Twofer Tuesday finds me two weeks out from my hiatal hernia operation and I am just starting to learn about what it is exactly that I am about to have done. To date, I have purposely avoided thinking too much, if anything, about it, but I guess that it is time for me to do so.
Several years ago Dr. Shah had told me that my hernia matched the one that Buzzy went out of here with and he (Shah) recommended I not do anything about it since Buzzy made it to 84 with his.
Last year however, Dr. Shah changed his tune and recommended that I have the operation to fix it. When I asked him what had changed, he told me that hernia surgery is now a much easier operation because it is done laparoscopically. He said that it had gone from being major surgery to minor surgery. (I held off telling him the quote that I once heard about minor surgery being something done to other people, but when it is done to you, it is major surgery!)
The best explanation I have heard about my condition came from a young radiologist who, upon looking at my ex-rays, noted that it was one of the largest hernias that she had ever seen. (No jokes about this being the kind of “compliments” that I get from women.)
When I informed her that I really didn’t know much about all of this, she sat down and patiently drew me a series of stick person drawings as she explained it. I did not keep her original drawings, but here’s something I found on the web that pretty much shows what she showed me:
As she drew her stick figures and their organs, she explained that the chest has two neighborhoods, one upper and one lower. She continued by saying “The upper neighborhood contains the two most vital organs the heart and lungs which provide you blood and air. The lower neighborhood has the worker bee organs, including your stomach, that process your food and drink.”
She then informed me: “In your case, the stomach has decided that he now wants to move into the upper neighborhood and that is ok as long he behaves and the heart and the lungs don’t mind. Approximately 60 to 65% of people over 60 have a hiatal hernia and they never have a problem. As long as everyone is playing nice in the upper neighborhood there is no problem. However, in your case, because your hernia is so big, if you ever have any abdominal pain of any kind, you need to get to the ER pronto because that means that someone is being a bad actor in your upper neighborhood.”
That I could understand and I thanked her for her hernia tutorial.
I then asked her if she thought I should get a second opinion about having the operation and she smiled as she said “You should always get a second, third, fourth as many opinions as you can.”
Following that visit, I met with the thoracic folks at Gerogetown where they confirmed that the hernia needed to be moved back into his neighborhood and advised that I have the surgery to do so. Let’s hope that Mr. H hasn’t grown too accustomed to his new neighborhood and doesn’t mind returning to his old one.
George Jefferson came to mind. That’s Ja’Net Dubois on vocals.
In keeping with it being a Twofer Tuesday, the song was co-written by a couple of J’s – Ja’Net and Jeff Barry:
