The Colon Club

Over the past few weeks I've been having some mild pain around and to the right of my belly button. I've had 2 laparoscopic surgeries with belly-button incisions and my husband thinks it could be a hernia (although I haven't noticed any lumps). The pain moves around a bit and seems to come and go. Of course my big fear it that it's cancer-related but blood work is all normal for now.

Has anyone here had an umbilical hernia? If so, did you have any symptoms? Or has anyone had a similar pain that turned out to be something different? Thanks so much.

I don't think it's cancer either. Maybe scar tissue or maybe a hernia. I would follow up with the surgeon and see what s/he says. I was told any pain lasting 2 weeks or more, should be followed with a Dr visit.

Good luck,

Lee

I have a small hernia in the same place. It doesn't hurt much but times it bulges slightly and I can push it back in. My surgeon looks at it each visit and doesn't want to do surgery unless necessary. If it causes me severe pain or I can't push back in he says He can repair it. He told me to be sure to wear an abdominal band when doing any abdominal exercises or lifting any weights.

lpas:
Especially with your history of 2 laparoscopic abdominal procedures where the larger/main torchar was accessed through your belly button as the portal, I would surmise your intermittent pain is associated with adhesions tethering to soft tissue that is pulling with body movement - causing pain.

Adhesions tether tissue and intestine to the abdominal wall or to other organs or to other segments of the intestinal tract. You can visual adhesions as thick bands (like a turkey hind quarter) but it can also be wispy like a spiders’ web. Pain results due to the abnormal anchoring of tissue is stretched by movement of the torso that places the scar tissue on high tension.

Adhesions/scar tissue cannot be visualized by CT, MRI, or standard x-ray as it is translucent. Sometimes it can be picked up by imaging when the tethered tissues are off-set by the tension with a shift or mass effect, but this is more a rare finding.

A good self-directed method to ease abdominal adhesions is to practice basic yoga postures and poses, especially those that incorporate rotation of the torso in relation to the pelvis. Yoga postures act like internal massage and can stretch and soften adhesions.
Karen

I had small umbilical hernia after my laparoscopy for endometriosis before cancer. I developed hernia in the scar during my pregnancy with twins. There was a very small hole. It was indeed painful. Since it was very small it did not bother me too much. The belly muscles exercises helped me to the point that the pain usually disappeared for some time after regular pilates sessions. I got this small hernia repaired during my second surgery in MSKCC. I had huge vertical incision and they closed the hernia.

It could very well be a hernia, but I also had a small tumor in my abdominal wall present with a feeling like a pulled muscle about an inch near my belly button. If you are worried, an ultrasound is a good tool to see what's going on.

Over the past few weeks I've been having some mild pain around and to the right of my belly button. I've had 2 laparoscopic surgeries with belly-button incisions and my husband thinks it could be a hernia (although I haven't noticed any lumps). The pain moves around a bit and seems to come and go. Of course my big fear it that it's cancer-related but blood work is all normal for now.

My mom had her LAR surgery and they also went in her belly button. Post op she had same pain as you, they thought hernia. The discharged her, she was home for 3 days and then started to get sick and vomit. She ended up with an abscess and dehydration. Be careful. Now she is doing better with antibiotics. She is finally on the road to recover. It was a scary post op experience though

Thanks all--really appreciate all the responses. Just wanted to provide a brief update.

I ended up seeing my GI a few weeks ago and he decided to order an endoscopy, since I was also having some burning pain at the base of my sternum and ribcage. He said I definitely don't have a hernia but the endoscopy showed a bunch of gastric erosions, which I guess are like pre-ulcers (probably a result of all the ibuprofen I take for my bad back). Anyway, he thinks that's the reason for both the upper abdominal and the belly button pain. Apparently the nerves in that region are all inter-connected. I started on a new proton pump inhibitor last week and the pain is already much improved, so it appears he was right.

Seems like it's always something but I'll take an ulcer over a tumor any day of the week--ha!

Thanks again.

Just wanted to share how we help others on here through our threads/posts. My BFF, recently dx'd w/appendix cancer, called yesterday mentioning soreness around belly button. She had laparoscopic surgery approx 6wks ago to remove appendix. I told her to hang on, that I had just seen a thread title re: this issue. Read the posts to her & Miss Molly's (Karen) post was exactly the feeling she was having. Thanks for being so thorough in your posts Karen. She did send a note to the nurse @ UCSD as a heads up for her upcoming HIPEC penciled in for 12/1.

Best wishes to all,

BS