Ever heard of a fistula? Probably not, because it's a gross topic. This article gives you an idea about the problem. Essentially, when tissue heals, sometimes it heals all wrong. A fistula happens when tissues heals incorrectly between two pipes - like the trachea and the esophagus (the windpipe and foodpipe), or the vagina and the anus - and leaves a permanent hole connecting them. In babies with tracheoesophageal fistula from an error in development, they gag and turn blue when they try to eat, because food enters their lungs through that hole that isn't supposed to be there. In vaginovesicular (vagina/urethra) or vaginoanal fistula after a difficult childbirth, a permanent hole allows urine or feces to dribble continuously into the vaginal canal. If any of you has ever dreaded the thought of getting old and incontinent, this is your nightmare: being a young adolescent or teenage mother - likely by crime or at least social/cultural choice, not your own - having a difficult labor, then shunned from society for being disgusting.
When my life seems so hard, sometimes my breath is taken away by how awful my patients' and other unfortunate people's lives are. There are so many worthy causes out there, but with the holidays approaching, please consider adding this one to your list.
I better be careful with this blog, lest it become too much of a party pooper (haha, no pun intended) and my vast readership takes a dive.
