stomach area/waist still numb...enlarged some..

[lelc2002@yahoo]

I am at about 7 weeks post-op now..early yet, I know... I can now pretty much stand up in the shower,although I still keep my shower chair in & do still sit on & off..
I noticed that I still have a funny looking tummy. My big incision is on the left side. therefore I still have a very numb feeling there & my tummy(waist area) is pushed out more on the left side. Do most of you early post-op people still have that? I was so afraid to even look at my whole left side with the incision in a mirror for quite a while...I guess I was :) a bit squimish, I would say! But all looks healed up nicely!

[LindaRacine]

Hi Lynne...

It could just be swelling, but it sounds like it's probably an incisional hernia. (Do a search here and you'll see other threads.) A paper was presented at the Scoliosis Research Society meeting last week on this subject. They found that 50% of adult patients with a specific type of incision had this result. :-(

Regards,
Linda

[lelc2002@yahoo]

thks Linda---I read up on that-(hope it's not that) & also heard from my surgeon's nurse that it is probably just like that until all heals there because that is also the numb area which she says can be numb for up to 6 mths after the operations....keeping in mind, that my incision was huge-it ran from my under arm down to my pubic area on the left side...Ly

[katblack]

I'm 7 months and still "poofy". I don't have a hernia, they checked. They assure me in time, it will go away.

[LindaRacine]

Kat...

This is not a true hernia.

After the paper I referenced was presented, several doctors stood up and made very negative remarks about patients being concerned with these hernias. They seemed to be saying that "Hey, we fixed your spine. Why do you care about your abdomen?"

--Linda

[katblack]

I know that. I asked about incisional hernias at my appointment because I'm still poofy. They said it is not that. I have no pain from it, it is not hard, it's just a poofy squishy skin thing. Like a flab... :D
They said if I'm still concerned about it, they will run another MRI on it but that my poof does not fit the usual appearance of this type of hernia.

I have a 12 inch scar to let of my belly button starting right above it and going down to my pubic bone. They double stitched me in one segment causing an indent of sorts, and that may be the cause for the poof. They said as I heal more, as I am more able to exercise my core muscles and in time, it will go away.

[Singer]

Lynne, I hope it's not an incisional hernia...I suppose only time will tell. I was hoping Dr. Boachie would be one of those surgeons whose patients never get those......

Linda -- the reaction among the physicians that you described is infuriating!!

[bbest]

Lynne - My anterior incision is also on the left side. I was like Kat said "poofy" for several weeks after surgery. You get a lot of swelling there. If it's not an incisional hernia, it should go away in time. Maybe you should bring it up at next post-op visit.

[bbest]

I agree with Chris...it is absolutely appalling that a surgeon would make a comment like that. I wonder if they would feel the same way if it were their wives or better yet, themselves.

Grrrrr! :mad:

[lelc2002@yahoo]

I really don't think it is anything like that. As I said, I had a reallly looong incision on the left side & my surgeon's nurse says it takes a long time for that to mend. & go down. I just had noticed in the shower yesterday, a difference on that side still. As I said it was only in the last shower that I could actually look everything over well, scar & all....& my flat back! Prior to that I, showered on my chair & really did'nt look much or look in the mirror...plus I'm moving a lot better these days to check things out!!!! :eek:

[SandyB]

My incision is the same. I am 10 weeks since my surgery and the swelling on that side is definitely going down, but I am still really numb. I'm hoping it will come back, but I don't think anyone knows.

[Pips]

I am nearly 8 months now and the swelling on my left side is mostly gone - if I do too much though it still swells. My PT says that because of the 'trauma' to the area it is easy for fluid to gather there.

It's obvioulsy worth getting checked out, but sounds as though you may just have the same as the rest of us. At your stage I still have a very pregnant looking belly too from swelling but that has all gone now.

Just hang in there- all things take time!

[summer]

UGH!
My stomach is still puffy too. Had to buy a lot of new clothes =)