Going in Monday for my hernia operation.
 

I noticed a slight bulge about 9 months ago, so I asked my doctor (who just happens to be on my hockey team) about it. He said if it does not bother you, don't worry about it. Well after about 7 months I started getting some discomfort, which then just turned into pain. So I am getting it taken care of on Monday by one of my other old team mates, who just happens to be the best surgeon in town! I should be back on the ice in 6 weeks when the next season starts up according to the two doc's! I guess they don't want to loose me as a team mate, must be because I buy the beer up in the bar after the games!:D Should be just laying around the house for a few weeks and no heavy stuff for 4 weeks after that.

Good luck! one year after, never knew it happened.

What method will the surgeon use to repair this? Inguinal hernia?

A little advice. Take it easy for longer than you think you need to. Do your pain meds. Use metamucil to keep the drains running on time and supplement that with a stool softener as required.

Been through that rodeo a couple of times and had an open surgery and the mesh installed. I think there are better ways to look after this. Mine are OK most of the time but painful during some activity and achy at other times.

On the positive side, it doesn't bulge and hurt all the time and I can still play hockey!

Good luck. I had both sides done at once around the same time as Shaun. We're the hernia brothers. No problem. First couple days hurt but after that piece of cake. Keep us posted. Yeah my cuts are achy sometimes too, I wonder why.

Good luck, Von. SmileWavy

If the pain meds don't work try vodka.

Thanks guys for insight. Mine is a left side inguinal hernia, and they are just going to cut and put in the mesh. Said it was the best way to do mine. So I hope all goes well. I have to teach the wife how to use the Kubota today to mow the lawn:eek: (we have a five acre lawn) She has never cut the grass since we built the place 24 years ago! Should be good for a laugh, just hope she doesn't hit any trees with the cab and rip off the roof!

If you have the coin this is the place to have it done. I had it done 20 years ago, local anaesthetic, you walk off the OR table, we were playing pool (summers they have a 3 hole golf course) that night and watching Caddyshack. I rememberer it clearly as we were all laughing are butts off holding our wieners.
Next day I went home, two days later I was back on the job, desk duty, and after just over 4 weeks I was back working at full capacity.
I owned my own business and couldn't afford the down time, so it was totally worth it to me.

If you're overweight they do require you go on their diet before the operation.

When I went there were everything from Pennsylvania Amish to a rich guy who came all the way from Australia just to have his operation.


Hernia Hospital | Best Hernia Repair Clinic & Hernia Treatment Information - Shouldice Hospital

Same with me and same as Shaun AFA the open side. I can still feel a lump where the mesh is and wish it wasn't there. ^^^^^ All good advice. I don't know about full blown hockey at 6 weeks.

I went through this two years ago and for me the hardest part was toning down the activity afterwards. Mine happened in the spring and around my place springtime is full of chores that I don't even think about normally, but in recovery mode it kind of drove me crazy. The wife was always monitoring for "infractions" but I did get away with some. To get away from the acreage (with it's "demands") I decided to do a trip in the 911 along the coast to the Mexican border and through Death Valley and the Sierra Nevadas...great trip and a great way to "ease off" for the recommended time. I don't have any lasting problems but I occasionally feel a little "tugging" as though something (scar tissue?) is caught up. Good luck, the anesthetic gave me the most unbelievable sleep I've had in years.

Good luck with the operation and recovery Von.

Just had one done 2 weeks ago. This was my 5th. Recovery is quick these days. My first two required a 4 day stay in the hospital.
Good luck.

When I went to the Shouldice no pain meds, except for a bit of Tylenol, never needed it. I was walking the same day, went home the next morning and back at work and driving 2 days later.

My brother didn't listen to me (or more likely couldn't afford it) and was in hospitial for the better part of a week plus it took him months to fully recover.:rolleyes:

I found out about this place a little too late.
If I was able to do this over again, I would gladly pay the premium over what WCB would pay.
Mine have never been exactly right and I changed career paths because of it.

I had one side done about 2.5 years ago. I used a office chair with wheels on it to get around in the house. I was back to part work in a week.

Good luck

fast recovery mr mog!!

dont read the joke thread after the surgery. you may pop a gasket. :D

You will be OK. I went through the same at age 8.

Well, I am still alive, but just:( I had a two inch rip in the wall and had my guts poking thru. I have been taking the pain pills and it still hurts like a muther f*****! Just have to take easy, lucky for me I have a wonderful wife who is babying me to no end!:D Well off to bed as the drugs are making me loopie, and I can't type too well.

Again - Vodka takes care of the pain. Been there twice.

Wait until tomorrow, heh,heh,heh. I used a walking stick to get around the house, made me feel like Moses. NO not that Moses. Plan on laying around for the next few days. Let your wife baby you so you don't have to use those lower muscles to get up. Actually my double hernia surgery was much worse pain wise than my carotid endarterectomy. But then morphine may have had something to do with that. Glad everything went well. Welcome home.

Hope you mend quickly!!

Well just got home from the hospital after getting hernia surgery on the other side. I hope this one heals as fast as the one I had done in 2012!

Where there is one, there is often another!
Another mesh and plug?

Had it done in August 2015 . No problems at all, in fact I drove my car that afternoon. A little discomfort for a few days, and back in the gym in two weeks for some light workouts. The doctor told me I was crazy,but who cares I am 54 and believe in riding the ride of life. Best of luck to you , and please score a goal soon for me. Best John Szabo

Yep, same as the last one! I'm not going to take the heavy pain meds this time, as they make me feel like a zombie who can't take a dump! After a week of no BM I was worse off from being stuffed up, than from the operation! So I am a bit sore today, but I am going to try and tough it out. Wife is babying me quite well, and no need to do much of anything. My neighbor even cleared my driveway this morning of 8" of snow! I Will have to buy him a nice bottle of wine!

My BIL had a hernia operation. He said it was not bad. Then he sneezed. Then he was ready for morphine. Don't sneeze!

Double mesh repair about 20 years ago. Very early days of laparoscopic method. Not a single problem since. Brother and one sister have had it too - runs in the family. Take it easy for a few weeks.

Had one side done in '92 and the other side was noticeable at the time. The doc told me to let him know when it bothered me enough & he would schedule the other side. Finally about ten years later, I told him it was time so had it done. Interesting to me was the difference in how it was done. With the first one, two girls came in and shaved me and erected a sort of curtain at my waist. The doc & an associate came in and said he was giving me a local - which he did. After a while he poked around asking me if I felt anything. I told him I didn't, and he said he would begin. So he did his thing and we chatted and joked back & forth until he said he was done. For the second one, I thought I'd ask for a mirror to watch. The doc said he was giving me something to relax me, which (I think) totally knocked me out. The next thing I knew I woke up and he was finished. I was disappointed about not being able to ask about the mirror.

I have one. Some say just go to hospital for day surgery and be home that night while others say Shouldice as it is close by to me (2hr away) and world renowned and fix without the mesh, but they hold you for three days and assembly line plus old school care. I am the guy who hates hospitals and no surgery since tonsils at 10. Any more opinions?

Hope Von's doing OK and progressing. I imagine he's doing the special roll to get on & off the bed at this point. Reg, you should just listen to your doctor and your body to decide when to get yours done. Sometimes you just have to break down and face the music. I always looked at these sort of things with the idea it will be in the past decently soon.

I had mine done in 92' as well at Swedish Hospital here in Denver. I was allowed to shave myself; girlfriend at the time that drove me there offered to do it as well. :) But I was given full anesthesia, had the mesh done(GireTex) and "I have a large scar to this day.

Sorry to say that in the end it was terribly painful during recovery. I was a junior mechanic at Lexus during this time and I was out for three weeks. When I returned I would be standing under my rack and sweating from the pain of standing for more than 10 mins.

No pain meds available to me as I am an addict. But I doubt it would have mattered much. I understand they do this lapriscoply? (sp) It has to better, it just has to be. Sorry for the downer story.

Getting it fixed vs waiting is a calculated risk.

While a bit unusual, hernias can "incarcerate" the fat and/or bowel they contain. The trouble with incarcerated hernias is that the tissue contained in the hernia loses adequate blood supply. If that happens, surgery gets much more urgent/emergent and can result in the need for a bowel resection (possibly a colostomy) if big enough and left too long. Urgent/emergent surgery is not ideal for anyone and even less so for people with health problems that need to be managed well before, during and after surgery.

The loss of life quality is also something to consider as are the risks of having the surgery. Let's not talk about the price of going to the hospital as everyone knows that is a can of worms.

The techniques for fixing hernias are situation and surgeon specific.

I fully understand not wanting surgery. Just want folks to appreciate the potential consequences of losing the gamble.

X2 on laparoscopic! I've had both ways, both out patient surgery. The first side was the full fledged cut and it took two or three weeks to get over it. Other side, years later was laparoscopic. Had it done on a Friday and played golf on Saturday a week later. Both use mesh but laparoscopic goes all the way across both sides.--Dave

With every repair, there is a possibility of complications. I have had one side done twice and left side once. If I had to do it all over again, I would be paying the premium over workers comp and traveling from Calgary to the Shouldice clinic for this surgery. You being right next door to it would seem a no brainer to me.
Regardless of where or what method you choose, it will more than likely be better than it is now!
Good luck with your repair.

I'm surprised that no one's Doctor used a local anesthetic post procedure.
I've had two, about 4 years apart, and on both occasions, a thin catheter was inserted along the cut, and I was given a golf ball size rubber ball, I kept in a bathrobe pocket, filled with what I guess is lidocaine.
The ball automatically fed the anesthetic, and collapsed around itself when finished in 3 or 4 days.
I was basicly numb around the incision, and I still have all the oxycodone pills they prescribed, and recovered almost pain free , without narcotics.
After the 4 days, I pulled the catheter out, easily enough.

This isn't new technology, as I had my first in 2007.

This link explains some more.

https://www.marshfieldclinic.org/specialties/anesthesia/anesthesiology-nerve-block

Thx for the replies folks. Any of the Pelicans who read this who do not have a hernia remember to lift properly and get help if it's too heavy!
The feeling for me is sort of like a mild tooth ache (only south!) or sort of like the after feel of getting kicked in the nuts back in grade school.
I also have some nerve damage going on as I have some numbness in areas around the groin. :(

A fair number of insurance carriers have no interest in reimbursing hospitals for those elastomeric (or other sorts of) pumps...and the manufacturers won't give them away.

Did google or personal experience lead you to the Marshfield Clinic website for the link?

Google got me there, no personal experience.

Well it has been a few days and still have some pain when walking and I thought I was going to die after I sneezed! But I can feel it getting better and I have not taken any of the prescribed pain meds, just over the counter stuff. Hope to be back on my feet in the next few days.

Good to hear.
You'll feel the occasional twinge from time to time, when you least expect it, for a while, just as a souvieneer ��