RESULTS
The 21-year-old patient had temporary intestinal
ostomy secondary to Chagas disease for twelve months.
She had incomplete elementary education, lived with her
parents most of the time and the rest of the time with
her partners family. Both houses presented satisfactory
sanitary conditions and the family income was around
two minimum wages. At the age of 14, she started
presenting abdominal plenitude associated with
constipation, characterized by the absence of evacuation
for around six to seven days. She used laxatives without
medical prescription, which brought about profuse
diarrhea and caused school absence. Due to this situation,
she abandoned her studies. At the age of 18, at the severe
phase of the illness, she showed great decrease of
peristalsis, which indicated colostomy. Nowadays, feeling
physically incapable, she does not work. Her partner is
in prison and she visits him regularly. Her parents show
concern about her health status. Generally, her mother is
the one who keeps her company in the medical visits.
Regarding the physical changes, she presents low hearing
accuracy in the left ear and low weight for her height.
She does not show complications with the stoma
function and performs efficient self-care measures. She
has a monthly follow up with a specialist and goes to
the appointments in an outpatient service of the
association specialized in ostomy patients care, where
she receives colostomy bags.
During her first hospitalization, she demonstrated to
be very shy. She hardly answered to questions. She
recognizes it is difficult for her to make friends and keep
social relationships. She affirmed she feels different from
others because she is an ostomy patient. She reported
having low self-esteem and hiding the fact that she has a
colostomy from people. She also complained of
loneliness because of the absence of her partner and
lack of friends. The relationship with her partners family
and his mother, despite being significant to her, was never
mentioned. The same happened with her own family,
always absent during the whole care process.
Furthermore, the patient verbalized doubts about the
opaque enema exam, to which she would be submitted.
In the second visit, as planned, we applied the etiology