoma. One of the most urgent complications in post-op care. She pulled on her white coat and hurried down the dim corridor.
She ordered warm water and a few drops of dish soap—an old nursing trick—and drew it into a large syringe with a soft catheter. Gently, she flushed the stoma, massaging the surrounding abdomen in slow circles. At first, nothing. Then a trickle of brown liquid. Then a small, almond-shaped pellet popped out, followed by a gush of gas and fecal matter that filled the bag in seconds.