Hernia repair

Crap......I think I have a hernia. My family and I have been fighting our yearly fight with the coughs and colds that get spread around from day care and our house and back to day care.  During a fit of coughing at work the other day I felt kinda of a weird feeling in my lower abdomen.  I have had mild pain more, so when sitting for a long time ever since Friday. I am still Pr-op so obviously finding a notice-able bulge or protrusion is practically impossible.  So my questions:  How dangerous is it?  Can it be repaired?  Will it affect my hopefully upcoming approval at the end of the month?  My thought is that if it can wait to be repaired either repair it during the lap-rny, or even better 18 months from now as part of a PS. Any suggestions. Randy

I currently have a hernia. I had no idea until I was seeing another doctor for something else, and he said, "...and we'll fix this hernia, that should make it easier to get them to pay for the extra skin removal." I had no idea. My wife and I had noticed an odd bulge in my abdomen, but I hadn't thought anything of it - I mean, I have lost a massive amount of weight, there's bound to be wierd bulges. No pain - no one is in a big hurry to fix it yet.   I'm inclined to wait for another six months to a year myself, just so I can make sure I'm finished with the weight loss, and then get it done all in one fell swoop.   Because after that, I'll have surgery on my thighs, upper arms, breasticles, etc.  Tired of catching my nipples in my pants zipper when I pee. Talk to your doctor, get his/her opinion on it.  If you're having pain, that's giong to be the biggest determination of when/how they do it.

I've heard of a couple of cases when the WLS, hernia repair and gallbladder removal all happened at the same time.  Depends entirely I suppose on how the primary procedure goes...if all goes smoothly which is typically the case, they may elect to address the hernia and/or gallbladder if there are issues.  My philosophy - if under the knife resolve as much as possible!!! I've also heard of many cases where hernia repair was required and the panni removal was also included and covered under insurance.  Unfortunately, my insurance did not.  Oh well - can't win 'em all.  CF

I hit two out of those three - WLS and Gall bladder removal all in one surgery. The hernia repair is yet to come.  As I stated, sounds like they'll probably do the hernia repair and my second panniculectomy in one surgery. Then I'll - down the road - have to hvae my thighs done, as I have saddlebags on the inside of my thighs, and then my  m00bs need to be fixed, as I'm sick and damn tired of catching my nipples in my fly ... Then the batwings (excess skin on the upper arms) will be removed.   I'm thinking once I'm done, I'm going to have Frankenstien bolts tattood on either side of each and every scar, because also in there, ther'es going to be another surgery to remove more lymphatic tissue on my left leg. I'm a freak.

Oh yeah, when my wife had her surgery on the 23rd of Jan, they did a hernia repair at the same time, as well as removed some adhesions from a previous surgery. They can do that.

I had a groinal hernia done a few years before my WLS (and an internal hernia 1-1/2 years after), it won't interfere with the surgery being done, and as stated above I know people that have had it done at the same time as WLS.

Update..... I saw my PCP this morning and after much poking and prodding he doesn't think I have a hernia.  He thinks that I have torn or strained an abdominal muscle. Told me to take Ibuprofen for pain and to come back if I noticed any bloody stool or bowel changes. I did talk with my surgeons office and they confirmed that if I indeed have a hernia that they can and will repair it at the same time as the laprny procedure. Also down another 6 pounds since my visit on 1/31. Thanks for the replies. Randy

I had an umbilical hernia repair with my RNY procedure.  NOthing to it, except it was a little longer until I could lift anything ... 6 weeks before the doc released me to lift weights.  Once I lifted my grand daughter and it scared the hell out of me, but now the old gut is stronger than ever. CB