No surgery...

Sean met with his old surgeon in Harrisburg yesterday to get his opinion about having his hernia repaired (the surgery surrounding his illness left him with a large hernia). He looked Sean over and said that while he could do the surgery and could recommend him to someone in Louisville who specializes in complicated hernia repair, he wouldn't recommend it. The risks are just too high and chances are the repair wouldn't last more than a couple of years. This is pretty much what we expected, but it was helpful to hear it from the surgeon who is most familiar with Sean's particular situation. He recommended to Sean that he continue to wear the binder and keep his weight down so that the hernia doesn't get any larger, and only have surgery if something happens to make it necessary (the hernia gets larger or there's a bowel obstruction) .

So, that's about it. Sean may have his trachiostomy scar repaired by a plastic surgeon in another year or so, but the stomach will stay as is.