Last year around this time I went to the doctor complaining of low right side pain. An ultrasound found a mass on the left ovary, and it was removed laparoscopically. It was found to be a benign dermal cyst. Which, as an aside, are not undeveloped twins or an absorbed fetus or anything but a cluster of cells that never specialized and could become anything.
Anyway, after that I was sent on my way, and the pain on the right was never investigated. I asked about it on my last follow-up and the resident asked me was I still having that pain? I said not really because it had subsided to a great degree.
So lately it has hit me that I must have a hernia on the right. I can feel a small bulge about the size of a small egg. I even remember when it must have happened- a couple years ago when I was putting on pantyhose, I believe.
I’m not due to receive benefits at work until the end of November, so I don’t have insurance. If I found myself to be having an emergency with it, like a great deal of pain, I would go to the ER. However, I’m wondering, since I know little to nothing of hernias, if I should wait until I’m insured and what the surgery is like. And the recovery.
If someone could fill me in with their knowledge and/or experience, I’d appreciate it.
Well, I’ve had a hernia, but I’m not going to be much help with the info you wanted. When my last daughter was born almost five years ago, she weighed close to 12 pounds. She was delivered C-section, and the doctor who delivered her looked inside me (ewww) and said, in his bland, almost toneless voice “Oh, you’ve got a little hernia here; happens sometimes when the baby’s so big; don’t worry, though, I’ll repair it before I close you up”. If it’s any help to you at all, I had all three of my children by C-section, and the last one wasn’t any more difficult to recover from than my first two. This might seem to sort of imply that hernia surgery recovery wouldn’t be that big of a deal. FWIW, keeping in mind that IANAD, I don’t think waiting a couple of months for the surgery would do any harm.
I had inguinal hernias patched on both sides, 11 years apart. The fix involves implanting synthetic fabric mesh, and they rarely re-break. If I were you, I’d talk to a doctor about it.
Yes, I am going to see a doctor. That’s not the question, of course when I get insurance I will be going. What I’m wondering is if it’s an emergency-type thing or I could wait from now until early December. I certainly don’t want to end up with a colostomy bag, but I’m not experiencing pain right now.
And I’ve had three large babies, with the last pregnancy having polyhydramnious, excess amniotic fluid which had me unbelievably huge. I wonder if that had something to do with it.
I used to. I wouldn’t recommend doing it but I just pushed mine back in. Mine came out the side near the love handles. It was pretty painful until I pushed it back in.
I don’t know about the emergency thing. I could be wrong but i’m pretty sure as long as there is not a blood flow cutoff to the intestines due to pressure in/around the hole the intestines are coming out of it is not an emergency. if blood flow does get cut off though you’d need to get to an ER immediately as gangrene will set in.
Wesley Clark is correct in that a hernia can sometimes become strangulated and at that point would constitute an emergency situation. And yes, it is likely that your condition was caused by your last pregnancy, which stretches out abdominal muscles to the point where they hardly ever go back to prepregnancy condition. I weigh only 115, but my lower belly is still poochy because of my pregnancies.
It seems like the best thing you can do is monitor the situation and try to ride it out until your insurance kicks in, then get it taken care of. Good luck!!
When I was a youngster, pulp magazines had ads for trusses (?), which strapped on around your waist and legs, and had pads over the areas most likely to have hernias. WAG, these were for keeping the intestines from bulging out and causing the serious problem. It may be possible to find some such or use a girdle for the same purpose, to hold you until the money works for you.
They didn’t make it too clear, so my 11-year-old self may have misinterpreted it all, so check on this before buying into it.
WAG #2, maybe you want to take precautions so the opening in the muscles doesn’t stretch some more, making it worse.
Something else to consider, some (all?) health insurance policies don’t cover pre-existing conditions. 