One Month Post surgery, Trans lab

[Winstonsalem]

My husband had surgery on July 2, and was discharged on the 8th of July. After a few days, he took Advil and felt very tired and had an intense migraine, loss of appetite etc. The doctors immediately thought he had bacterial meningitis and he was rushed to the ER and he went back to John Hopkins. After a series of tests, they could not find any infection. In order to find the cause of these symptoms, the doctors at JH gave him the choice of challenging himself with advil. After the second dose of advil, he had the same symptoms. After 2 days he recovered. The doctors realized that he was allergic to Advil, and that it had caused a drug induced meningitis. They stopped all antibiotics. During his hospital stay he got heparin shots on his stomach. During the trans lab the doctors had to take stomach fat to close the wound. The stomach wound was healed, but he developed a bulge on the left side of his stomach the size of a tennis ball. The doctors said it will go away and that it was due to the hepperin. It has now been five weeks, and he has stomach pain and a bulge. We went to our local doctor in NC and he said he has surgery induced hernia and he referred him to a surgeon. He was head ache free till this morning. He got a headache and we gave him two Tylenols and the headache went away in .5 hour. This night he got another migraine, had Tylenol, and headache got better. He still feels very weak and gets tired easily. Is this normal, Did you all have similar experiences. Please let me know!

(Hello and welcome. I am sorry to hear of this ongoing issues and hope someone here can share their potential similar experience. I had to remove your personal contact info due to site rules.  We offer an option to PM/email people here within the website should someone want to contact you or vice versa. Thanks for understanding... and again, welcome. Phyl)

[nftwoed]

Hello;

   A fat graft to produce a seal to prevent cerebral spinal fluid ( CSF ) from leaking is common and usually planned as part of the surgical event. The hernia isn't. Nor meningitis.
   I wasn't sure if you were asking about head aches. My feeling is there is some rebound ( between dose withdrawal of NSAID/Tylenol ), head ache taking place considering heparin thins the blood. HAs are usually caused by constricted blood vessels and lack of blood flow.
   It's hard to know about the HAs with the meningitis occurring near the same instance.

My husband had surgery on July 2, and was discharged on the 8th of July. After a few days, he took Advil and felt very tired and had an intense migraine, loss of appetite etc. The doctors immediately thought he had bacterial meningitis and he was rushed to the ER and he went back to John Hopkins. After a series of tests, they could not find any infection. In order to find the cause of these symptoms, the doctors at JH gave him the choice of challenging himself with advil. After the second dose of advil, he had the same symptoms. After 2 days he recovered. The doctors realized that he was allergic to Advil, and that it had caused a drug induced meningitis. They stopped all antibiotics. During his hospital stay he got heparin shots on his stomach. During the trans lab the doctors had to take stomach fat to close the wound. The stomach wound was healed, but he developed a bulge on the left side of his stomach the size of a tennis ball. The doctors said it will go away and that it was due to the hepperin. It has now been five weeks, and he has stomach pain and a bulge. We went to our local doctor in NC and he said he has surgery induced hernia and he referred him to a surgeon. He was head ache free till this morning. He got a headache and we gave him two Tylenols and the headache went away in .5 hour. This night he got another migraine, had Tylenol, and headache got better. He still feels very weak and gets tired easily. Is this normal, Did you all have similar experiences. Please let me know!

(Hello and welcome. I am sorry to hear of this ongoing issues and hope someone here can share their potential similar experience. I had to remove your personal contact info due to site rules.  We offer an option to PM/email people here within the website should someone want to contact you or vice versa. Thanks for understanding... and again, welcome. Phyl)

[Kathleen_Mc]

Some "bad breaks" going in in your husband's recovery, sorry to hear that.
I did not have the "fat plug" with my first AN surgery and the second time it was taken from my leg, as a nurse I can see how it would be a possible thing to get a hernia after this being done but likely low number of people do, bad break!
As far as headaches, very common post -op and for some of us for years to come, I still get them and different kinds....normal little headache gone with Tylenol, what is called "atypical migraines" takes a day to go away and Tylenol helps and then there's headaches from the scar tissue in my head......these can be the worst and sometimes last for days, sometimes medication will help and sometimes not and I just have to wait it out.
Fatigue is something that many tend to have, varying degree but it's hard to judge it as a lasting effect from the surgery....recovery from this is VERY slow, when he's tired rest!
Kathleen

[DHJ]

Hi Complications from trans lab are not normal but pretty common.I got most of them including meningitis and was pretty sick and very tired for 2 months. I also have a knot in my stomach from the fat graft that has lessened over time.Now 20months later I am feeling well and have fully adjusted to my new normal.My advice is to be patient and gather all the medical advice that you can. Your husbands tumor is gone and he is still early in his recovery. Peace Dave J

[Winstonsalem]

My husband went to the ER because he had a stomach ache and a low grade fever. Turns out his stomach issue was not a hernia. The bulge on his stomach was a seratoma which is a collection of fluid caused by the abdominal incision. The doctors took the fluid out and we went back home. The next day he had a fever of 102 and we went to the ER again. we are now in the hospital and he is currently taking pipercillin and vancomycin as antibiotics for at least 3 days. Fever runs up to 102 on second day Tylenol brings fever down; no fever for 12 hours  so far. He has a heavy head so we keep putting ice on head;  no pain killer will help headache. Headache is not very bad but uncomfortable. If any one had this condition please let me know.

[kmr1969]

Dear Winstonsalem,

I'm sorry that I can't provide any valuable feedback on the complications your husband is experiencing, but just wanted to let you know that I and I am sure a lot of other people who check in on the forum posts are thinking good thoughts for you and your husband.

Hope that your next post will summarize some better days for you both.

Ken