Hernia surgery? :-(

[Guest guest]

Well, I have a small problem to deal with now. I have a ventral

hernia just above my navel. I have been biding my time and hoping it

will not get worse but it appears to be poking out a bit more now.

I'm looking at having it patched up with a mesh since with both my

surgeries, I've had this hernia afterwards. This is kind of a pain

but at least it is nothing really serious, like recurrance.

((((shudder))))

Just in case nobody remembers, I had a colon resection in 07/2002, Dx

T2, N0 (of 42), and M0. I went back in the hospital 2 weeks after

initial surgery with a fever from a minor infection at the site of

the anastamosis. Then I did 6 weeks of radiation with Xeloda. I

wound up in the hospital 01/2003 with a partial small bowel

obstruction. I waited, hoping it would repair itself but went for

surgery in 03/2003 to fix the obstruction and fix the hernia. The

obstruction turned out to be radiation damage to a loop of small

bowel so they had to remove it. I've since had the small ventral

hernia in the same spot. My last CT scan was clean in January and

I've been running again so I can get in good shape.

I don't know why I'm posting this. I guess I feel a part of the

group now so I thought it would feel good to talk about what's going

on with me too. It's a bummer to realize that I will need to have

surgery again, especially since I've finally gotten into the habit of

running almost daily. If I don't take care of this, I'm afraid that

it'll get worse and then be a much worse surgery later. I want to do

this before the summer so I can take a vacation for the first time in

two years. Any opinions about this situation are welcome. Oh well,

take care everybody and I'll keep sending prayers out.

Miracles happen,

Cliff H.