He needs an osto... what???

After confirming Caleb's diagnosis of Hirschsprung Disease, the doctor explained the treatment to his parents. As they had learned, part of Caleb's colon had no nerve cells.  This part of the colon would need to be removed. 

Caleb would have surgery to remove the part of his colon that wasn't working an the doctor would create an ostomy. In this procedure, the upper part of the colon is attached to the abdominal wall.  This type of ostomy is called a colostomy.  In a colostomy, the stool leaves the colon through the abdominal wall and drains into an ostomy bag. 

This is what an ostomy looks like from the outside, and what's going on inside:

Many patients and families are initially nervous about this, but learned that caring for an ostomy isn't that difficult! 

Most children have the ostomy for several months or up to a year, and then they are able to have the upper end of their colon reconnected to the lower end. This is called a pull through procedure and it is very successful for many children! Caleb's doctor was confident that Caleb would be a good candidate for a pull through procedure once he was older.  However, in some children an ostomy is a permanent part of their life.  










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