I finally got my incisional hernia repaired

after a year and a half. It was too big to ignore or live with any more . I had it done last monday. the incision is 5 inches long and the mesh used to re-inforce it is 8 inches by 10 inches. There were a lot of adhesions to clear out and they did a lot of rearranging where the adhesions had moved things.  At this hospital hernia surgery is concidered outpatient but they kept me in over night and half the next day for pain control and bowel function check.  To me this was just as painfull as the original GBS but then, once I was out of the recovery room all they would give me was a couple Tylinol 3 with Codine every four hours. NOT the good stuff PCA morphine. Conciderable pain at my rib cage, diaphram and hip points that seems to coincide with the corners of the mesh. No appitite, uncomfortable bowel and bladder activity. Advantage - I am back to my first solid food plan post GBS and am losing weight again. This afternoon I am off to the surgeon to get my staples out and see what my excercise plan will be. Have a great day. Rich

Rich - Congrats on getting this fixed; I had an umbilical hernia REfixed about 1.5 years postop and it was actually more painful than the original surgery was, and I had a rougher time with it, by far. (and umbilical is much less complex than incisional, although they did find a few small adhesions and check for any internal hernias due to some mystery pain). ...Nick

Nick, Hope it's fixed for good, now. Have a great day. Rich

Well Rich, I am glad to hear that you are doing well.  I have to go in for it at some point but am putting it off as I have no time to take off from work.  I will hopefully work in into some PS.  I am disheartened to hear that there is a lot of pain involved.  I remember Dx saying that he kind of felt whole after that was done.  He felt like the WLS thing was kind of over.  What do you think?

Hi Scott, I knew it would be rough from others who have had some muscle repair/reattachment. The worst part is not the actual hernia but the attachment points for the reinforcement mesh.  I, too, held off for quite a while for job (desk) related reasons but any time I coughed, sneezed or blew my nose I would have to hold myself. When I would drive long distance I would need to wear a support belt and the final straw was that a half hour of aerobic exercise would leave my belly tender. The info I have looked at on incisional hernias indicate that there is a risk of reoccurance but I am 120 pounds lighter now which will help.  As soon as I say I am done with surgeries I would be tempting fate but I sure I do not want any more. Dx is definitely a special case and God forbid he has to deal with any more of that garbage. The surgeon has been kind of funny about discribing how huge my hernia was. He would hold out both hands with his thumbs and middle fingers cupped and just about touching at the tips. I have seen fishermen discribing catches in a similar way and let me tell you this surgeon was proud of his catch. Maybe it will get bigger with each telling. Have a great day. Rich