Hurts like a SOB.


Those that have had the surgery, how long afterwards till you were good to go?

I “had” to be GTG three days after surgery due to a major ice storm that took out power and a number of trees around my driveway. Running the chainsaw sucked, but there wasn’t much choice at the time.

I went back to work after a week........that was also a mistake given where a gun belt rides relative to the healing incision.

Take it slowly, you’re retired!

I had a double I didn't even realize I had other then some slight pain from time to time. 2 weeks before I went back to work, Dr wrote me out for 3 and about 2 months to be relatively comfortable. I had conventional surgery with mesh . Dr at the time would do either way but said it was a more successful outcome just cutting it.

Hunting season starts on the 3rd, I'll get the wife to lift the deer into the UTV..

You hurting before or after surgery?

Does it have a “roll cage”?

Rope up over the top, back to the winch on the front.............reel it right into the body (I’m thinking Gator style)!

No lifting 😀

Had mine fixed this spring. Was off work a week and on light lifting for a month. It seems like it took a couple of months for the tightness to go away. No big deal if you do like the doc tells you.

No surgery yet. Been a pain for the past month, but came on stronger the last few days. Surgeon appointment is coming up in a few days.

It's the nut pain that is a real pain.

I had one repaired, it was done laparoscopically and I don't remeber much pain at all. Then again, mine didn't hurt before the surgery, sounds like mine wasn't as serious as yours.

If you are hurting worse, you probably ought to go in now.

A hernia can cause strangulation of the intestine. It cuts the bloodflow off yo that part of the intestine, and it dies. Then the surgeon guts you, and inspects the rest of your intestines after cutting about 3-4 feet out in the dead area.

You don't want that.

You sure don't want the intestine rupturing either. They gut you completely and wash and clean all your intestines and clean you out inside, and put things back as best they can, and sew you up...

You don't want that either.

This is right on!

I had a repair 20 years ago.
The DR. did not use mesh, he used muscle, pulled over the repair.
Never an issue.
It will take several weeks to be able to do most things.
Do not neglect the laxative recommendations.
Follow the Dr instructions.
Straining is a bad thing.

+1, could make you deathly ill.

Good God! Don't sugar coat it, tell us how it really is!

i've had two inguinal and one abdominal. the first one i was born with and got fixed when i was a baby. the 2nd was when i was 20. that one was not bad. open incision and internal stitches with medical tape outside. i was sore for a week or so if i remember but it wasn't too bad. by far the worst was the abdominal. it was laproscopic and they poked 11 holes in me fixing that one. i was fuggen sore as hell for a while. but i didn't do any pain killers after the first day because they caused constipation which is not something you want to have when you have abdominal surgery.

i'd give it a day or so and then it will be just sore.

Had 2 repaired. Don’t be trick fuucckin for a month or so. Standard is taking it easy for 6 weeks which is what most employers recognize as the acceptable time frame.

One piece of advice:
Get it done.

Well they did an ultra sound on it today and they didn't seem overly concerned that I'm going to die in the next 24 hours.

It's not a constant thing, just when you do something wrong. A very pin point stinging pain

1. It won’t get any better
2. You ain’t getting any younger

Oh, trust me, I'm getting the surgery the soonest they can schedule it.

Well done and trust this, post operative, you’ve had hangovers worse than that. Laying around ain’t fun but it’s necessary. Do that,too.

Damn Scott, I hope you heal strong.

Don't do something wrong and you'll be all set.

i didn't read the whole thing and realize you are pre-op.

ya, those nut pains are bad. like somebody slowly squeezing your nuts and then all of a sudden clamping down. thats the whatever-that-schit is called lining coming out into your sac along with some intestine maybe. i used to pop mine back in and that was a real treat. i lived like that for 3 or 4 months and then had it fixed. strangulation hernia is not something to fugg with. i'd take it real easy until you get in there.

I'm letting the wife help me pee too, so I don't have to left anything heavy. Still don't feel any bulge.

I think lifting my 70 pound, lame dog the past few days helped to speed things up.

I had inguinal hernia surgery in May 2000. Was out of work three weeks prior to surgery and back to work three weeks after surgery. Don't throw up or sneeze right after surgery....only advice I got!

Good luck, NYH1.

This ^^^ almost did me in trying to wait, if your shiit pops out the hole and swells,,you got biiig problems.

This is the doctor that sent me for my ultra sound today. Ultra sound gal was 23, blonde and cute too. Might have to get these more often.

I've got inguinals on both sides plus an umbillical right now. Was first diagnosed 6 years ago but doc said not to worry about them so long as they weren't bothering me/causing pain. The left one has been hurting now since April. Went in and told the doc I thought it was about time to take care of them back in early Sept.. He agreed and scheduled me for surgery in Dec. as I told him I didn't want to be laid up during hunting season. Doc tells me to expect to be out of work for 3 weeks.

Was up and walking, a little hunched over a few hours after surgery. Upright and self propelled after about 3 days. Your doc will tell you not to lift any heavy weight for 30 days or so.

That will cause a hernia. Bust a nut, too.

I'd go get that stuff stitched back together. There's really no other reasonable option. You can't live your life with your bowels wanting to punch down into your bag.

Surgery of any kind is only mentally disruptive until you're in pre-op and they shoot you in the arm with some Versed and Demerol. It's half over when that happens.

Just make the appointment,...get it done,..and go on about your life.

At most it's going to be a month,...maybe 6 weeks of disruption.

I wrecked my knee a few years ago. I kept putting it off,.....hoping it would get better. It didn't

I spent damn near a half of a year stumbling around when I could have been done with it in 6 weeks.

I've had enough surgeries to not worry about them. Same surgeon cut on my wife last year.

I had to lie to the doc and told her 'I'm a grower not a shower'

Well,....then you know.

Had the surgery in July and took 5 weeks off post surgery. Very physical job and glad I did the 5 weeks. For 10 weeks it felt like a money was hanging on my right nut. Pretty common and some times the doc has to kill a nerve in your sack.

I hurt like hell for 2 weeks. Got a little better everyday after that. By 4 weeks I had no pain. Doc wouldn't let me lift until 5 weeks after surgery. She used the mesh on me also.

I had a double repaired with mesh 10 years ago. At that time the instructions were to not lift more than twenty pounds for 6 weeks. After that if I stretched too far in any direction I got a twinge but as I became more active it faded away.

What bugged me the most right before the surgery was going up stairs. I noticed coming down stairs was comfortable so I tried going up backwards. Made climbing stairs much more comfortable.

The surgeon told me the only people who had trouble with hernia surgery were the eager beavers trying to do too much too soon.

Good luck!

No nookie for at least two weeks after surgery..

Patched up with mesh two years ago this December. Was back at work in two weeks with full duty in four. Most pain right afterwards was from sitting on the throne. You do not want to tear out the mesh before it takes hold, big mess to repair so heed the doctor's orders.

It would be interesting to know how many folks used to die from strangulated hernias before sulfa drugs reduced the chance of infection from surgery in the mid thirties. Man, that would be a miserable way to go.

Well, thank God fer lowyers.

2 days. Not a big deal at all...Godspeed

I went home the same day and was able to slow walk around the block the next day.

I found that out the hard way.

Yep, with no complications, out patient, home by early evening.

Nothing like an eager beaver!

I had one done the day after I graduated high school, a tuesday, Friday I shuffled into the oral surgeons office and had my wisdom teeth pulled.
Dr said I was nuts, but I just shrugged and said, "why fugg up my whole summer?"
The next weekend I was back partying and chasing skirts.

Oh to be young and dumb again.

I had an umbilical hernia, which I believe is similar, repaired earlier this spring. Coughing, sneezing, and getting in and out of a recliner is a killer. My boy had fun helping to yank me out of the living room chair. He thought my misery was a bit funny. I kept off the road and worked from home for a week. I was right back at it one week after surgery. Good luck and I hope it goes well.

Had mine done with mesh,10 years ago,an umbilical one 5 years ago.was uncomfortable for a few days,no heavy lifting for a month or so.worst thing was the black and blue weiner,did not like the looks of that.not one bit.I was,told there might be some "discoloration",it looked like I took a fast ball with no cup.

I had a bilaterial hernia repair back in 1988... I was suppose to take it easy for 6 weeks..
I took it easy for a week.. and then was loaded with stuff to get done...

I didn't 'take it easy' the way the doctor wanted...I took it easy the way I could get things done without overdoing it..

it was long healed after the 6 weeks and has never needed repair again.

It takes a couple of months.

Tell me how it goes--I'm probably going to have my surgery right after my last elk hunt if I can hold out that long.

This getting old scheit is starting to irritate me...........

It couldn't happen to a nicer guy.

I just had this surgery done two weeks ago today. I had the surgery on a Wednesday and went back to work the following Monday, I have an incision about 3" in my pelvic area. I told Doc I had to be well by the muzzleloader opener the first week of November. He told me not to lift any more than 15-30 lbs for the first 3-6 weeks. The incision seems to be healing well. However, I do not have the stamina now that I had before going in to surgery. The area seems to ache if I stand for a while or am active such as walking around a lot.

Had surgery twice once laparoscopic and once slice me opened
4-6 weeks before I was feeling normal

Steelhead,

I have had both methods of inguinal hernia surgeries over the years.

The old style that cuts through your muscle with a large incision will take many weeks to recover completely.

Larascopic inguinal hernia procedure recovery is much faster. In fact I was able totally raise my knee to place my shoe on a chair to tie shoe laces the next day! . I quail hunted the following week. There are three scars one on each side of abdomen and one just under the navel. The were large knots for a long time but not that bothersome. If there is a possible complication it is the CO2 they use to inflate your abdomen during the procedure. Even though they release the gas pressure some residual gas can remain. It happened to me with a pain centered in the trapezius area which went away overnight.

Hope your recovery goes quickly.

Come to think of it I've had this procedure twice. Both times there were a couple small incisions and another one thru my belly button. I have no idea where the scars are.

Don't worry, I'll still be able to pile drive your ass.

Hope it goes well for ya Scott we don’t need ya any more ornery than you already are !

Been there done that ...getting in and out of a chair will seem like the hardest thing u ever done! Oh ...and that muscle group helps when u take a dump .....it's going to hurt .....did your gut liner pinch it yet ? That's no fun either !

Doc did some exploration in other surgery.
Gave me a hernia.
Bad shape, Thought it from just the surgery.
Stepson offered to mow the yard while I was down a couple of days.
Could not get push mower started, so I sat up, saw the big lump, pushed my guts back in an mowed the yard.
Felt weird.
Went to reg doc a couple days later, then surgeon, and had hernia repair the next week.
Cut w mesh.
Was supposed to be off a month, think I took 2 weeks max.

That mesh/scar tissue rubbed on other nerves that had been damaged during the exploration in prev surgery.
Excruciating pain in nuts for 2.5 yrs. Lightning storms for the first year, multiple times per day starting, going maybe couple times a day by end of yr.
Once in a while after that. Outside of the lightning storms, crushing pain. Constant.

2.5 yrs down the road, still feel like crap..........a "pop". Thought my guts would fall out.
Pain dropped 50% right then, and within 6 months was gone.

What a clusterfork.

Not sure what all happened.

Now I have a tear on right side, it seems to have healed.
But the left, when doc messed me up, looked like a vacuum cleaner hose was under my skin, pretty damn big.

There was a tightness in that area, would feel a burn if I did too much..........for a couple of yrs after the pain went away.
Sometimes get a little fishhook pain, or itch.

No big deal, considering the prev disaster.
This was done in 90's............so dunno if better methods, materials exist.
Might have all been just a less than decent doc, I dunno.

Am fine now

And this is why so many will be cheering for the hernia.


mike r

I had a double fixed this past July.Surgery was originally scheduled for January, but just started a new job so put it off. Done on a Friday. Up and around for a couple of hours at a time, then back down for a couple hours all day Saturday and Sunday. Wife had to go out of town for a week Wednesday, so I was riding herd on the two teenage boys from that point on, but took the whole week off work. After the first weekend felt noticeably, progressively better every day. For a couple of weeks I would get tired at work, went in late, left early. For a few weeks the young guys did any heavy lifting for me (machine vises, things like that.) Everything seems to be fine now, but I am very careful about how I lift heavy stuff.

As a whole, the experience was (in my experience) was not as bad as crashing a motorcycle, getting thrown in a 3rd world jail or going down too fast in a helicopter.

I knew [bleep] talk would drag your ass out.

It won't be a walk in the park, Scott, but you'll do fine. Any competent general surgeon should be able to do a good repair, and if s/he uses robotic, it's even better.

In the olden days they didn't used to operate on them all that much... I can still remember looking at the Sears catalog as a kid and seeing the pictures of men's trusses and wondering why the hell a guy would wear something that looked so uncomfortable. Turns out it was about all that would make life livable, for a lot of men with hernias.

When I was a resident I worked with a surgeon for a while who had some wonky old guys for patients. One was a missionary in his late 80's, who came back from an extended mission in Mexico with a worsened inguinal hernia he'd had for decades. He had put together a home-made truss using a tennis ball, a jockstrap, and some duct tape. Worked pretty well, too.

But in the presurgical days, strangulated hernias killed off a lot of men who did heavy lifting for a living. The fur traders (voyageurs) in Canada and the upper midwest were particularly bad for this. These guys would transport bales of beaver pelts by canoe from the wilds back to Montreal. On portages, no self-respecting voyageur would carry less than 2 bales, and each bale by law weighed 90 pounds dry. In a canoe they'd pick up moisture, so you can expect a standard load on portage would exceed 200 pounds. So it isn't surprising to find that the records show the number one cause of death among voyageurs was strangulated hernia. Pretty tough way to die, I'm afraid.

Get a snatch block and carry rope. Park your UTV with the back toward a tree and toss a rope over a strong limb. Attach the snatch block to the rope after running the winch line through it and pull it up and tie it off. Winch the deer up and swing it i the back. I use my winch this way to load deer on my ATV. No more hernias, back strain, or pulled muscles.

I had an inguinal tear on the right side about 18 months ago. My right ball felt like someone had hit it with a golf club. Grudgingly went to a doc who nearly killed me when he shoved his finger up in my sack. He diagnosed me and said it wasn’t a big deal, no hernia just a small tear in of the hole my ball cord comes through. Gave me a nerve block with the biggest needle on the planet, once again ramming his finger up there to locate the tear to hit it with the needle. After I cussed the paint off the walls it was over and he said 6-9 months and I’d be good as new as it would heal on it’s own. I’d say it took more like 12 months but I’m fine now. I know I’m more careful about lifting stuff now, don’t need to go through that again. Good luck

Dammit!

You seem even more infatuated w/ male rumps than usual today but Pile driving? I guess having piles and a hernia would make many grouchy. Look in an old copy of Popular Mechanics and get yourself one of those dandy double trusses. You are welcome.


mike r

Had 2 inguinal, and one abdominal done laparoscopically, with mesh - went home the same day.
Limited to lifting 20 # for 3 weeks, then they said 40 or 50. At ~ 7 weeks, I wound up moving the loader bucket from a small flatbed trailer onto the back of a pickup - alone.
The weight restrictions were the most limiting thing for me - but, I heeded them (mostly )

Yea, no [bleep]!

Only slime balls.

I didn't think my rent check was due till the 1st.

Father time ain't on your side grandpa.

My taint was twinging reading that!

Slime balls? I thought he had a hernia, thanks for the clarification.


mike r