Hiatal Hernia Surgery – FIL

[Anonymous]

My FIL (whom I am very close with) had to have emergency surgery on a
hiatal hernia obstructing his bowels/small intestine this morning. For
about a week he’s been quite sick and vomiting – they thought flu and
gastroenteritis. By Tuesday he was vomiting brown/chocolate and tons of
it. Went to the hospital Wednesday and they found out overnight via CT
scan that this was the problem. Plus it was pushing into an earlier
stomach hernia from about 5 years ago and his blood pressure had
dropped.

DH took off work of course and went with his mom and brother and sister
to hospital – they did surgery at 10 am today and luckily didn’t need a
colostomy bag (which was a concern). They had to remove 1 and 1/2 feet
of his small intestine and it will be a long recovery. They have to
watch now for infection from the brown vomiting (feces) but so far it
seems OK. He also has a ton of fluid in his lungs/chest and is VERY
hoarse from all the vomiting and acid reflux from the hernia.

So my question for you all is whether he should be on something to
repair his esophagus from any damage from all this. He was literally
vomiting buckets until the surgery. Does he need Carafate? Something
else? Once he is allowed food will bananas help coat the esophagus at
all?

Thanks guys. Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers for speedy recovery.

[Anonymous]

Oh Karen, sorry to hear this. A similar thing happened to my aunt who lives in Canada, she had to have a colostomy bag until things had healed enough to start working again. Sorry I cant give any advice, but all the best to him for a speedy recovery.

[Anonymous]

Karen, I’m so sorry to hear this. Unfortunatley I don’t really have any advice, but I hope that he recovers soon. I’m glad they caught it before he needed the colostomy. I will keep him in our prayers.

[Anonymous]

Wow, that sounds horrible. I’m glad they caught it in time. It certainly seems like Carafate would be a good medicine to ask for if he has a lot of remaining irritation.

[Anonymous]

ok, i’m a little confused, how did a hiatal hernia at the top of his stomach cause a blockage in his bowels—-they are not even connected. am i misunderstanding something here?

[Anonymous]

Karen

sorry to hear this! I am praying for a speedy recovery!

[Anonymous]

Christine – I don’t really know for sure (I’m hoping to speak more with
him and his doctors today and tomorrow) but from the little I’ve been
told, the hernia in the small intestine was pushing against an older
hernia by his belly button and that was causing the blockage?

Thanks everyone.

[Anonymous]

it’s not a hiatal hernia, then. someone probably wasn’t thinking and just said the wrong hernia name. a hiatal hernia is when the hole in the diaphram that the esophagus runs through is too large, and the stomach pushes up into the chest cavity.

[Anonymous]

Karen ~ It can be so hard to keep medical terminology straight can’t it? I thought you did a great job explaining it, at least I kinda knew what you meant! I hope your FIL is doing better today!

[Anonymous]

Thanks Christine – I’m sure they just used the wrong word (DH and
family) when they explained to me – we’re really not up on our medical
terminology over here!I apologize for the confusion.

But the gist of it is that the new hernia was in his small intestine
and was pushing on the mesh bag from his old hernia (by belly button)
and causing the blockage so they had to quickly remove 1.5 feed of
small intestine. I believe he’s recovering OK – the visiting hours in
the ICU are a bit funky but according to the nurse’s station he had a
stable night. My SIL and BIL will be visiting him at noon today.

Thanks again everyone – will ask about the carafate as well.

[Anonymous]

Glad to hear he’s doing ok today. Hoping for a speedy recovery.

[Anonymous]

I hope he feels better soon! I will be praying for him!

[Anonymous]

karen—no need to aplogize!! it’s not like people talk about hernias on a regular basis. just glad they got him fixed up and hope he recovers soon.

[Anonymous]

Thanks guys. Latest news is that he had a stable night and got a bit of
rest but is quite depressed and just wants to get out of there – I’m
sure the lack of sleep and coming down off anesthesia and morphine
doesn’t help. He does have a lot of phlegm in his lungs still – they
may have to suction it out again. But so far they still don’t think any
infection spread, fever fine – vitals stable, etc. Hopefully he can
come out of the ICU soon and then home a few days after that.

[Anonymous]

I’m sure he’ll feel better once he can get out of the ICU and is back at home. Hope things continue to improve.

[Author]

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