An ostomy is an opening that can be made into the small or large bowel. The opening is called a stoma from the Greek word meaning mouth.
In Coping with an Ostomy, Robert Phillips writes: "An ostomy is part of you. It is a part of your body. It is not a disease. It is not an illness. It is not a condition. It is part of your state of being much the same as your navel, your fingernails or your toes are parts of you. It may have resulted from an illness, a disease or a condition, but it is now a physical part of you."
There are three types of ostomies: an ileostomy , or opening from the small bowel; a colostomy , or opening from the large bowel; and a urostomy , or opening from the urinary tract.
Reasons for Ileostomy Surgery Ileostomy surgery removes or bypasses the colon or the end part of the ileum when it is affected by one of two inflammatory bowel diseases (ulcerative colitis or Crohn's disease), birth defects, familial polyposis (a rare hereditary disease), injury or cancer. If the
