Incisional hernia repair - what was your experience?

I did. No lapro offered. My surgeon was not lapro trained. He initially expected it to be an ambulatory surgery, but kept me overnight just because of my history of multiple complications. Mesh was used for my repair (not sure what scenario would cause this defect to be unrepairable, but whatever). Mine was about the size of a grapefruit. That was 17 years ago. Everything has held together well. I still had a complication, a stubborn seroma that required needle drainage 3-4 times, but eventually stopped forming. Probably because I was too fat. LOL

Jan

Les,
I had all 3 senarios and since I don't heal well, the 1st time things got out of hand...my surgeon was not laporoscopy trained and he did an outside-in stitching repair that did not hold and went necrotic (they don't do those very often any more) so he had to go in completely and do a deep cavity repair (went through the abdomen and closed them (had 3)...didn't hold.
Finally my doc here in Paris did full laporoscopy with mesh...held beautifully. He kept me in the hospital for 3 nights because of my history but other than a whole lot of gas it went well...been 3 years now and all is well.
Since I have been menopaused now for about 5 yrsI think that my tissues are even more fragile and tend to split more eaisly. Not sure if there is any medical foundation for the theory but I never herniated before then...docs say that there is nothing that I can do to prevent them but you need to take it easy after the repair and do nothing silly like pulling/pushing, lifting, carrying.
Good luck and hope that it is an easy fix.
Sharon

Oh my Jan... you once again educated me on a new complication (images on yahoo of a seroma are scary!).

Sharon, I too am menopaused for over a year and I did not know about the fragile tissues symptom. I still think I have an "S" on my chest and can perform super-human feats, when I know I should ask for help. I am getting better about asking my daughters, but they are so petite, they just look so pathetic trying to do the heavy lifting that I always took for granted. LOL!

I feel confident about my surgeon as she has done thousands of hernia operations and she is being super-cautious by asking a colleague to be her team member to be another "set of eyes" during my operation.

I did ask her "How many patients have you had to sew back up and send them on their way, because you could not do the operation?" She answered me honestly (hopefully) and told me "3".

I know that my bikini days are over, but She also told me that there is no guarantee that the huge humps on each side of my belly button/incisional wounds will disappear. Fortunately, I have been able gain 4 pounds in the past month or so, but these humps are getting in the way of my pants/jeans fitting me anymore. (I now weigh 126 vs. 121)

Did your "humps" disappear?

I had a hernia pretty high up, just under my rib cage in December 2010. I had the mesh done, not laproscopically. It was a day surgery and he sent me home that afternoon but I was surprised since it felt like a bigger surgery than that. They initially had told me 3 days in the hospital so I was prepared for that. Fortunately I had my parents here to help me which was a must. Where is your hernia?

Hernia is located right where my belly button used to be. Now my belly button is somewhat off kilter to the left.

Initial surgery wound is about 10 inches long. About 5 inches above and 5 inches below the belly button. J-pouch was created by reopening the lower 5 inches but my last surgeon blamed the first surgery for creating the hernia. Who knows... I may have done too much heavy lifting while I had my ostomy.

Day 3 post surgery. Well I had laparoscopic and sent home same day. All of my pain is around my pouch. Feel like a demon was in there and beat the crap out of me. When my pouch has a spasm it takes my breath away.

Pain meds make me constipated and cannot strain to release. Stools are very hard. I am taking Bentyl for spasms but not really helping.

Dr. Says all of this is "normal". I am just flabbergasted that she initially said recovery would be 3-7 days. I am recovering by centimeters each day.

This sucks! Starting to have regrets; but insurance issues forced me to take care of my hernia before it and/or insurance became a problem.

Just dandy... now I have a temp of 100F and vomiting. Is this "normal"? Discharge papers say to call when temp is 101.

This is not normal, I hope you called and if not will now. I don't think your pouch should be hurting either. I had an incisional hernia operation but it was open and he had to open up my entire midline incision from my belly button to my pubic bone and I also had mesh put in. Did you have mesh too? I had a large hernia as I went in expecting a one inch incision. My C/R surgeon did the hernia surgery too.

It appears as you have an infection because of the fever and I don't understand the pouch pain at all. If our C/R surgeon didn't do the hernia surgery I think s/he should be called too.

Low grade fever is common. Try increasing your fluids, and be sure to be doing your deep breathing to keep your lungs fully ventilating. The vomiting, not so normal, but a lot of people are queasy for a few days post op. Pain should be gradually getting better. If it is getting worse, you need to call back.


Each case is different and you can't tell how much was done from the outside.

Jan

So sorry that you are feeling so terrible...it sucks...
Laporoscopic surgery can be very, very deceptive...it is the same as normal surgery but without the outside opening...so you can't expect it to hurt less...sometimes it hurts more because of all of that air that they pump into you...the air is a force as well and it puts pressure on things like your guts and pouch...and it doesn't all come out of you post op...it takes time. You should be walking or at least moving around as much as possible to get things moving and that nasty gas out of your body...sip ice water, it helps for the nausea. The more you dirnk, the softer your stool will be...that should help with the emptying of your pouch.
I wouldn't panic too much about the fever unless it goes up any higher...if you stay around 100° you should be ok.
Jan is right, they may have done a 'walk-about' in there to make sure that nothing else needed tweeking and pushed things around somewhat...if you can, take 1/2 doses of the pain meds so that they have less effect on your guts...but still take the edge off of the pain.
Hugs and hopes that this is going to resolve itself quickly.
Sharon

Thanks Jan and Sharon. Feeling sore, but better today. Temp is 99 today. Thanks for the reminder about deep breathing. I always have a bad habit of panting short shallow moans during painful episodes. Something the nurses had to keep reminding me to do...Deep breaths!

I had an incisional hernia. It was Open.

I was in the hospital for 5 days and I considered it to be major surgery. I had an ileus due to the surgery and the pain meds really slow things down. I was off from work for 6 weeks and got better each week.

After the 6 weeks I was back to normal with no pain at all! :-)

Good Luck!

I went back to work after 7 days, but I only work 5 hours a day and my job is sedentary. However I go downhill from noon until bedtime. Gravity still affects my pain and pouch a great deal. For the past two nights I have cried myself to sleep due to rolling from left to right while trying to get comfortable in a prone position. I don't know what exactly is hurting, but it is not my laparoscopic wounds. It feels like tendons or some kind of pulling and tearing internally.

When I researched incisional hernia repair, lapro was not advised as there was a higher rate of recurrence and adhesions. Hopefully, you don't have any issues!

Mesh also can create adhesions, and if the hernia is small, you might not need the mesh.

Mine was repaired and although I thought I had a recurrence a few months later, the surgeon said it was just "fat" stuck in the repair and I was fine.

I had 2 surgeons during the operation (just to have another set of eyes).

During my follow-up appointment, I asked the Dr. if she saw "anything interesting" while she was in there.

She reported that I actually had 3 hernias (needed a bigger mesh) and a lot of weakened fascia. So, no more 6-pack abs for me. I actually look more like a 2-pack abs. A big one on the left and a big one on the right side of the belly button and my incisional scars.

Swelling has gone down tremendously, but took about 3-4 weeks for me to get back into my usual sized clothing (thank goodness I saved my "Fat" pants from when I was heavier).

Today, I am feeling great. I don't think I will get any better or any worse at this point.