Here's to a quick recovery. http://forums.pelicanparts.com/support/smileys/wat6.gif

Mine is being done in under 2 weeks! I will post about the experience.

Good luck with it! This last one was way more sore than my first one. It took 7 weeks before the pain was gone, but still glad I got it done. I'm back to ripping cars and trucks apart and working on the tractor.

Reg where are you getting it done?
Regular procedure is free at any Ontario hospital, but I had mine done at the Shouldice hospital. It costs a bit extra if you don't have semi-private coverage.
World famous, you walk off the operating table, back to work within a week.
Worth it.

Hernia Hospital, Hernia Surgeon, Hernia Doctor, Hernia Treatment, Hernia Repair, Hernia Specialist - Shouldice Hospital

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shouldice_Hernia_Centre

I go in May 9th for my repair...both sides.
Not looking forward to this.....
Good luck all!

Yes Mark. That's where I am headed. I am am wuss in this regard. Watched a few of the videos on their website and while obviously biased it helped me our. The place looks nice enough.

7 weeks? I am hoping I can go back to work 4 days later on light duty. I am a fainter at blood n guts and where I am going this place typically freezes you local and dopes you up. My wife says no big deal but she's had 2 c-sections. I've had tonsils out. That's it!

Completely depends on the method. Conventional surgery (with a scalpel) it's several weeks recovery. If done with Laparoscope it's a few weeks at most to complete functional recovery. It still takes a couple of years for your muscle to integrate with the mesh, but you're 95% there within a few months.

More like a fancy small hotel than a hospital, except you have a roommate. You walk off the OR table then they only let you rest for a few hours before they kick you out of bed again. No room service you had to walk to the dining room for grub. BTW the grub is high end restaurant quality.

My OP was done 30 years ago, I still remember playing pool and the TV was playing Caddyshack, we were all laughing while holding onto our junk.
My roommate came from Australia to get his done and there was about 5 US amish dudes there as well.

I had it done on a Monday, the next Monday I was back to work on light duties.

That's very different from here, private room and room service after mine. And zero dollars.

You miss the point SmileWavy

I bet 70-80% of their clients are very wealthy americans, least it was when I had mine done.
Reg if you play golf take your putter, they have a 3 hole practice range.

I'm certain you're correct.

Wow, Mine was done by putting in a 5" incision and putting in a plate sized piece of mesh. But that is what I needed, And I went to the hospital at 1:00pm and walked out of the hospital at 5:00pm. I never took the pain pills just the over the counter stuff, and ice. My doctor said I had quite a large tear and protruding sac that my guts where going into. That is most likely why I had such a long recovery. But with my lifestyle I needed to have it done. And I am back to playing ice hockey, so no complaints!

I have a SS thread maybe 5-7 inches worth with a loose zig-zag patteren. Pretty big hernia as well, left side, I could feel the guts, gross.
Tiny incision, can't even see a scar. I've done Martial arts for years.;)

Many doctors have no clue what they are looking at (the SS thread) in my x-rays.

Just back in my room recovering from todays surgury.
This is the place to go from I am seen and experienced to date.

Congrats on being out of surgery. Keep us posted on your recovery progress.

Just about to start walking. To the lounge later for snacks, pool, shuffleboard chess, piano and a big screen TV for Pittsburgh Washington!
:)

Let us know how you're making out, when I had mine done after a few hours they kicked us out of bed, had us eating dinner in the dining room, a couple rounds of snooker and watching TV in the common room.

This was the same day as the OP.

I am doing that day 2. Couldn't do that much as my surgery was later in the day. Pretty sore.
Had half my staples out this morning and then played pool today. This really is the place to go for Hernias

IIRC my surgery was very early, like 7-8AM so that may be the reason they had me up in the evening.

You're still there? It's about 3.5-4 hour home to home deal here.

Since the 1940s they make you stay 3 nights. Reg has already had half his staples taken out.
IIRC he will have the rest taken out before he goes home, with no staples/stitches.
I think they keep you to make sure there's no healing complications because of this.

Before you go passing judgement on the Shouldice procedure lets see how he fairs over the next couple weeks. ;)

I am being treated like a king.

had salmon fillet for lunch, soup, salad, desert...massage coming up. It's like a country club....even putting greens!

One of the younger instructors at work has a hernia.
After my experience with the mesh and plug I had researched and found the Shouldice clinic and had wished I had gone this route instead of what I had done.
I had recommended he contact Schouldice and see what could be done and he has booked his repair through their facility. He also thanked me for the recommendation.

Wow! First rate service! For my first hernia surgery, I went in, was put on a table, two girls came in & shaved me & put up a little curtain at my waist. The doc came in with a buddy, introduced himself & his buddy, explained he was giving me a local and would perform the surgery. Gave me the local & we chatted while it took effect. Then he announced he would be starting, and we chatted & joked while he did his thing. After a fairly short time, he announced he was done and we said our good byes. I got rolled off the table with a bandage that looked like a sanitary pad and was told to rest for maybe 45 minutes. Then a nurse came in with a prescription for pain meds, explained some things to me about recovering and pushed me out in a wheel chair to the curb where I got into my girl friend's car. Went home & laid on the bed the rest of the day and took a mile walk (slowly) the next day. After a few days I was up & checked in at work to see how things were going & was back at work by the end of a week. The country club treatment would've been nice.

It is great that they can do this op with a local anaesthetic. Both my wife and daughter had theirs done with a general but that was quite a few years ago.
Don't want to take this thread sideways but I have an op on Wednesday to remove a centimetre wide cyst from my left mandible(their term for lower left jaw on the gum). I asked about getting it done with a local anaesthetic and he did not recommend it.
A local retired nurse says that a general is better in case they have to cut through gristle....

I can't wait.....to get it over.:eek:

No expert but I believe a general is harder on your body (heart).
It's really neat being here at this hospital as we have a group of about 30 people from all ages and walks of life going though the same experience together. We all talk in the lounge and through meals and bond in a bit of a way that makes this experience more manageable.
Thanks to these guys n gals here and on the forum as well for sharing experience.

:)

Yes general anaesthetic definitely has its risks. I remember in the 1950's having a tooth extracted with the dentist doing everything. No anaesthetist present and I believe it was nitrous oxide/laughing gas that was being used. No issues except wake up with a mouth full of blood.

That was a huge difference from any other hospital experience, they basically kick you out of your room and make you socialize with the other patients. If you try to sit around they will harass you to join in with the activities. 3-hole putting green, shuffle board snooker, walk and meals in the dining room, whatever it takes to get you moving.

Casually ask where they are from, when I had it done there were 4-5 Mennonites* from Pennsylvania, many were from the US and the farthest was a guy from Australia.
I think there was only one woman.



*I'm guessing the religion, all black simple suits with white shirts. One kid, for the most part they kept to themselves.

They only do inguinal hernia's.
The procedure doesn't use mesh, the only thing I see on an x-ray is a very loose, zigzag pattern, small gauge SS thread. Maybe 1cm, then a 90 degree zag, repeated 6-7 times.

Hello Everyone,
Well my turn is coming up, May 20th. I've been reading everyone's posts; hopefully my procedure will go smoothly.
I'll give you guys updates as thing progress.

I've been home for 9 days now. Went back to work the next day after release. Being self employed I was not able to rest a week at home which I would recommend. I am doing OK but still healing. All the best with your treatment!

Rest as in light activity, walking, feet up, book....not everyday stresses or standing long periods etc....

Ok Reg, I'm soaking all that in.
Thanks

Hello Everyone,
Well tomorrows my procedure. I check in at 7am and the procedure is at 9am.

If I can I'll let you guys know how things go.

Larry

Hey, best of luck & hope everything goes as expected.

Thanks Marv.

I'm home now. The procedure went well. I have pain but that's expected.

Take it easy!

Congrats on being back home. You'll get good at rolling on & off the bed. Get up & running soon.