ventral hernia

Went to see the general surgeon that my gyn's office had set up an appointment for me with today.
Turns out that the weird "popping" sensation I had way back when I first got home from the castle in Dec was me giving myself a monster hernia. Why am I not suprised,lol? The doctor said that I was lucky that I didn't burst entirely through to the outside. That was something I didn't even think was possible! She is going to go back in through my SAH incision, but said she may have to lengthen it a bit. Anyone else have to go back in this soon for such a fun little adventure? I am trying to count my blessings...I didn't explode....I know to have the gas-x and milk of mag on hand when I get home this time around...lol...

I had to have ventral incisional hernia repair after my C-section in 1989. Mine actually herniated before I left the hospital, my ob/gyn just didn't diagnose it. Once he released me at 8 weeks I RAN to another ob/gyn who gave me a diagnosis in less than 5 minutes.

I had to wait another two months for the surgery because they wanted to be sure my infection was gone. I wore a girdle 24-hours-a-day because I didn't want to have my insides pop out either! My incision was so thin that I could feel things moving through my intestines with my hand.

I'm sorry you had to join the club, but the surgeon who repaired my hernia gave me a prettier scar than I had the first time.

Hi ladylaughalott
I'm so sorry to hear you have to have the repair done. I was just wondering if you did something that caused this or do you know? It might be a good caution to some others if you can share how it happened.
I wish you well with your upcoming surgery. I hope it isn't too bad and you will heal quickly. Keep us posted.
's, Rita

Thanks for the support, I am feeling pretty let-down about all this. I really did try to do everything right, but my family crapped out on me and just stopped doing anything at all around the house fairly quickly after I was home. I didn't want to scare anyone by admitting that the original ouchie following my surgery was caused by something as simple as sneezing and coughing at the same time. I literally felt it go, my new surgeon agreed with me when I suggested that the popping I felt was this hernia. At least I know that it's NOT swelly belly, right? Family support is pretty much non-existant...All the hubby and kids seem to be concerned with is how long I will be "down" this time! (Gee, I'm sorry to be such an inconvenience,sigh....)

Ladylaughalott

Your family does not seem to "get" that you've had major abdominal sugery and that you need to rest. I'm not sure why people think that hysterectomies are so common that they are no big deal.

Perhaps you should have your husband read the post on the Post-op support by Nedlolkkin called "Looking for Answers". If her story doesn't scare your hubby into taking your surgery seriously, then you need a new hubby! She didn't even have an abdominal incision and still almost died from complications.

My husband stopped halfway through and told me "Don't read those horror stories - you're fine. I'm well aware that any time you have surgery you could die." Still, I didn't think it hurt to remind him after he was impatient that I hadn't run the dishwasher that I had major surgery and still can't function normally yet.

Unfortunately, you'll be "down" as long with the repair surgery as you were supposed to be for the original surgery. Hopefully they'll schedule it very soon so you won't have a full twelve weeks of recovery from both surgeries.