Surgery Update

About two weeks after I had surgery for both an Inguinal and an umbilical hernia, one of the incisions burst open in bed, drenching me with blood. I went to the hospital, and the doctor told me that it was infected, and they’d probably have to remove the meshes, and that I’d have both hernias back while we dealt with the infection, and then we’d have to start all over again. I thought the day couldn’t get any worse. I was wrong.

Just as I was trying to absorb the doctor’s words and wondering how I was going to do all that again, my phone rang. It was my brother, calling to tell me that his only son, Jason, had died from a drug overdose. It was on the Ides of March.

When the doctor opened me up again, the mesh still looked okay, so she left the incision open, and I have to pack it with gauze every day. I still have quite a gash, but it’s slowly healing from the inside. I’m actually going for a little stroll with my latest walkin’ stick, and I still hope to run a 5K race this summer.