At Tue, 2 Sep 2003, Millie wrote:
>
>Marilyn,
>I am sorry for what you are going through. I know I had adhesions when she
>opened me to do the hyst, in 2001. She wrote "moderate amount of adhesions'
>on the report.
>I have not had any incisional hernias, but I can tell you that any
>open-abdominal surgery can and will make adhesions return. They get worse,
>and there's no known 100% cure for them.
>Your mid-section pain could be from adhesions.
>Millie.
>
>>>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Marilyn" <haven49gal@aol.com>
>To: "Multiple recipients of list ADHESIONS" <adhesions@dns.obgyn.net>
>Sent: Monday, September 01, 2003 10:46 PM
>Subject: Incisional Hernia
>
>> I am 64 years old and have always been a healthy and vigorous person. In
>> February of this year I underwent a complete abdominal hysterectomy
>> because of a very large, benign ovarian cyst that I never even knew was
>> there. I felt really good about 2 weeks following surgery and returned
>> to my normal routine despite all advice that at least 4-6 weeks of light
>> activity was required to recuperate. I strained myself and wound up
>> with a rather large incisional hernia which began to show itself on my
>> lower left abdomen about 6 weeks after surgery. I was referred to a
>> surgeon who specializes in hernia repairs, both open and
laparoscopic.
>> The herniation was in the lower part of the incision, almost to the
>> pubic bone. Surgery was performed on July 18th.....he tried the
>> laparoscopic way first, but there were too many adhesions from the
>> hysterectomy and the hernia itself, so he had to open the prior incision
>> to make the repair. When he came to see me in the recovery room, he
>> told me it was an "excellent repair" and that I had wonderful tissue to
>> work with.
>>
>> Unfortunately, an ileus (intestinal paralysis) developed the day after
>> surgery while I was still in the hospital which caused me to violently
>> wretch and throw up continuously. A nasogastric tube was inserted to
>> relieve this condition and after 4 days the ileus resolved and the tube
>> was removed. I spent 8 days in the hospital. My doctor checked me
>> daily and I could see that he was not happy when he checked my abdomen.
>> He sent me for a CT scan which revealed that the repair had failed, most
>> likely due to the violent heaving I experienced. He said it only takes
>> "one stitch" to unravel the whole thing. In addition to this failure, I
>> also wound up with an enormous hematoma at the site of the laparoscopic
>> incision. It is still oozing heavily and I have to change the dressing
>> twice daily. A repeat hernia repair will have to be performed, but my
>> doctor says this can't be done for a few months as everything inside
>> must settle down. Now, I've started to experience terrible pain, not
>> just from the hernia and the hematoma, but if I cough, sneeze or laugh
>> hard I get this excruciating pain across my mid-section (at the level of
>> my belly button). If I don't wear the abdominal binder, I can't walk
>> for more than a couple of minutes without pain. I notice that when I
>> place my hand under my hernia (size of a cantaloupe) and lift up my
>> entire belly, the pain goes away somewhat.
>>
>> It seems that everything that can go wrong with a hernia repair did go
>> wrong. Now I'm wondering about this terrible mid-section
pain....could
>> this be adhesions, especially since my intestines are now bulging out
>> again? I am seeing the surgeon on Thursday (he sees me every 2 weeks)
>> and I will, of course, consult him about this pain, but I'm wondering if
>> anyone else has had a similar experience. Thanks.
>>
-- Marilyn (haven49gal@aol.com).