Does anyone know

[pegne]

I havn't been on this forum in a very long time. I think since (many of you will remember) my brother-in-law had his heart transplant last May. He's doing great by the way. Anyway, my sister now has to go through a splenectomy. We are all very concerned. She has a mass on her spleen that is pushing on her stomach and her back causing much nausea and pain. I was wondering if anyone knows someone who has had this surgery. I know that the spleen filters the blood so I am assuming that she will need to be on something that will keep her body free from infection but I really do not know. Any insight?

 

[Ross]

Wow now you hit on something that hasn't been done to me yet. I really don't know Peggy. I assume your researching it on the web?

 

[pegne]

Yeah, but I thought someone here might know somene who actually went through it. It seems that as soon as life starts to make a little bit of sense again, my sister and her husband are hit with something else.

 

[Phyllis]

My son-in-law had a spleenectomy due to Hodgkins disease and the spleen is one thing you can live very nicely without. Not having one, impairs your immune system but as far as I know you do not need to take any medications.

 

[bvdr]

Peggy, I have known many people that had their Spleens removed. A friend of mine had hers removed back in about 1967 for leukopenia and even back then did fine and was not on any special medications. In the more recent past, I have know those who have had their spleens removed as a result of injury and they also did well. I think the issue that is more of a concern is what kind of tumor she has and whether or not it is malignant. The surgical incision is usually quite large so don't be real surprised about that.

I'm glad to hear your brother-in-law is doing well. We have a few others here on the board that seem to be looking at a transplant sometime in their future and I am sure this is encouraging to them.

 

[pegne]

thank you

thank you

I feel much better now. I did go on the web and found out that they are doing splenectomies o laproscopically. This would make things so much easier.

 

[hensylee]

Hey, Peggy - my ex had his out while he was in his 20s - he is about 74 now and doing fine. My granddaughter was in a really bad auto accident about 6 yrs ago, ruptured hers, it was removed. She is just fine, too. The spleen filters the blood - without the filter, these two folks don't seem to have any more infections than they did when they had one. Your family member should be fine. Blessins.....