Pooped a hernia a week or two ago at work. Haven’t been to the doctor yet, but should get in this week. I know I’ll need surgery.
Question: what is the recovery time? Is it really going to screw the pooch for getting anything done on my house this year?
No fear of the procedure, just irritated at the timing. Finally get some decent weather, and overload the old gut.
Dave
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Replies
Lots of previous threads on this one, Dave, but here is my 2 cents.
With the new surgical techniques, you will be out the door within a day. A few hours if it's an AM cut, overnight if it's after 3 pm.
You will not want to work for a week.
You'll feel fairly good 2 weeks after.
Raring to go after a month.
Real smart if you wait 6-8 weeks before you pour it on. You really don't want to need a "re-do".Quality repairs for your home.
Aaron the Handyman Vancouver, Canada
Edited 5/9/2004 5:15 pm ET by AaronRosenthal
aaron's got the numbers, dont eat anything to heavy first week. cant emphasize what he said do over are tough because of existing scar tissue. had mine 15 yrs. ago was in two days back to work in 3-4 wks. take care of this.... and you'll be better off"expectations are premeditated resentments"
I had it done when I was just under 40 years old. I was up and walking the next morning, but I was drop dead tired for about 4 months. Then in a couple of weeks everything was suddenly back to normal.
Forgot something .... I need to have it done again. It would be nice if you post your recovery experiences. Based on my experience I am not eager to have it redone.
Will do.
Next issue is with management at work. I'll get the third degree for not reporting a suspected injury when it happened. Honestly, I did not feel a thing. we were moving some laeral file cabinets (5 drawers full) that day, and they always a chore for me, even with help and a four wheel dolly. Got home that night and notice a slight bulg on my lower left abdomin when taking a shower. No tenderness or pain, so I just wrote it off. Moved about 15-20 sandbags the Thursday before the KY Derby. Bulg got larger....oops, now I know I have a problem. Been busy as a one armed paper hanger and it slips my mind, since I still have no pain.
Oh well, dealing with this young supervisor will be interesting. That will be as interesting a story as any surgery or recovery.
Dave
Dave,
I've had two inguinal hernias repaired.
First one was sewed together (old school) the second had the net sewed in.
Rosenthal said all the right stuff.
I will add this; if it bulges out and you can't push it back in or it feels unusually hard, RUN don't walk to the nearest ER. The hernia can strangulate your intestine and you will be in great pain and die quite rapidly while sufferin intensly.
Please take care of yourself. I lived with mine for many years until one night it did become stangulated requiring immediate surgery.
Take it easy going back to work. You may feel stronger than you are and it is easy to screw up the MD's good work in the first 6 mos in particular.
Eric
In about '75 I had bilateral inquinal hernias at the same time as hemerhoids. Spemt a week in the hospital. couln't sit and couldn't stand.
Took three months to get back to worek and then I was so out of shape I did my back in the first week.
That means some recuiperative stretching and excercise like simple walking is good for you.
in about 1990, I had another I hernia operated on. They put in some reinforcing mesh this time. I felt ready to go in a couple weeks but the insurance and docs said no. I piddled a couple hours a day in the garden and walking to get myself ready for real work. After five weeks I wasback at it full time.
Some guys walk out from this. I was doubled up in pain from the surgery for a day, both times. label me a weenie.
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Hi, I'm new here.
I had the procedure 6 years ago this month. I went into one of those outpaitent surgery centers at 10:00 AM, and I WALKED out at 12:30 PM. I spent more time filling out papers than waiting in the recovery room.
I was riding a bicycle 8 days later, and lifting weights in a gym 4 weeks later. The reason I had the procedure was so that I could begin getting into shape, my response to turning 40 years old.
You will be sore and large areas under the belt will turn black and blue but it isn't too bad, I would not wait to have it done again if I needed it. Good luck.
Tom
shouldice clinic markham ontario canada = guarnteed results been there done it , the operate on you 2 days later your back to work . mesh is the Henry Ford era stuff , had it previously strickly bs from ama get the real; thing & pain no more 15 years now and no pain & can lift 200 lbs no trouble however couldent lift 20 lbs with mesh method
You didn't mention if you had the local anesthetic procedure ? With the local, you actually get up and walk away from the operating table..
Phill Giles
The Unionville Woodwright
Unionville, Ontario
had the local and listened to the whole procedure
I had surgery about 18 months ago. I was offered two operating methods. The first was the old way, cut one large opening at the problem and repair from the outside of the abdomenwall. I chose the new way ( I can't recall or spell the medical term at the moment, something like laproscopy). This is three small incisions, one near the belly button, the other two several inches right and left of that one. A television camera goes in the middle hole. Tools and materials go in the other two holes. The repair is done on the inside of the abdominal wall. The good news is much less recovery time. Doc said the only weight restiction was how much I felt like lifting. Which wasn't much for a week! This method costs more, so it may be a decision made by your health insurance provider or your checkbook.
Frank DuVal
Had mine done a couple of years ago in mid-April after living with and ignoring the damn thing for close to 25 years. On days when I'd had to do a particularly large amount of heavy lifting, I sometimes felt it a bit, more like an ache than a real pain. My old family doc had told me in 1975: When it bothers you, go have it done....
Then two years before I finally had it sewed up, it started to bother me. But I didn't realize what it was. Though it was gas pains. Duh....
I had it done in the outpatient clinic in our local hospital. Walked in at 9:30 hungry and grouchy because I couldn't even have my coffee that morning. Woke up at about 11:00 to find the RR nurse looking at me. She asked how do you feel. I grumbled, page my wife, will ya? When she showed up I asked her to get me an order of toast-and-cheese and a coffee from the downstairs coffee shop. Nurse's eyebrows climbed a bit; then climbed a bit more when I wolfed it down and stood up to start getting dressed. I was outta there at noon.
The recovery period for me was pretty much 4-6 weeks. For the first week I didn't do anything but lie on the couch and read Hornblower in between dozes induced by the pain pills. After that I slowly got on my feet, but went through the entire set of books before I started tacking back and forth more or less normally. Full sea trials I didn't do until mid June. Three to four months later all residual effects were gone, including that last suture that has to dissolve internally. By then, I'd forgotten all about it and was hauling shingles up onto somebody's roof....
Dinosaur
'Y-a-tu de la justice dans ce maudit monde?
You mentioned ignoring it for a few years. I did that the second time and found that wasn't good for my back. I was favoring things subconsciously and the asymetrical stresses it put on my abdominal walls and central sheathe were causing me back pain without realizing it. When I had the herniw healed up, the back pain went away for a few years.
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Like many of th eother guys I've had 2 done. One the old way and one the new mesh. The old way in 1966 I was in the hospital 2 weeks and sent home to recove for 2 more. Naturally I felt pretty good by the time I went back to work a month after the surgery. Second time I was in and out in 4 hours. Took me a week to really start feeling okay but I couldn't do any real work for several weeks.
Had a friend who has been a body builder for 20 years. Big, buff and tough. He had his done on Friday since he was moving to a new house on Saturday and wanted to be able to work. Hahaha. He did manage to get up and move around a little on Saturday but he sure didn't do anything resembling work. Sat in th etruck most of the day with a long face. I think it took hom longer to recover than it did me.
Thanks for the timely and thoughfull advice and council.
I do not consider myself a "big guy", although I am just a little over 6' tall. I only weigh in at 158 to 162 lbs. Even early on in construction i could seldom rely on brut srength to get a job done. This blowout occured near the end of a 15 hr day, so I credit fatigue and bad judgement as the root cause ( couldn't possibly be incipeant old age and a soft winter schedule could it?).
I see the doctor tommorow, so should know what she reccomends by noon.
Again thanks for the advice and concern.
Dave
You raise a good point for discussion so the young guys can learn from this subject. What causes hernias? how to avoid them. The smart youngsters can learn from our collective experiences.
my first set was from hanging 90# double coverage rolls in the air to set into hot asphalt. The job was on cotton warehouses in west Texas so there were miles of them. Each one big enough it seemed to play football inside. Elevating those rolls out horizontal over the hot before setting to roll was a job fit for a fool. Funny thing is - I never knew I had the hernias. It was just a bit sore. but the hemeroihds started bleeding and when I went to the doc he said couch, "You've got a hernia here on this side, cough again, and another little one here too. We might as well fix everything while we've got you on the table"
( This is a good time for someone to joke that hernias are caused by doctors)
The second time, I had a couple of 8 x 12 x 18' fir beams to raise and we never seemed to have a full crew all at one time. no problem, you two take that end and I'll get this end...
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Piffin,
You raiseYou raise a good point for discussion so the young guys can learn from this subject. What causes hernias? how to avoid them. The smart youngsters can learn from our collective experiences. a good point for discussion so the young guys can learn from this subject. What causes hernias? how to avoid them. The smart youngsters can learn from our collective experiences.
You can always be counted on to think outside of the box, or raise the discussion up a notch or two. Cheers to you!
FWIW, I have no recollection of my hernia occurring. Seems they just showed up one day, although I was able to speculate how the first occurred beside being young and dumb. Moving huge stones while working for a friend about the same age (the son of a builder) we would constantly be trying to outdo one another.
Bottom line is always work smart and hard, not the other way around.
Eric
Firebird,
FWIW, I have no recollection of my hernia occurring. Seems they just showed up one day, although I was able to speculate how the first occurred beside being young and dumb.
Yes, I know what you mean I'm not sure how I got mine either. I think it may have been when I was in high school, gym class the year 19 and 73. We were playing football and the ball was thrown to me and it hit my groin area hard. Anyway, I either got the hernia then or soon after. The Dr. doesn't think the football caused the hernia, but it's the only thing I can think of and I always thought that was the cause. It never really bothered me except it played with my head big time for almost the next 25 years.
Today, 6 years after the operation, I have a Black Belt in Tae Kwon Do and I'm in better shape now than when I was 16.
Tom
hernias are caused by doctors
And how come its called a "hernia" - -shouldn't it be called a "himnia", with the other term used for the same condition in a female patient?
Worst part of mine was having to sit down for a whiz - - The surgeon told me not to lift anything heavy for 6 weeks
Doc - The Old Cynic
Doc!
You old cynic!
LOL
I almost fell off my chair laughing at that last comment.
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Dave,
Tore an old (20 years) inguinal hernia last July. Had it repaired this past March. The new technology is laproscopy, kind of a nintendo approach. Only 3 small incisions, no stitches, the Doc uses mechanical scopes etc. I was knocked out. They fill your abdominal cavity with a gas to maneuver the tools. The initial recovery is from the anesthesia (it's a 1 day proceedure, no overnight stay). The second phase is from the bloating. Take the pain killers and be prepared to sleep/do nothing for 2-3 days. The next recovery phase is from the repair. I experienced a lot of soreness and some pinching sensation. This pinching is not painful, just a little aggrivating and I still experience it, albeit infrequently. I would say you CAN'T REALLY LIFT ANYTHING for about 10 to 14 days or you'll feel like you'll tear it apart. I'm in the home repair business, light carpentry, odd jobs etc. I think your recovery time will depend on your line of work. I will say this, the more you push early on, the longer it will take to heal. Good luck
Had my inguinal hernia repaired with the mesh a couple of years ago. 5 days to really feel like moving. Doc said no lifting of anything over 20 lbs. for 6 weeks. I felt like I could before that, but his advise that I didn't want to do it twice kept ringing in my head. There is also a relationship between recovery time and the size of the hernia.
Woody
Woody,
Good point on the size of the hernia. Usually by the time we think about getting it repaired it's pushed through the abdominal wall pretty well and it's down right uncomfortable.
D