Emergency Surgery -- Internal Hernia (my experience)

Hi all,

I wanted to share my recent experience as it may help others down the line. 

I am almost two years post-RNY.  I have had great success, losing 244lbs and going from a bmi of 59.7 to a healthy bmi of under 25. 

About three weeks ago, I had a planned surgery to repair an umbilical hernia, and at the same time had a panni (covered by OHIP), and an upgrade to a full tummy tuck. Everything went great.  I was well on my way to recovery.  About ten days after this surgery, I was home alone.  I had a quick snack (small piece of healthy banana bread to go with my antibiotic).  About two minutes later I was doubled over in pain. No clue what was going on, but knew this was not normal. The pain was intense and radiating to my back. It was not my gallbladder, as that had been removed years ago.  

I looked at the clock and gave myself a few minutes for the pain to resolve -- 30 minutes later the pain was intensifying.  So, with some trepidation, I called myself an ambulance. When the ambulance attendants arrived, I was at a pain level of about 9.5 out of 10 -- worse than any gallbladder attacks I had had, even the time I had a stone blocking my common bile duct!  I normally have a pretty good pain threshold.  By the time they got me to the hospital, I was at a pain scale of 16 out of 10, and I told them I wasn't kidding. 

I did make one mistake.  I should have gone to the hospital where I had my RNY done, but luckily the hospitals are linked -- I'm in Ottawa. They quickly did a CT scan. The docs at this hospital (General campus of Ottawa Hospital), couldn't interpret what they were seeing.  They could tell my bowel was swollen and that there was a fluid build-up, but not why. I asked them to consult with the gastric bypass surgeons at the other hospital. They did, and within a few minutes, they knew exactly what they were dealing with, and I was promptly transferred to the Civic campus of the Ottawa Hospital, and seeing Dr. Mammazza, who performed my RNY.  He told me I had a second internal hernia, and that my bowel had slipped through and was being strangled. Within a couple of hours, was undergoing emergency surgery. 

I'm happy to say that surgery went well.  Unfortunately, the tight tummy tuck meant that they had to convert from a laprascopic procedure to open surgery. But you know what, small price to pay for my life!  The surgeon told me that when they opened me up, a section of my bowel was about three times normal size, and covered in pus (yuck). They cleaned things up, fixed the hernia, and I'm alive to tell the tale. They did not have to do a resection of the bowel!  Lucky!  I spent six days in hospital, and am now at home and back on the path to recovery (for all three different procedures). 

Please pay attention to my tale. You never know when I might serve as a guide to you, even if you have a model surgery, recovery, and overall successful journey. I remember reading similar stories on OH, and that's what guided me to seeking urgent medical care. (I think Kelly in particular had a similar story which I remembered!  So thanks to the vets for sharing their experiences!  It definitely helped me in this scenario!)  I could have taken strong painkillers and gone to bed, but did not 'cause I knew something wasn't right and that it could be serious.  The only change I would have made was to go straight to the hospital where I had my gastric bypass surgery. Those folks know their stuff, and have seen all the possible RNY complications!

By the way, doctor told me that this type of internal hernia was due to the laprascopic holes when they first performed RNY, and the fact that after massive weight loss, there's a lot of room for our organs, like bowel, to shift around. He also told me that initially they didn't seal up those laprascopic holes after RNY, but now they do it as standard procedure to avoid this complication. 

Please have a healthy and happy day!

Delicious Delilah

WOW thank God you are OK and here to educate us all on the importance of knowing your own body and pain! Thank YOU very much for sharing this with us.  I hope you are feeling like yourself soon!!!

I'm feeling 100 times better than last week!  Thanks!

DD

Gah! Sorry to hear you went through that, but yep, glad you took measurements and went to the hospital. Mine was a bowel obstruction, not a hernia, but they were also strangled (by the omentum (sp?) from my stomach).  It also happened after I had something dense (out of nowhere I decided to have half a sandwich, the bread was dense and that just put me over the edge). Not saying it was the food that caused it, not at all. But something liquid at that time might have passed through. The pain would have happened at another meal for sure. My stomach bloated right away (you might not have noticed that, being swollen still), and i'm guessing that since it was 10 months since my panni surgery, that is how I was lucky to have it done laproscopically. 

More time off for you I guess eh? Get lots of rest and water!

Thanks Kelly!  I specifically thought if you when this happened to me. Couldn't remember the exact issues you faced, though I also didn't exactly know what was going on with me. My first thought was an obstruction of some sort!  Anyway, your sharing was invaluable to me!  So thank you!

And yes, may take an extra week off after this experience!

DD

That's why we're here!! And you are most welcome!

I'm very relieved to hear that you are alright and I hope you have an uneventful recovery!  Thanks for sharing your story and advice.

Cheers!

I'm glad you are okay and that you listened to the warning signs from your body.Thanks for the awesome write up. Do you mind if I share this with my support group? It's a great reminder that things can happen years past :) 

Dawn

Please go ahead and share! I know that women in particular tend to downplay their symptoms, and often don't call an ambulance when they need it!  It's intimidating to do so. So happy I did!