Surgical staples

[Crickie]

In Feb 2008 I had a descending loop colostomy due to ovarian cancer.

Since then, and as recently as last week, I have been having these small surgical staples coming out of my rectum. Is this normal? I also have a lot of pain in the rectal/vaginal area (I also had vaginal reconstruction at the same time) when I stand or walk for short periods of time.

The surgeon was surprised when he saw the staples and said he's never seen anything like this happen before. He want me to have a CT scan in June.
In the meantime I'm getting very nervous about the whole situation. Are the surgical staples supposed to come out during the healing process?

I also had 3 severe incidences where I had such tremendous pain in my bowels that I curled up in a ball and shrieked for about 8 hrs. Then it passed -each time I noticed I had eaten some form of meat. Could this have been an obstruction?
Thanks for any help you can give me.

[gah_70]

I have heard of staples being expelled through the vagina, but not the rectum.  Staples are usually meant to stay where they are put during surgery unless they cause a problem.  When you had the bowel pain, was it around the time you noticed the staples coming out?  May I ask how many you have lost?  It sounds really painful, and I am a bit surprised your doctor wants to wait until 6/18 for a scan, given he's never seen anything like that before.  I would suggest the next time you have pain like that, go to the ER.  Obviously something is up.  When you are in pain like that, your body is telling you something isn't right.  Best of luck to you.  I hope you find some answers soon.

Gail

[ChitChatNine]

Maybe try posting on the ovarian cancer community, too ... there are alot of ladies there who may have answers, too ?

LINK:  http://www.medhelp.org/forums/show/94

Cheryl