A 46-year-old lady from Delhi has been suffering from an incisional hernia for the last 20 years. This followed a surgery, which was a Caesarian section while delivering her 2nd child, and the size continued to grow since then.
A hernia is when the abdominal contents, particularly the small and large gut and 'Omentum', which is like a 'curtain of fat', comes out of the weakened 'defect' in the abdominal wall. Large Complex Hernias may have a substantial amount of the contents outside the normal abdominal cavity.
For the last 2 years, it has been getting increasingly symptomatic because of the increase in size causing pain and fullness of the abdomen. Increasing pain caused her to avoid exercise and resulted in increased weight gain and she also turned diabetic. There were two episodes in the recent past when her bowels had ‘obstructed’ which meant she was not able to pass stools or wind. Secondly, The patient was distraught because of the symptoms of abdominal pain and repeated bouts of 'Obstruction'. She was not able to effectively perform her normal daily routine activities and even simple daily activities like coughing, passing motion and urine, and even deep breathing were not possible comfortably.
Her surgery was done in Sir Ganga Ram Hospital by Dr Ashish Dey and his team. Dr Ashish Dey is a senior consultant in the Department of Laparoscopic Surgery, and he mostly performs laparoscopic surgery or robotic surgery for his patients. Hernia surgery, particularly those of ‘Complex’ cases is his forte and among his ‘Special interests’ One other important thing is that this patient belonged to the EWS category, and the Hospital waived off all her charges completely. The ethical practice of this hospital is further exemplified in such cases that are otherwise prohibitively expensive.
The day after the surgery she was completely pain-free. She was completely relieved of her symptoms and moved around with an abdominal belt on the second day after surgery and discharged in a few days on a normal diet. She continues to be completely asymptomatic and is thankful that she came to Sir Ganga Ram Hospital for her surgery. And that she finally made up her mind and overcame her fear of surgery, for which she had delayed it for so long. Her only regret was that she should have gotten it done much earlier so that she could have been cured earlier Large hernias can be highly debilitating for patients due to the combination of pain, functional impairments, potential complications, and psychological and social implications. Early diagnosis and appropriate management are crucial in order to minimize the impact of large hernias on patients' lives.
