Post Op Complications from Hernia Surgery

[msprescott3]

My sister had hernia surgery 6 days ago.  She was released from the hospital yesterday.  She had 2 spigelion hernias and she was not able to have the surgery performed laproscopically.  They removed 4 inches from her small intestine and did not use mesh to reinforce the intestinal wall.  Before she left the hospital, she had a BM with no blood.  Today she had small amount of bright red blood in her stool.  What are common complications and how concerned should she be regarding the blood?  

[BDSou812]

I also had inguinal hernia surgery, it too left me with no surface sensation (except pressure) in the area around and below it.  I figure that the surgeon probably severed a superficial nerve to get to the repair site.  I had mesh placed to retain the abdominal contents, but in the process it pinned one of the tendons which control scrotal retraction, so one side is fixed and the other moves up and down with abdominal muscles.  I had mine done about three years ago, and do occasionally feel sharp pains from the area of the repair, but no serious complications.  Your other areas of rips and tears probably cause the discomfort you feel in your pelvic floor.  The scrotal pain is pretty common among patients who have had this type of repair.  I am not a medical doctor, though, and only speak from experience here.  If the conditions persist, pursue treatment with a competent medical doctor.

[yuan]

For two weeks now I've been having this nape pain. I went to see my chiropractor for 3 days in a row just to see if its just a stiff neck but he wasn't able to fix the problem because it is still hurting. I can't fully turn my head  or tilt it back and sometimes I feel that my head is too heavy and I feel the tension on my shoulder and its difficult to drive. In my family we have a history of high-blood pressure and diabetes. But I just had my physical and everything was perfect according to my doctor. The pain is on my right side mostly. There were no symptoms of anything that I could remember.  

[GDSM]

I had an inguinal hernia operation in Dec 05, I had suffered from many complications. The surgeon used the perfix plug and patch. I suffered many complications like I stated then finally went to a different surgeon who performed a double nuerectomy in Mar. 07. I still had very serious complications as i felt the suffering was to much I was referred to pain management after many shots and many narcotics the pain persisted. I then went to see a well renowned surgeon in Philly who told me that the mesh and plug needed to be removed as he saw on an MRI a massive tear in the pelvic floor with many other rips and tears thru out my groin, that operation was performed in Oct. 07. I am still having serious complications and have never been out of pain, the last operation to correct the others was done mesh free and the shouldice technique was used for the repair. My question is why am I still having so many complications? the complications I speak of is that my testicle is always sore, I have a lot of burning in my upper thigh and I get very sharp stabbing pains that double me over in pain, not to mention the costant pressure I feel from the inside. I can no longer feel any touch sensation on my groin, but I do feel pressure from the touch. What is happening to me and can it be corrected?

[Jeffrey S Guy, M.D., M. Sc.]

A Spigelian hernia is a pretty rate thing, let alone a bilateral Spigelian hernia.  You mentioned that they removed a segment of small bowel-- I can only assume from that she had an incarcerated hernia.  A small amount of blood following a bowel resection and anastamosis is not uncommon, but it should not persist.  It is likely that she had a small amount of blood from the area where the sewed the bowel together-- but frankly that should not be bright red.   I would make sure that she is on a stool softner.  Often, people are on narcotic pain killers, and this can aggrevate problems such as internal hemorrhoids or anal fissures from passing hardened stool .