Kids love to climb in trees – sometimes for fun, sometimes to get mangoes or other fruits. Often, a fall from a tree will give a kid a broken arm, but not this kid!
This kid fell out of a tree, but went home without telling his family the story until the next day when his abdomen became swollen and painful. When he fell out of the tree, he landed on a stick. The stick pierced his buttocks and he pulled it out himself! He had a small laceration adjacent to the anus with a small wound in the rectum.
We took him to the operating room and found purulent fluid inside. We found no other injuries to the colon or any holes in the lining of the pelvis. We could not fully assess the injury of the rectum which was outside of the peritoneal (abdominal) cavity . In order to let the rectum completely heal, we diverted the fecal stream with a loop colostomy. He healed very quickly and his incredibly joyful disposition was soon evident.
3 months later, I brought him back to the operating room to reverse the ostomy. In just a few days, his infectious smile brightened the room and he was ready to get back to being a kid again. Although, he may think twice before climbing trees again!