Yaye!!! Life can now continue!!

Jul 21, 2009

After two trips to Minnesota, Mayo recommended that my the mesh in my stomach be removed & my abdominal wall be closed up. So...on June 9th, I had surgery. The mesh was all bunched up on one side. It was removed along with the scar tissue that was attached to it. There were two different types of infection in it. Once it was gone, the surgeons could see adhesions on my intestines so they removed them, cleaned them up by removing all of the adhesions and then put them back inside me. The abdominal wall was then closed as much as they dared to. There is a small strip down the center that they put a strip of calf muscle in to close the remaining gap. If they had tried to close the wall, there may not have been enough room for the intestines & them get ischemic again.  Considering my history with mesh (not good!), they opted for the calf muscle instead. My body will take over it and the bovine will break down and be absorbed into my body as my wall mends itself. All the excess scarring was removed and my bellybutton returned to just about center.

So...6 weeks later...

I'm still a little tender which I think should be expected. I'm going to have to slowly get my abs tightened back up. It's scary because you don't really 'know' how much will be too much and cause a hernia. I would really prefer not to have to have any more abdonimal surgeries!! There are two places though that the wall seems to be extra weak so I have to be cautious or hernia's could develop easily. The incision line is all healed up! Woo-hoo!! I am now back to work and NOT on desk duty! I got to participate in an experiment yesterday and it felt terrific. The only upsetting thing in this is that I had to go up a few sizes since my stomach is still swollen..that and with the ab wall being so weak, it's not holding anything back much so I have a pooched out stomach. That's ok..this time next year, it'll be back in shape!

0 Comments