Back from Dr...

Well its confirmed I have an incarcerated incisional hernia!! He advised me to have it taken care of (open surgery) asap. It is about the size of a walnut-so in essence it is small.He feels although the ct scan was inconclusive that it is a piece of fatty tissue caught in the hernia & not bowel-as I am not having any pain or vomiting. He stated it was totally my decision if I wanted to wait. We discussed my options/risks!!! Options: I can wait a little while as I still have some weight to lose (13 lbs) & weightloss has slowed to 2-3lbs a month now. & possibly include a TT. He is going to discuss my case with a plastic surgeon that he trusts (& some of his patients have used with great results). I will probably have an appointment with the plastic surgeon soon to discuss it & apply to insurance to see if they will cover it. Risks: It could become enlarged & bowel could become entrapped & I could have another bowel obstruction.(this scares me). I get time off work based on ETO-(earned time off) so it will take me til May to earn 80 hours & til Oct to earn 3 1/2 wks. He states for hernia surgery 1 wk off -with tt it would be 2 wks. I really feel I need to be prepared for any complications that could arise.So I prefer to wait til Oct but we will see. I can feel the hernia & for some unkown reason I rub it all the time so I feel like I will know if it grows(kind of like an alien baby HEHE). You can bet I will be using this to get out of all the house work-no running the vac. or taking out the garbarge So what do you all think? What would you do? Thanks for any advise & for all the hugs & prayers!! You guys are great! ~Missy~

Wow, Missy! That is a hard decision to make! I think if it were me, I'd wait and see if I could get a tummy tuck at the same time! But, I guess you need to do what your doctor feels is best. Is he okay with you waiting? Does he think it will become enlarged? I think if he felt it would be okay to wait, I would wait. I don't want you to compromise your health though!!! I certainly will be praying for ya!!! Deanna

Yeah, I am going to wait at least until he speaks to the plastic surgeon to see if a TT can be included as a secondary procedure. All my research shows that in order for BCBS Ala to pay for a TT the skin must hang down 2 inches below your pelvic bone or you must have another medical reason to have it done-such as a hernia. Well mine doesn't hang that low (although I do have a nice little apron hehe)so I really never considered it mostly for financial reasons but also after all I went through last year with the bowel obstruction I really never wanted to have surgery again. But Thanks to you all & my friends at my support group meeting I feel better about it & I am gonna go for it. The most that can happen is BCBS could say no & I just get the hernia repaired. To answer your question yes it can get larger that is one of the chances I am taking by waiting.His words were It really needs to be taken care of but this is your call. At the least I will be waiting til May (Happy Anniversary to me!) If it is not bothering me & it is not getting larger I will be waiting til October. Thanks for the Prayers!! ~Missy~

Hi Missy! Ok you asked for honest opinions and i'm going to give them to you. (1) if you don't have enough time to take off you can go out on disability so let that reassure you a little bit. (2) You need to wait so that a tummy tuck is included why go through all the bull poop and have to look at a pouch? Be well and do what you feel is the right thing to do, i'm glad it's nothing horrifically serious. ANDI

HI Andi!! Girl I knew I could count on you for the straight up reply!!Call it like you seeit!You're so ! Yeah you are right I can always go out on disability!! But my short term disability doesn't start until after 30days & then it only pays $125.00 a week.Thank goodness for FMLA at least I will have a job to go back to!!When I went out for my wls I had saved 3 wks ETO time off-(what i thought was more than enough) Then I had the small bowel obstruction & was so sick I missed a total of 7 & 1/2 weeks. I used the FMLA then too!! & I think it only runs every 12 months! So I feel the best thing to do financially & Health wise for me is to wait a little while & try to include a TT with it. My surgeon is going to talk to a Plastic surgeon for me & give me a call back. So it is all in G*D's hands now(of course it always was). Thanks again!~Missy~

Why does the doc think it shold be done asap? What are the risks of waiting. If you feel the risks are such that you can afford to wait I'm with Andi. Why go through all the pain of surgery and not have the TT? That said, your health MUST come first