ABDOMINAL INCISIONAL HERNIA

Hi TrishS62 

I honestly don’t know too much about hernias . My mum has had a few . However she did get a mesh put in as part of a clinical trial for her abdominal surgery back in 2010 . Not sure if it’s the same thing but definitely no issues with it .

My sister actually has the mesh in for bladder issues that there has been a lot of media reports about . She again has experienced none of them where others seem to have had issues .

I would most definitely raise these concerns with your team as they may have the stats on how often this occurs . I have frightened myself silly on line only to hear the numbers of them occurring and feeling it was more doable . Always good to get the context and the drs will see this all the time . 
Take care ,

Court 

Hi Court, thanks so much for your reply.  Good to hear your mum and sister have both been okay since having hernia repair and bladder procedure with a mesh.  I guess we mostly get to hear when things go wrong rather than positives.  I will raise these concerns with my surgeon as suggested nearer the time.

Thanks again. Take care and best wishes.

Trish 

Hi Trish, I have a large incisional hernia. I’ve had it nearly 7 years. It is not related to the cancer. In fact I was on the surgeons list from 2018, I was turned down by a few surgeons as high risk, anyway when I was contacted in 2020 I had been diognoised with bowel cancer and was taken off his books. After the cancer had a spot on my liver and  the cancer came back on my bowel after radiotheraphy and chemo tablets I had to have surgery November 2021 then chemo the start of 2022. My hernia is now so large, I went to see the surgeon privately but the cost was too much for me. He has now agreed to take me back on his books, my last scans where clear. I’m seeing him at the end of the month, just had my 3 monthly scans yesterday, praying they are clear or that means hernia stays. If these are clear I think I go to 6 monthly. I sorry so drawn out but if they did this op when the hernia was so much smaller I wouldn’t have had this trouble. With the cancer and now this, I can’t heal mentally. I wish you all the luck and best wishes. Sorry for the long post sending hugs Nelly 55 xx

Hi Nelly, thank you so much for your reply.  I am so sorry to hear what you are going through.  I am not surprised you are finding it hard to heal mentally.  You struggle through cancer and just want to get on with living your best life but then you still have a hernia to deal with and all that goes with it. I sincerely hope your scans are clear so you can eventually have your hernia repair surgery.  Can I ask, did your hernia start off tiny and does it hurt? (mine is in my belly button, about 2cm and is not causing me any pain at present but my surgeon suggested repair on NHS). 

Sending you so much luck and my very best wishes for your future.  Trish xxx

Hi Trish, I had an umbilical hernia for years it did not bother me but I had ti have it done when I had my gallbladder out and that is when I got the incisional hernia in my upper stomach, it was small I know exactly when I got it I felt it pop Boxing Day 2016, it was small but it just grew so big I think it is nearly the size of a rugby ball, in fact I’ve been told there is 2 there. If they had done it back then I might have not had trouble with it but I’m over weight and when I had the surgery  I developed sepsis, so I was  high risk no one wanted to operate on me, now I’m hoping everything will be done. My CNS nurse has given me the appointment for the 20th. I suppose if anything shows up it might be before. I suppose with the cancer it ended up needing to be done  but with hernia it not life threatening unless it gets strangulated. I wish you all the best wishes. Please let me know how you on. Sending hugs xx