Christmastime internal hernia.

Apr 20, 2010

It all started at McDonald's.  Yup, I admit it.  I was eating a happy meal, and started to feel... icky.  Couldn't put my finger on it, but I was just "not right".  I went back to work, and figured I was dumping.  As I sat there though, icky turned to pain.  I thought maybe I was cramping or something, and expected a trip to the restroom.  Didn't happen.  I kept drinking water after waiting an hour after eating.  I went to Walmart, I went to meet up with some friends, but just felt so awful.  I tried to lay down while waiting in car, but laying down was much less comfortable.  I went home, with pain now in my abdomen and my back (i have a back injury that likes to flare up when I'm freaked out).  I took some tylenol and some muscle relaxers and went to bed at 7pm.  I was still convinced I was dumping (6 hours later...).  The only comfortable position was fetal, and even that wasn't comfortable.  The drugs eventually just knocked me out.

When I woke up in the morning I was still miserable.  I put a call in to my surgeons office and started googling away to find out what was wrong with me.  I figured it might be my gall bladder since I still have one and the onset was during a fatty meal.  When i finally spoke to the surgeon's office, they told me to come in right away.  I was there in 20 minutes.  They looked at me and decided to send me for a MRI, and admit me to the hospital.  I was admitted, and waited 3 hours for my MRI.  the oral morphine was not touching this pain.  When i finally got the MRI I had to lay flat, which sucked since that was the most uncomfortable position. 

Within an hour of coming back from the MRI the nurse came to my room and told me I was having surgery.  I didn't know what for still... no one had really told me anything.  They finally explained that I had an internal hernia - that with all the weight loss, my insides were loose and my intestine had wormed it's way upward and gotten kinked and needed to get untangled ASAP. 

Thankfully my delay in heading to the hospital did not cause me to loose any of my intestine, no perforation, nothing.  This complication is a real risk that we face as bariatric patients.  I think 5-10% of us will experience this.  Once they fix it, we're good, and will not experience this kind of hernia again.

Lesson learned - if you've never felt the pain before - CALL YOUR SURGEON!

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