Hernia?????

Hi all, First of all, thank you for the wonderful comments about my picture. You all made my day!! Now to the hernia -just wanted to explain what is going on with my incision and see if it sounds like a hernia. I meet with the surgeon again Monday to check it out as well, but didn't want to wait and wanted opinions from friends. I had open RNY, so my incision is about 6 or 7 inches long. Well, the top part of the incision was healing well and the bottom part is healing well also, but the middle just isn't following directions! There remained a couple of holes right in the middle of the incision that kept seeming infected, but weren't. They just would not close. Then, I saw a string in one of the holes one day. I did not have any staples or sutures on the top layer of skin, just steri-strips. So, the string that I saw was from one of the inner layers of sutures - like from the muscle. Now I have a total of four holes that are open wounds with strings coming out of them. Ewwwwwwwwww. I apologize - I know it sounds gross. The nurse manager will not cut the strings in case they are still attached to muscle. She also said yesterday that things were looking a little "poochie" at that place in my incision. Since the second week after surgery, I have had, and still have some feelings of soreness and pulling around the sides of the incision. It feels like something inside pulling and often hurts. Sometimes, bending down to pick something up, rolling over in bed, raising my voice to sing a song and laughing still hurt. Does this sound like a hernia? If so, when is it usually best to get a hernia repaired? Do people couple those with tummy tucks often? Does it really almost qualify me for a tummy tuck with insurance, even though it is halfway up my incision? Sorry so many questions, God bless, Andrea

Hello Andrea, I had open rny done last april then in late october I found out I had a hernia it was a size of a football it was in the middle of my incision I also had some infection but you can tell if its a hernia feel around your stomache you will feel a lump thats how I could tell also I looked like I was pregnet,lol. I had surgey on it in november it sounds like how it was for me,I was sore too. your insureance should pay for it I was on title 19 but my dr didnt recomend to get the tummy tuck done till i'm out 18 months so I will have time to lose the weight so i'm planning to get mine done next january. hope I was some help feel free to email me if you have any questions. take care. Laurie

Andrea, You sound exactly like my sister only she had a hysterectomy & one area of her incision would'nt close or heal for 7 years. One day she was looking at that unhealed area & she saw a string so she pull on it & it came out within no time she healed. She had been seeing her Dr.'s all this time & did'nt have any answers for her until she pulled the suture out & showed it to her MD & they said that she was probally allergic to that type of suture. I believe it was a cat gut suture & she now has it on her list of allergies. Just a FYI to ask your MD. Denise Dr Schwartz/Grinnell RNY 12/10/03 252/215