Hernia Surgery

Some of you may have seen all my updates on Facebook... If not, here is most of the story, and some terrible pictures I will never share with my Facebook life :)

I've had a hernia just above my pubic bone, and to the right, for about 7 years now.

Sometimes it hurts, sometimes it doesn't. I've gone to the doctor about it before and he said as long as I can push it back in then there is no big rush. But I should get surgery on it sooner rather then later.

On Sunday afternoon my hernia started to hurt, worse then it has before. Monday I was in terrible pain and knew that this was different then anything I had gone through before. Tuesday morning I tried to set up an appointment with the surgeon, but he was booked until Thursday. After taking a shower and putting on lotion I noticed that the hernia not only couldn't be pushed back in, but the skin was bruised. I freaked out and called the nurse at both my regular doctor and the surgeon, they both told me to go to the ER right away.

It was a very hard thing to do, I wondered if I could just hold on and wait till my appointment on Thursday, and skip the ER bill, since our insurance wouldn't cover it.

Then a friend came over and gave me a blessing, and suggested that I get it checked out ASAP.

So we did, and spent 6 hours in the ER- did X-rays, CT scan, and then finally got checked into a room. Unfortunately my surgeon was doing surgery on someone else that night, and never came to see me to explain what was going on. Talk about being kept in the dark, it was horrible to just sit there and wait!

Surgery was scheduled for 11am on Wednesday, but when they got in there they found out it wasn't what they thought it was. Turns out it was a Femoral Hernia, the hernia sac had more come out the side and gone up rather then just coming through an opening in the Abs. Alex said they they had to go under the Abs to pull it back in as apposed to just being able to push it back in. Which meant surgery took an hour longer then expected.

So a little "tape and bedding" later, and I'm all patched up :) I have a nice incision about 2 1/2 inches long.

Here are the pictures we took, I tried to be as decent as I could :)

Pre-Surgery Hernia:

Post-Surgery Hernia, lots of swelling:

Right before Surgery:

This was in the Surgery Prep Room, I had a bad headache from the morphine- and this is the TERRIBLE picture!

Jeremiah was very upset about me being in a wheelchair so we took this picture for him! Leaving the hospital:

I want to thank the people who came and saw me, even if I didn't see you! I am so very thankful for all the wonderful family and friends that are helping me out right now! My parents left New Mexico as soon as I was scheduled for surgery, and have stayed- through great inconvenience for them for over a week now. Mandy, Gale and Adrienne tag teamed to watch the boys when we rushed to the hospital. Friends from church and work have brought meals and loads of food for us! I couldn't do it without you guys!!

Now to just keep still for a month of recovery. No way I want to go through this again!!