Hernia, anyone?

August 8 was my one-year anniversary, which I happily celebrated in Hawaii! I rode 2 helicopters, went snorkeling, etc., and everything was so fun. I would never have done those things before I lost 110 pounds. However, right before I left for Hawaii, I started having intermittent strong pain in my abdomen. It only happened twice more while I was on vacation, but then again when I came home. I visited my doc and he said it sounded like a hernia. No way to check except by surgery to look. Last week I had laparoscopic exploratory surgery, and yes, they found and fixed a hernia. I have 10 staples from the surgery which I'll get out in a few days. This surgery was much less painful than the bypass, and I returned to work in 2 days. Any of you go through this? I am SO THANKFUL that this didn't strangulate at any time, especially while I was in Hawaii. My surgeon does the emergency procedure only as an open operation to try to save the bowel. So while I didn't want another surgery, I guess I was lucky. Symptoms were: strong abdominal pain, but below my stomach pouch. It just felt different than anything I had gone through all year. Episodes ranged in length from a couple of hours to 30 minutes. The last episode was so bad, I was panting from the pain. It lasted 2 hours, and I was about to call my surgeon when it finally stopped. If you have similar symptoms, be sure to talk to your dr. Sherry

Thanks for the info. Sherry. Sounds terrible. I also had RNY open on Aug. 8th 06. I have been doing great and have had no complications so far..thanks for keeping my eyes open to the possibility that things can still happen, but there is help for things like this. Sue.

Yep happened to me too except that I had free air inside... ugh.. this only comes from having a whole somewhere. So into surgery I went again only for them not to be able to find my "leak" (guess it must be REALLY small - which is a good thing)... I have some testing tomorrow and go back to see the doc on Thursday to try and work out a plan. I certainly don't want to have to go back into surgery again. My hernia was partially repaired. It will be fixed completely with the plastics in the spring if I can hold out that long.