I saw the surgeon yesterday. I have an incisional hernia; i.e., a hernia developed along the incision line of the previous surgery. Apparently it can happen soon after a surgery or even years later. This is good to know, simply because it doesn’t mean the surgery was poorly performed OR necessarily that I did something in particular to cause the hernia to develop. It’s something that simply happens sometimes along a surgical incision.

And, they don’t heal themselves. The muscle is torn and needs to be repaired one way or another, depending on the size and nature of the tear. The cut-and-sew method works fine for a localized hernia. For the bilateral inguinal hernia, they did a laparoscopy surgery, but those patches ripped out before I even left the hospital and they had to do the cut-and-sew method to correct it on both sides. The problem, in my current situation, is that because of the nature of this hernia, developing along the line of this long-ass 12-inch incision down my abdomen, the surgeon would rather use robotics to go in with a camera, inflate the abdomen, and view the surrounding area to see from the inside any other weaknesses or tears so they can do what is needed to correct or reinforce the whole area as needed. So, they’ll go in with the camera and robotics, and then do the cut-and-sew method if that’s warranted.

And the surgeon said I would need 6-8 weeks to let it all heal again, so I will be on weight- and activity-restriction again. It won’t be as complicated or bad (I hope) as the last surgery, which wreaked havoc through all my inner organs.

So I am tentatively scheduled for surgery on November 11. I still have to hear back from the surgeon’s office about insurance approvals and co-pays and so forth. I already know that I won’t be making any money for a month or two, at least, and I don’t know what other expenses may come up. Once I have all my facts and figures, I will know what it will take and what sort of help I will need. If I hadn’t had an amazing benefactor last time, I would not have survived the financial stress from the last surgery, especially since I did not know what all would be required of me. Now that I know, I’ll have a better idea. And, having been through this before, I already have the walker and rollator and other helpful aids, so it won’t be quite as expensive. But I’ll still need to cover rent and utilities and food and so forth, no matter what. I will likely set up a GoFundMe for that, or perhaps use my Paypal account to accept personal gifts that won’t be charged with fees the way my yarns do. We’ll see.