Medical question + hernia

[Harry Bloomfield]

On Saturday morning, I got a feeling of having stepped on a drawing pin, with my right foot. Not quite as painful as that, but..

The pain was quite localised, just to the rear of the ball of my foot, no sign of damage to the skin, no mark, nothing, but I wasn't able to put any weight on the spot. Later, a small lump developed, which is still there, and the area turn very slightly dark, like a bruise. By the Tuesday morning, I was back to being able to put weight on it, without a problem, but I had an appointment with a consultant, over an entirely different matter. I mentioned the foot, they asked to take a look, but they were equally mystified as to what it might be. Wednesday, and the slightly dark tinge is spreading, the small lump is still there, but now I can press it with almost no pain. Anyone car to guess what it is/was?

Last week, I had an appointment with the surgeon, in preparation for the installation of my catheter, in my belly, for the home kidney dialysis machine. Part of the examination, was to check my abdomen for hernias. He found none, until he asked me to raise my legs, taking the weight of my legs, via my stomach muscles, and declared I had a belly button hernia, which he would 'fix' whilst installing the catheter. I cannot fathom quite how he decided I had an hernia - my belly has always expanded out like that, when tension the muscles, since I put weight on round my middle. He seemed keen to ensure I had no chance of hernias, once I was using the machine, which would increase the strain on my belly.

 

[johnny2007]

They know best, so you got to go with what specialists say.
Regarding the foot problem, I had an identical episode in Spain a couple of years ago.
Kind of forgot about it until I came back here and showed it to my GP.
Not painful but still there.
It was an insect of some sort that had left its sting in there.
GP suggested antibiotics and topic cream, I went home and my wife dug it out with a boiled needle.

 

[motorbiking]

Increasing abdominal pressure will have caused the hernia to bulge more. Raising the legs would have tensed your abdominal muscles and revealed the hernia. I had some surgery last year to repair something else and the ultrasound revealed a small hernia in the groin. I can sometimes feel it when doing sit-ups, crunches or Pilates 100s. The scanning guy advised me not to let them fix it because it was small and they frequently f*ck them up. I mentioned this to my surgeon and he agreed.

Always worth asking - does it need to be fixed?

The foot thing could be a number of things - Spider bite (false widow?), Tetanus to diabetes.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Always worth asking - does it need to be fixed?

The surgeon suggested it would need to be fixed, because the area would come under additional strain. From what I understand - the PD machine pumps around a couple of litres of fluid, into the peritoneum lining of the abdomen, via the catheter, where it absorbs the waste products, then it pumps it back out for disposal. He said he would fix the hernia, at the same time as installing the catheter, probably using keyhole surgery.

The foot thing could be a number of things - Spider bite,

I'm thinking the same now - all pain has gone, just a large spot size lump.

Thanks..

 

[Justin Passing]

I had one of those on my foot. BUt it was Africa, and a thorn from a camelthorn tree had gone through my boot. After that I wore ones with steel plates in....

I had a small umbilical hernia - I could just feel a slight bump, which I could slightly worsen by pushing - so I tried not to.
As I understand it... I was interested back then, so I learned a bit....
An umbiical hernia is when something pokes through the muscular abdo wall, which has to have natural holes in it for organs to go through. Next in from the wall is the peritoneum , which is like a sac which has folds in it, and gets called the omentum, then come the small intestines. A bit of tissue protruding is one thing, but if the intestine pokes through it's called incarcerated, then when the flow through the intestine is stopped, it's called strangulated. Then you get a burst, and peritonitis, which is a poo infected whole body cavity and organ failure, then yout milkman notices the bottles haven't been taken in.

I was told my little bump wouldn't ever cause any issues, by a GP. But it did, it strangulated. I had a lump the size of half a tennis ball. I was 250km from a hospital at the time.. Uncomfortable, but not much pain. The locals would go to the local clinic if that happened where I was, and wait for the doctor who came every two weeks. They'd last a couple of days. I had private health insurance and just have a funny shaped scar. I DID ask if I could be flown home for treatment. The surgeon peered at me through his half- rimmed specs and said, "Certainly my friend, if you don't mind travelling in a box".

So, I'm guessing your person is thinking of a few stitches to tighten it up. Sure. Normal, routine. Local anaesthetic.
They used to use a "mesh" like a patch if things got worse, but those earned a reputation for infection, sometimes much later. I think they may have discontinued their use, but they were still used for women's prolapses , sometimes with bad outcomes. Larger, natch. .

So a stitch in time....