Hernia

[5799]

Hi I am 4 years post Ivor Lewis pull up. At 2 years post I had an obstructed bowel when a loop went into stomach area. Had emergency surgery in a distant city from home. I am now scheduled for a left transthoracic diaphragm hernia repair. Has anyone else had any similar experiences? What were the outcomes? Thank you all for your help

Bob

[toots1951]

Hi Bob - we are in the UK and my husband had his Ivor Lewis 5 years ago. After a couple of years he started with abdominal pains which they thought was a kink in his bowel which they thought he was born with. These episodes became more painful and often. He was finally diagnosed with a diaphragmatic hernia last October - seeing it on an xray was quite frightening. He had his operation for this early November and recovered well. It seems this can happen after an Ivor Lewis. He has had indigestion the odd time but he is ok. Have you suffered a lot of pain from this?

Sue

[5799 in reply to toots1951]

Hi Sue

Thank you for the reply. Yes, a lot of pain. Constant, on oxycodone and now morphine. Hopefully surgery will eliminate or reduce pain. Will be a left side thorocotomy.

Regards

Bob

[toots1951 in reply to 5799]

Hi Bob, I am sure it will eliminate the pain which often led to my husband being hospitalised. So much better now. Keep us posted. Best wishes Sue

[fieryvelvet2000 in reply to toots1951]

I had a diaphragmatic hernia 2 years after my oesophagectomy. I has another operation to bring my colon back down from my chest to my abdomen. I was fine after that

[Dadesmate]

Hi, My husband had a loop of transverse colon herniate into his chest 7 months after Ivor Lewis. Fortunately after 3 days of gut rest (nasogastric tube and IV fluids) the surgeon was able to pull the bowel back down easily laparoscopically and insert mesh to hopefully prevent a recurrence. He recovered very quickly.

In retrospect prior episodes of diarrhoea and then constipation may have been a factor. I also wonder whether starting to eat larger volumes may have stretched the hole in the diaphragm.

It seems to me that SMALL food volumes frequently is essential to preventing /overcoming many of the uncomfortable outcomes of this operation. But it is hard to change the habits of a lifetime!

I hope you have a good recovery from the surgery and no further problems.

[5799 in reply to Dadesmate]

Thank you for the info. Appreciate the help.

[Scrumtasticjojo]

Hi Bob I am 2 years post oesophagectomy. I don't know if what I had was the same sort of thing or at least similar but post chemo I and had a weakening of my diaphragm which caused a gigantic hernia and my bowel and colon to move into my chest area making it difficult for me to breath due to pressure on my lung.I had a 6.5 hour op in Feb as it had fused to my spine, lungs and heart (so clearly had been suffering a while) so a tricky op and an 8 day stay in hospital. The diaphragm was repaired with a mesh to try and prevent this happening again...nearly 8 weeks on and I feel absolutely great. I wish you all the very best with your pending surgery. Jo

[5799]

Wow ! That sounds like quite the surgery. Thanks for your info.