Advice please

hi,

my mum passed away at the start of this year following a short battle with bowel cancer. Given the size of the tumour her consultant advised that he would need to try and shrink it with a combination of radiotherapy and chemotherapy. He also advised that she urgently needed to have a stoma fitted to take some of the pressure off of the tumour. My mum has the op and all seemingly went to plan and she was released five days later to recover ahead of her treatment commencing. However a further five days after she was sent home she was rushed back to hospital where they discovered  she had a perforated bowel which had led to sepsis. They told us they couldn’t help her and she died the following day. 

 

Not or sure what I’m looking for but has anyone else heard of this? Limited response from hospital at the time to death saying that the gas used to inflate the bowel to help them see it better for the stoma op hadn’t released and likely resulted in the perforation. I can’t find any examples of this elsewhere and just struggling to deal with losing her so fast and in such a terrible way. I think we need to ask for a full explanation from the hospital but not sure how I go about that. Any advice appreciated.

 

Thanks

Leanne 

  • Hi Leanne,

     

    Sorry for the loss of your mum. My mum died suddenly on the 14th june. She had only been ill 11 days. She was discharged after a 5 day stay in hospital and asked to come back the following week for routine surgery. She had the surgery but 15 mins afterwards she told the doctor she was feeling strange on one side. She then drifted into unconsciousness and never woke again.her life support was turned off the following day.

    We were told she had suffered a major brain haemorrhage. For weeks I have felt awful that mum died following surgery which was supposed to extend her life.mum was really positive about the surgery and I despised it for killing her.

    However I accept that without the surgery mums chance of living much longer were limited and that she chose to have the surgery. I have thought about speaking with the surgeons to try and get answers but this wont bring her back and details of what she endured would likely haunt me.

    Two years ago I had minor gynaecological surgery and the scalpel they used pierced one of my organs. I was off work for a month and not fully fit for a couple of months. I was angry and wanted an explanation. I had no joy going through the surgeons secretary so I lodged a complaint with the PALS office at the hospital.within a week the surgeon had called me at home to discuss my operation in detail and offer an apology.

    Others on this forum may have other advice too and I hope you find the answers you are looking for x

  • Sorry to hear of the loss of your mum C1971. I appreciate you taking the time to respond to me and for sharing your own experiences with me. I know that somethings are best just left alone and I need to really think about what I am trying to achieve, as you say no answer can bring her back and obsessing about it won’t help anything. 

     

    Take care.