 Mr. A is a pleasant 43-year-old African-American male who presents to our clinic for a colostomy reversal as well as repair of an incisional hernia.  The patient states that in November 2007, he presented to High Point Regional Hospital with sharp left lower quadrant pain and was emergently taken to Surgery where he woke up with a "bag."  According to some notes that were faxed to our office from the surgeon in High Point who performed his initial surgery, Dr. X, the patient had diverticulitis with perforated sigmoid colon, and underwent a sigmoid colectomy with end colostomy and Hartmann's pouch.  The patient was unaware of his diagnosis; therefore, we discussed that with him today in clinic.  The patient also complains of the development of an incisional hernia since his surgery in November.  He was seen back by Dr. X in April 2008 and hopes that Dr. X may reverse his colostomy and repair his hernia since he did his initial surgery, but because the patient has lost his job and has no insurance, he was referred to our clinic by Dr. X.  Currently, the patient does state that his hernia bothers him more so than his colostomy, and if it were not for the hernia then he may just refrain from having his colostomy reversed; however, the hernia has grown in size and causing him significant discomfort.  He feels that he always has to hold his hand over the hernia to prevent it from prolapsing and causing him even more discomfort.