Incisional hernia?

Mavericksmom

I had DIEP reconstruction in January of this year. I have a large bulge at the abdominal incisional site and I thought it was a hernia. I asked the plastic surgery PA about it but he said it wasn’t a hernia. 9 months later and I still have my doubts. I asked several doctors about it, and none even wanted to check, they told me to call the PS. All were at the same cancer hospital but different departments. The problem is I will most likely just get the PA again. I’m seeing my gynecologist next week so I thought I would ask her. She works out of a different hospital

Has anyone had an incisional hernia and if so, how did you know what it was? I get pain/discomfort in that area sometimes but not all the time. I never had any revision surgery and don’t plan to, so I have no future appointments with my plastic surgeon.

Peregrinelady

I am going for an ultrasound for a suspected hernia on Monday. My DIEP surgery was in April 2016, but I have had this pain off and on for months. It seems to be aggravated by activity, so it might just be muscular. However, it is something I need to quit putting off. Will let you know what we find out. My primary care physician ordered it, finally, after I mentioned it on several visits.

Mavericksmom

Thank you so much! I will be interested in knowing what the ultrasound says.

edj3

I did but not from the kind of surgery you had. Mine was lower left quadrant of my abdominal area and was from the six major abdominal surgeries I'd had over the years.

I'm glad you're following up on that; mine definitely hurt, all the time. Once it was fixed (and all the massive amounts of scar tissue in my abdominal cavity was removed) I felt 100% better.

Mavericksmom

Thanks edj3! Maybe the PA was right, maybe the huge bulge I have isn't a hernia, but just the way it healed? It definitely doesn't hurt all the time, although, I always seem to have pressure in my abdomen, mostly because my pants don't stay up at my "waist" since the surgery, my pants tend to fall down to my incision area. I don't know what to do to prevent that, I can't wear belts.

I will still ask my gynecologist next week. She is great and is the one who thought I should have a diagnostic mammogram rather than just the regular screening test. I am still not sure if my cancer showed up on the mammogram, I know it did on the ultrasound. Both reports were combined, there wasn't a separate one for the mammogram.

I did have a bladder ultrasound done in June, but the area scanned wasn't the area when I feel the bulge. Maybe my gynecologist will order an ultrasound for my piece of mind? I can ask.

Peregrinelady

I went to my surgeon and he felt for a hernia, but couldn’t feel one. He ordered a CT scan and I am waiting for a call to schedule it. He said that if it is a hernia, it is deep ( I can’t remember what he called it) and if not a hernia, scar tissue could be causing the pain. Thanks for replying, Ed, and good to hear you felt better after surgery.