Dog,
Hernia surgery is very easy to do especially with laporoscopy...in and out in 24hrs or less and back to your normal life in 3-5days....not worth suffering and putting your body in danger...if you need it then have it done quickly before it gets bigger...they can grow and get worse if not treated.
Sharon

i advice you to see a doctor as soon as possible, good luck to you!

I will. Thanks! The only problem I have now is that after being unemployed, I have exclusions for pre-existing conditions.

I'm guessing that I will have to fork over $$$ to take care of this b/c insurance will not.

Man, nothing like becoming and indentured servant to be able to afford access to needed healthcare.

*sigh*

Is it really pre-existing? Wouldn't it have popped up AFTER all the other things? And they really can't blame it on the pre-existing surgical things since people without j-pouches get hernias too. I wouldn't think there's any way that they could definitively pin it on something pre-existing.

kathy

I think preexisting is anything that has been diagnosed or present before your coverage began. I would think that you could delay surgery until after the waiting period is over for the preexisting conditions. Usually it is something like 3-6 months.

If it is not causing you a lot of pain, discuss letting it go a while. Usually, these hernias are OK to watch for a while (or even indefinitely) as long as they are reducable. That means that if the intestine enters the hernia, you can easily push it back inside. In the meantime, avoid lifting anything over 10 pounds or any activity that involves straining.

Jan

Would doing crunches/situps help strengthen the muscles or encourage them to grow so I don't require surgery?

I'm not saying 100 crunches (I don't think I could do more than 10), just wondering if it is possible.

And Jan commented on my post. . .we should get prizes when we accumulate enough Jan replies.

Dog,
DO NOT DO CRUNCHES! Period.
A hernia is a tear or weakness in the wall and just like a pair of pantyhose with a tiny run in it...if you pull on it...or put excess pressure than it will get worse, not better.
In the 'good ol'days' people wore hernai belts or Trusses...a sort of support belt that they reinforced with a soft cotton pad that they placed over the hernia site...To hold things in. You can try wearing one of those exercise belts with a velcro attache so that you can loosen or tighten at will...you need support not crunches.
When I had my k pouch revision in '07 I was do great until I got on the stair master and apt bike...I saw a protrusion and didn't understand that it was a hernia (in my defense, no one else figured it out either)...I just kept working out harder and harder...bottom line? My stoma totally prolapsed on me (I ripped my hernia right open). If I had known that it was a hernia then I would have cut out the exercise gone strait to my surgeon.
Sharon

Agreed, NO crunches. That would put strain on your belly. There is no healing a hernia with exercise. That is like going jogging to repair a broken leg. At this point, you are to BABY the hernia, not work it out.

Thank you for asking first....

Jan

Surgery is scheduled for tomorrow. The surgeon seemed to think I would be home the same day after the repair. Outpatient. Amazing.

Anyway, freaking out a little about another surgery. . .but, I'll let you all know how it turns out.

Thanks!

Back home(yeah) from my surgery. This is so much different from my previous 3 surgeries. Compared to the J-pouch construction, my hernia surgery was like having a splinter removed.

Only problem I am having is bowel movements. . .the incisional hernia was at my old ostomy site. When I try and push (even a little) to have a bowel movement, my intestine wants to push on the surgical site. . .which is painful, but makes me fear I might push my intestine passed what the surgeon just fixed!

Hospital told me to eat lots of fiber. . .namely oranges. Does that makes sense to bulk up my stool?

For what it's worth, when I had my incisional hernia repair about 6 months post take-down, I asked my surgeon, "Is there anything I can do that will ruin or damage the work you just did to repair my hernia?" He said no. I was still careful for a while, and actually experienced more soreness long term from the hernia repair than from all my jpouch surgeries, but even though it's uncomfortable, a BM doesn't seem like it should do any harm to your hernia repair.

You should be fine, but no heavy lifting and no straining. But, I think you already know that. Pretty soon you'll forget about it and things will seem more normal.

Not sure if you need to eat a lot of roughage like oranges, since those instructions are for people with a colon and they don't want you to get constipated after a hernia repair. Oranges are not dietary fiber, but insoluble fiber- roughage. Just be sure that things are moving through and you don't have to strain. Especially important if you are still taking narcotic pain pills.

Jan

Jan,

Thus post interested me to read into it. I remember ny surgeon telling me he put a mesh over the stoma site where hernias tend to develop after takedown.

I have been having sharp pains lately in the stoma surgical site and it hurts when I get up from laying down in that area too... This is new, it hasn't hurt like this since right after my surgery

Could it be a hernia?

Sorry, I'm using my phone.

Thanks,
Heidi

I had that feeling more with an adhesion. Or at least, they said it was an adhesion. . .it went away on it's own though, which makes me question their diagnosis.

My hernia - my small intestine would push up into my old stoma site. I could push it back in, but it caused me no pain.

I had the surgery b/c the Docs said one day, I might not be able to push it back in and then I would be in serious trouble.

Still on the narcotics, although the pain isn't anything like my previous 3 surgeries. They gave me 5 days worth and I'm going to use them all. . .no sense being in pain, as long as I take it easy I'll be good, I think.

Did a bit too much moving around today.

So you think it might be an adhesion I'm feeling? Nothing to do about it but let it go away on its own? I don't have insurance right now so I haven't discussed it with a Dr.

I think to prevent a hernia, my surgeon put a mesh over the stoma area. I do recall him saying before I went into surgery that most ileostomy patients will have some sort of a hernia, naturally.

Heidi

Probably adhesion related. Adhesions don't go away, but the pain and problems can. This is because your gut can adapt and get used to the adhesion. Plus the adhesion can stretch and relax a bit.

Jan

My surgeon repaired the hernia WITHOUT mesh. Everything I've read says that mesh is always recommended when repairing a hernia. Anyone know why and when not using mesh is called for?

I also read that no matter what is used, the recurrence rate of incisional hernia is from 20-50%. WHAT?!?

In other news. . .
I was not expecting my digestive system to get messed up with this surgery.

My output reminds me of when I first got my j-pouch. Thick and burns. . .guess my system really doesn't like anesthesia.

Ohhhh the butt burn!!!

No, mesh is not always recommended, and in fact, if the repair can be done without it, THAT is preferred. The reason? Mesh is a foreign body and stimulates more adhesions than regular repairs. That is part of what makes it a stronger repair, because of the additional scar tissue that incorporates into it. This additional scar tissue can make future surgeries more difficult.

What determines whether or not mesh will needed is determined by the status of your abdominal wall structure around the hernia. If the tissues are in good shape without any tension to bring the edges together, you should be able to have a decent repair without mesh. But, if the fascia edges are raggedy, thin, or otherwise weak, then mesh is necessary to have something to hold everything together. Sort of like the difference between a split in your pants (easy to repair) as opposed to a gaping, shredded hole (like you see with jeans with blown out knees- that require a big patch to fix).

Recurrence rates for all sorts of hernias can be "up there," so I would not worry about it in your case. But, in the meantime, take it easy with the lifting or anything else that would put strain on your belly.

Jan

Wow. . .thank you for that excellent answer!

Saw my surgeon today. He said he placed sutures in my fascia, and the spot he had to repair was 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch long.

I don't understand how sutures don't pull through the fascia, leaving a new hernia, but I guess they don't.

He also explained that my small intestine was to close to the repair. Mesh would have had the potential of causing future problems (adhesions, etc), so that is the reason he opted not to use mesh.

Pretty happy with the procedure and the outcome so far. . .definitely a much simpler surgery than my previous 3! Still leaves me mentally exhausted though.

Anyway, just wanted to post this information in case someone else might find it useful in the future.

Yeah, that is a pretty small repair. How well the sutures hold largely depends on the condition of the fascia, if the edges can be brought together easily, and if it is in an area that will not be exposed to undue tension. My incisional hernia was midline, the size of a grapefruit, and actually a defect of where a suture had stretched out the fascia to that size. So, you see, a totally different situation. This is why each case should be evaluated individually.

Jan

Not real encouraging but I had a large hernia repair in Oct 2012. I think my hernia is back. Not sure where the mesh is but it feels the same now as it did before surgery. blech