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4 months post incarcerated femoral hernia surgery
I posted this a few days ago and actually had some responses but for some reason the thread has disappeared. Probably due to the new site. So, please accept my apologies if this sounds redundant.
I had laporoscopic surgery for a right sided incarcerated femoral hernia on October 20th. I had been having pain for months as many of you know. I had been posting my story here all along.
I had been having pelvic pain for months along with Interstitial Cystitis which I’ve had for most of my life and is a challenge. They assumed the pelvic pain was muscle spasms and gave me a bunch of trigger point injections along with physical therapy which only made it worse. The real pain started after an extremely painful bowel movement. I actually felt something pull sharply and was not able to stand up. That pain along with pain after all bowel movements continued for months. I must say that calcium supplements recommended by my orthopedic for osteoporosis put me over the edge. It was just too binding and I never even gave it a thought. I just took the supplements as directed.Eventually, after going from doctor to doctor and insisting on an MRI and basically crying to my pelvic pain gynecologist that something was really wrong I started to get some real attention. I searched the net, picked doctors brains, showed up at doctor appointments when they looked at me and asked “why are you here?” and just never gave up. I thought I had a sports hernia which led me to seek a paid for consultation in NYC with a specialist. It was the best money I spent. He sent me for a more specific MRI with valsalva maneuver. I finally had an answer when he called a few days later and told me that I had a femoral hernia and that it was probably the cause of my pain.
Because of finances I could not do the surgery with him but found a specialist near my house with a good reputation and in network. During the surgery he found a substantial incarcerated femoral hernia. He removed it and placed a mesh. He also found another hernia near my belly button which he also removed and sutured up. I developed a seroma at that site which could not be drained because it had hardened by the time I got to him for a follow up a week later. Because of a history of endometriosis and adhesions I asked him to pop into my abdomen during the surgery and take down any adhesions if he found them. There were some around my bowel which he removed and one by my left ureter to my abdominal wall which he also took down.
It took me a long time to heal from the surgery. I followed all my post op instructions with regards to lifting, diet, stool softeners, not straining, resting, etc. I finally started to feel better
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5 Replies
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Dr Towfigh
Thank you for responding. I am seeing my Pelvic pain specialist tomorrow to have him weigh in on PFD. I also have the script for the CT scan with oral contrast. I would prefer the MRI as I don’t do well drinking the contrast but don’t feel I can call him to debate which imaging to a do.
If it’s not recurrence and the nerve is not entrapped…. just irritated then it should get better with time as will the seroma.
If the seroma has become encapsulated is it difficult a to correct?
Also, can PFD be this painful? Perhaps the surgery made the muscles more sensitive. Ever since the surgery I feel a tightness on the hernai side. I was actually afraid to stretch but after a while the doctor cleared me to do gentle stretching.
Is it normal to feel tightness after mesh repair and is there anything I can do to loosen the feeling?
Sorry for all the questions but I appreciate your response.
Thank you
Mel -
Thanks for the followup.
I agree agree with imaging. It will help determine if there is a recurrence, fluid collection, or if the mesh has folded in itself.
CT scan is not a good study to evaluate this. It doesn’t show the mesh separate from everything else. MRI pelvis without contrast is a better option and what I use for this problem.
Neeve pain is uncommon with laparoscopic hernia repair. But it is possible. Depends on the technique used to repair.
PS, I will try to repost your initial post on this thread.
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The entire right Pelvic area is sore and throbbing and I haven’t even gotten out of bed yet. Let’s see what happens after breakfast. Before they diagnosed me with hernia my gyn had me treated for PFD. The physical therapy and trigger point injections made things worse. Can this be PFD? I need to see a real hernia specialist in NJ or even travel to NYC. Any suggestions? Is CT scan with liquid contrast better than MRI in picking up mesh problems or recurrent hernia? The seroma area is still sore and slightly swollen. It gets worse by end of day and there is discoloration at the site. I was getting better and feeling pretty good a month ago and now things have taken a turn.
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So I went to the surgeon yesterday. He felt around examine me and had me cough. He said he didn’t feel
a hernia. I told him about the nerve pain and he explain d that the way he did the mesh there could be no nerve entrapment. He said that the nerve could be irritated and to give it more time as it takes a long time to heal. He very quickly saw the area where the seroma was/is and was a little baffled by the appearance. Although the seroma had gone down considerably there appears to be discoloration about the size of a quarter near my belly button. It actually looks bruised. He palpated it and felt something still there. I also had pain and tenderness when he pressed. He thinks that the seroma might have encapsulated itself and I might need to have it addressed. Again he said to give it some more time for the seroma to continue to heal. I told him about the pain after the bowel movement and assured me it was not hernia. He said that everything felt good. He said that if the pain continued I could have a CT scan with the contrast that you drink. He actually gave me the script for it so I could decide when to have it done if the pain continued.
So this morning after a very easy and soft BM the pain slowly returned. I took half of a soma to relax those muscles and layed down with a hot water bottle for a while. It’s now mid afternoon and the pain is worse from walking around. I have pain in my groin, throbbing in my Pelvic area and shooting pain down my sciatica…also inside of thigh. Also, I seem to be more bloated and swollen as my jeans are tight .Same pain as before the surgery but a little less than right before my surgery when the pain was unbearable.
I just don’t know what to do. I know I am not imagining this.
I feel like I am going around in circles. It took months of pain before I got the femoral hernia diagnosis. I can’t do this again.
Any thoughts?
Mel -
So it seems the rest of my post is missing….oh well….here goes again….
I did some walking about 3-4 weeks after surgery and eased up when it felt that i had over done it and experienced some pain. About 3 months after surgery I began doing some light exercises at home and slowly started the elliptical machine. There were times I felt some pain so I eased off again.
About 2 weeks ago I felt a dull ache in the pelvic area where I had the hernia surgery. I had even more pain after a bowel movement and it continued to ache all day. I had an appointment with my pelvic pain doctor and mentioned it to him. He said it might have been an isolated incident and to give it another 2 weeks and discuss with him if it continued. So here I am 2 weeks later and the same thing happened but the pain was worse and lasted all day. I was unable to leave the house this past Monday. Tuesday some more pain but not as bad. My pelvic doctor is on vacation so I decided to call the surgeon for a follow up. It is now almost 4 months post surgery. I will be seeing the surgeon Friday. The other pain I have is in that same area but it feels like a nerve pain. Only when I touch or press in a certain area I get a sharp shooting pain. The first time I noticed it was a few months ago and thought it was just post surgical healing. I had even commented about it on this website. The tender spots are down low in the pelvic area near the groin sort of where the border of the mesh might be. I don’t want to get ahead of myself but am obviously concerned. There was a period of time that I didn’t have pain after bowel movements and was so excited because I felt the surgery really helped that part of my pain. The surgeon had explained to me that the fatty hernia was probably pushed through with that forceful bowel movement I had. He said the fat was really jammed into the femoral canal.
I am not sure what is going on. Maybe Dr Towfigh can chime in…especially if she remembers me from a few months ago. At 4 months I don’t think my seroma is completely gone either but that’s not where I am experiencing the pain. No bowel movement today so I can’t comment on pain afterwards but will wait and see what tomorrow brings. I’m watching my diet, still continuing with stool softeners, using a squatty potty and not straining.
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