Hernia 10 years out!!!

Are you kidding me?  I had gastric bypass surgery on March 1, 2006 with no complications whatsoever.  I reached my goal weight a little more than a year out, and I maintained a weight that I was happy with for years.  However, a few months ago I began feeling what I describe as a golf ball sized lump in my abdominal area.  Being the stubborn man that I am, I chose to ignore it, thinking it would just go away.  It didn't.  Now, that golf ball has turned into a baseball and I finally gave in to my stubborn side and went to my family physician today.

His diagnosis was more than a little scary.  He said I have an incision hernia and if I would have ignored it much longer, it could have proven to be deadly.  I'm thankful that he caught it before it reached that point, but now I have to mentally prepare myself for surgery.  I guess my shock is that it took 10 years for this to occur.  Most people I got to know during my pre and post surgery stages that suffered a hernia, did so early on.  My doctor did say it's rare to happen at this point in time, but not unheard of.  Just my luck.  Then again, I'm the same guy who got rear ended in a car accident a couple years ago and had to have back surgery.  Prior to that surgery, my surgeon said I'd have less than a 1% chance of developing an infection.  Let's just say I'm good at defying odds, because I went back under the knife three weeks later to clean out an infection.  Well, here we go again....

Sorry about the hernia. But they are common with people who never had WLS too.

Being morbidly obese, we stretched the heck out of our abdominal muscles, and will always be susceptible to hernias. You likely had a small hernia for a long time, and it's just grown and caused you more problems.

Good luck. Let us know how it goes.

Good Luck on the hernia surgery...good you weren't too stubborn....

Well that stinks.  I wish you good luck on your surgery.  

I got my incisional hernia 2 yrs out lifting a bag of soaking wet topsoil.  Repair is no big deal, overnight stay at the hospital, then be babied for a few days.  I took 2 weeks off work just waiting out the swelling so my pants fit.

Hi Andy  

So sorry to hear all you are going through. Like everyone said we see this happen long term. Please keep us posted on how it goes and here is the link to our RNY Forum. Stop by and we are with you all the way

Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass Surgery Forum (RNY)