Ventral Incisional Hernia Repair

Posted by demooretucson @demooretucson, Jun 11 5:48pm

18 months after successful radical bile duct resection and reattachment at Mayo Rochester for distal cholangiocarcinoma, I developed a ventral incisional hernia that required robotic-assisted ventral hernia repair. Any insights or articles about post-op recovery other than 6 to 8 weeks of not lifting anything heavier than 12 lbs?

Thanks -- Dan

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Colleen Young, Connect Director | @colleenyoung | Jun 24 7:53pm

@demooretucson, what a blow to require incisionial hernia surgery after successful bile duct resection and reattachment for cholangiocarcinoma. It sounds like the incisional hernia repair was successful but now you would like to hear from others who have gone through it and what recovery is like. I'm tagging fellow members who had surgery either due to cancer or liver transplant like @kimia2000 @jackie421blfdgurl @cehunt57 @footballmum, who can share more about their experiences and what you might expect.

@demooretucson, when was the repair surgery? How are you doing at this point?

ap47 | @ap47 | Jun 24 10:36pm

I have an umbilical hernia as a result of colorectal surgery. It is rather extensive and my experienced and trusted surgeon and oncologist tell me that it is repairable, but that the hernia will return. Has anyone dealt with a similar problem?

demooretucson | @demooretucson | Jun 25 10:00am

In reply to @colleenyoung "@demooretucson, what a blow to require incisionial hernia surgery after successful bile duct resection and reattachment..." + (show)

@colleenyoung

Colleen -- Thanks for the response and possible connections. Robot-assisted hernia repair was on 5/20/26. Planned for 3 hours but took 5 hours because surgeon unexpectedly found abdominal linings (facia others) were like "Swiss cheese" which required 2 hours of repair before he could successfully complete the repair with mesh. He believes that neoadjuvant radiation (28 days) and chemo (10 biweekly sessions) turned my abdominal lining into "Swiss cheese." 5 weeks after hernia repair my daily energy level is back to 90% and I'm doing 45-60 minutes of light walking/biking 5 times a week.