Where are the cuts made???

I am trying to figure out where the cuts are on the outside of the body. I had a surgical hernia repair with mesh just above my belly button. Is it a problem?? I have not gotten to meet with my surgeon yet. I believe I see him right after the insurance approval, so I do not know if that would give enough time to change things if need be. I keep trying to look it up but all things say is 5 to 6 small incisions in the abdomen. That's a big area, no pun intended! My hysterectomy was supposed to be laprascopic, but once the surgeon figured out the mesh was there, he could not do it. They had to fillet me. So I am a little curious and nervous about it. Thanks Y'all!

I do have one in my belly button. The main two are lower left abdomen, which is where they put in most of the equipment and the camera. The other two are kind of mid abdominal kind of in line with the belly button. I guess it will really depend on the size of the mesh and how much wiggle room they have in where they can place the lap cuts. 

Thank you! That helps. I thought maybe they would have to do a CT scan to see where the mesh is actually.

I had my gull bladder removed about 10 years before my RNY so I had cuts above my belly button and a couple scattered around my abdomen.  The surgeon ended up going a little bit above my previous belly button entry and one other is close to another scare.  The other 4 are in random spots (I'm sure they aren't truly random).  I have an old school appendix scare that they avoided completely.  Good luck!

I had surgery on Tuesday. I also had a previous hernia repair but it was below and to the right of my belly button. I was really worried if my Doctor would be able to do the RNY laparoscopically.

My Doctor needed to read my operative note from when I had the hernia repair so he would know exactly what kind of mesh was used and where. I called the Doctor who did the mesh surgery and asked to send my operative note to my Doctor.

My Doctor was able to do my surgery laparoscopically! Yeah! I have 6 incisions. 1is right above my belly button and 1 is right below chest. Then 2 on the right side and 2 on left side. One on the right side has a tube that drains fluid. 

I went to a Center of Excellence. They have 3 full time bariatric surgeons. I could tell my Doctor was very experienced in this procedure.

good luck!

It all depends on where the surgeon wants to go in.  I had one at my belly button, two above to the left and right, and one below to the left.

As Chulbert said,Mir depends on the exact location of the mesh compared to where your surgeon prefers his incisions (it varies a bit from one surgeron to another). It also depends on how large the mesh patch is. Some are very small, but others are quit large.

Sometimes they can do a "modified" lap surgery. When I had my gall bladder removed, the surgeon was still able to do it laparoscopically, but because of the large mesh patch where my open RNY incisional hernia was repaired, he had to make one of the lap incisions an inch and a half long to work through the mesh.

even if thes urge on has to do open surgery, it isn't the end of the world.  It just takes a bit longer to recover and the recovery is more painful.

Lora

Thank you thank you thank you! Feeling a bit better about the situation!