So this year has been a pretty big surgery year for me. After 28 years of never receiving anything but local anesthetic for a cavity, I had my wisdom teeth taken out this summer, and when I went for a physical on July, I found out that I have an inguinal hernia.
I’ve actually had the hernia for 3-4 years now - I noticed it before, but never knew what it was. It never caused any pain, so it was always something in the background. However, I’m going with my doctors recommendation to get it taken care of before it gets worse over time, or strangulates and becomes an emergency operation.
I’m planning on getting the surgery done sometime around Thanksgiving, and I’m just curious if there are any other folks out there that have gone through this procedure before. What was it like? How did you feel in the day or so after surgery? How long before you could lift anything that wasn’t lightweight? My job doesn’t directly require physical work, but when I go to customer sites, I lug around a laptop bag. Also, I travel a decent amount for work, which means heaving carry on baggage up and over my head into the storage bins on a plane.
I had the initial appointment with the surgeon today, and was kind of surprised to hear her say that it would be open, rather than laparoscopic, surgery. She says its more common in these sort of situations (first time occurance, never any pain associated with the hernia) - but it still kinda surprised me. Also, she said that I shouldn’t do any heavy lifting for about 6 weeks after the surgery. Not knowing what she meant by ‘heavy’, I eventually got her to sy that heavy would be about 25 lbs or over.
There’s only so much you can get from google in terms of what to expect and recovery times. So, for anyone who has gone through this before, any input as to what to expect would be appreciated. Thanks!
I had a bilateral repair done circa 1979. At the time, the Shouldice procedure was relatively new in the US, and I was fortunate to find a surgeon who had gone to Canada for training by the man himself.
My surgeon told me that my back would give out before anything else, and thusfar his prediction has been accurate. Two separate operations were performed, one on each side, with several days in between. Just the same, I was out of bed and walking once anesthesia had worn off. A few weeks of R&R at home and I went back to work.
My husband had emergency surgery to determine if he had a hernia. He did not, he had infected lymph nodes, which they removed. The initial insision were like they would use in a hernia operation. It healed with the faintest of scars because they made it on the natural crease. He went home that afternoon, and was feeling like himself in a week. I imagine you will need more recovery time, but the scar will likely be similar.
Or you could get your company to send someone with you to handle the luggage. Especially if they are sending you to island paradises. (ooh, ooh, pick me!)
I had a double done on Jan 3, 2000. It really hurt to move or get up out of bed for about the first day and a half. After that, my recovery moved along quickly. In 2 weeks, I was outside sledding with the kids even though my doctor hadn’t released me to go back to work. That probably wasn’t the smartest thing that I had ever done but it all worked out OK.
I tried to get back into weight lifting a few months after the surgery. That didn’t work at all. The next day it would [tmi warning]
feel like someone was pulling me around by the testicle.
I think that moderate weights are OK. You just don’t want to lift anything where you really have to strain.
I had a fairly big inguinal hernia repaired about two years ago. It was originally going to be a laproscopic procedure but they wound up doing it the conventional way. So, what to expect:
I have a scar about five inches long, from hip to groin (I’m a small guy).
It was done as an outpatient procedure and I could walk around acceptably that day, with a bit of a limp. I had no problem sitting down and standing up repeatedly, which I did quite a bit of. My advice to you is to not do these things, because you’ll be feeling them the next day. After the surgery, lie in bed and relax. Wait for the meds they gave you at the hospital to wear off before you decide what level of activity you’re up to.
There’ll be some pain involved, of course, especially with motions involving a lot of bending. It was a fascinating process getting in and out of bed - I either had someone pull me up or shimmied up the wall above my head.
You’ll have to ice the area. You’ll also have to ice your testicles, because they’ll be swollen. I’m not making this up.
I’m a student. I took Friday off to have the surgery, spent Saturday and Sunday in bed, and returned to class on Monday. The first day I had a friend drive me; on the second day I was able to (very slowly) shuffle to class. Don’t expect to be moving quickly.
My doctor said not to lift anything heavy for six months afterward and even then to slowly adjust. Six weeks sounds kind of short, but I suppose it depends on the size of the hernia and some other factors (or maybe my doctor just thinks I’m a wuss, or I’m misremembering).
Watch out for all your so-called friends after this surgery.
It hurts like the devil to laugh, and they will all come around to tell you jokes. Even bring you books of jokes & funny stories to entertain you during your ‘recovery’.