About Molly McGee's Illness 216

Molly, I'm gonna make a stab at your whole story for the record. A lot of it will be inaccurate, or incomplete, so you'll have to fill me in. I'll correct the post when we get everything down in print.

Back in 2003 Molly started having severe pain in her legs. There was no pulse in one leg and only a faint pulse in the other; i.e. no blood was circulating in her legs. She had to have aortobifemoral bypasses, which looks like this:

Aortobifemoral bypass surgery is used to bypass a blocked part of the large blood vessels in the abdomen and groin.

To bypass the blocked part of the blood vessel, blood is redirected through a graft. The graft is made of man-made material. This graft is sewn above and below the blocked vessel so that blood flows through the graft and around the blockage. The graft looks like an upside-down Y shape. The single end of the Y is sewn on the aorta. The two split ends of the Y are sewn below the blocked or narrowed areas of the femoral arteries.

But, from what I understand, the synthetic stuff was defective, and it caused a bunch of big hernias to form in Molly's midsection. I've seen and felt them - bigger than softballs.

I know Molly went back to work after the surgery, but the pain was unbearable. Nothing worked to ease the pain she felt ... where, Molly?

Eventually her doctor told her she would have to quit work if she was going to have any sort of quality life. How long did it take to get disability started?

How and when did the lung problem become evident? And what's causing it?

Is the pain that caused the disability the same pain that's being caused by the tangling of the hernia and your stomach?

I'm pooped Molly. Please don't feel pressed to answer any of this. Just type/write a little at a time, and we'll get it put together in a post that explains what's going on.