Mr. Satter is 79 and lives in Randstad in the Netherlands with his wife and together they have two children and four grandchildren. After going through a lot of difficulties with his intestines that left him isolated at home, he has now turned to irrigation, which has made it possible for him to leave the house once again.
Mr. Satter has had problems with his bowel for years. For a long time, he was on medication, but his bowel movements remained painful. During a stay in Thailand he had acute bowel congestion, which led to an emergency surgery to remove part of his large intestine. But the challenges weren’t over for Mr. Satter.
“A large intestinal stoma was then created due to a leak. I also had sepsis and spent 25 days in the hospital in Thailand. After that, I was treated on and off for months in a hospital in the Netherlands. I had to deal with many extremely serious complications. My stoma was removed, another leakage occurred, and I was then given a small intestinal stoma. This also had to be removed and a new leak and sepsis followed.”
With all the complications that he was going through, Mr. Satter went back to medication for a time before he was introduced to Peristeen bowel irrigation.
“My gastroenterology specialist recommended it to me. I was not exactly over the moon about the prospect, though. Let's just say that I was very wary of the unknown. But the Coloplast nurse who is also involved in the Peristeen Support programme explained and showed everything to me. After a trial period, everything went well. I found it to be a fairly simple procedure and it doesn’t strain me too much physically. During this period, I had regular consultations with another Coloplast nurse, and together we found the right irrigation frequency.”
While it was challenging to get underway with Peristeen, Mr. Satter now keeps a detailed irrigation schedule and regularly discusses it with his gastroenterology specialist.
“The bowel irrigation is going well, but I’m often worn out after irrigation for a while. Sometimes I irrigate every day, sometimes every two days. Coloplast's Peristeen Support is really excellent and helpful. I can call them when I need to. They are all very nice and give me good advice on how to fine-tune the irrigation schedule and method to suit my specific situation.”
Mr. Satter feels that bowel irrigation has given him the freedom to get back to living his life. Things like longer holidays are possible again and now he can go out to bars and restaurants.
“I used to avoid dining out because I did not want to feel the urge to go to the toilet. Psychologically, it was very stressful. Travelling was also difficult, and while my current situation does require good preparation and some extra precautions when I go on holidays, like having to use bottled water for the irrigation, I am now able to do it. It makes me very happy that I can go out and about!”
