Hernia Operation :(

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I have had surgery for a double hernia and I can strongly recommend that you get it done endoscopically (sp?) if at all possible.

There is MUCH less pain, smaller incisions and quicker recovery rate. Mine was an outpatient procedure and that was for the double. Now I dive, lift weights and - yes - everything else. There is no reduction in what I can do at all.

There is some information here:

http://www.mindspring.com/~videosur/inhersur.html

If your surgeon cannot do this or is not experienced in this type of procedure FIND ANOTHER ONE let him/her practice on someone else. I can recommend a surgeon if you are anywhere near Houston.

Good luck.
 
Hello,

there's 2 common types of hernia surgery. larposcopic and open, i've had both in the past year. If the opening is wide enough they use mesh, i.e. prolene. They say recovery time with larpo is 10% per day. The more active you are durring the recovery process the more likely of a reoccuring hernia. No lifting for the first month easy, i was put on a 5lbs weight restriction.

As for which surgery type is better it really depends on you condition, the doctor's skill level and other things, namely the dr's skill level. My first surgery was horrible and I have a malpractice case against the surgeon. My second surgery went very well, fast recovery time and while neither was a walk in the park the second was far better than the first. The first surgery was larpo and the second open mesh, I had 26 staples and sutures, also have images both inside and outside the body if anyone is interested.

My feedback is to make sure the surgeon is very competent, there are alot of incompetent surgeons/doctors out there! Do not let anyone cut on you unless your very comfortable with them. Do research into the different types of surgeries, get that 2nd and 10th opinoin!

In the hands of the right surgeon miracles/wonders can and does happen, in the hands of the wrong surgeon you can get screwed up for life. Currently I have alot of pain that I will have for life, not just mental but intense physical. Like I said before the first surgery went wrong, the surgeon did not fix the hernias, the mesh riped loose and started shifting, I was given medication i'm allergic to, just to give you a brief overview. The second surgery removed staples that was putting my life in danger, ancoring the mesh down, cleaning up the cavity, removing my intestines (they were adhesed to the abdominal wall), a good 3 1/2 hours in the OR, and NOT cheap.

Ed
 
That the quality of the surgeon is of paramount importance.

Unfortunately the medical profession (and their lawyers) have done a superb job of making sure you never get to find that out:

No references
No performance statistics
Not even access to complaints

Unfortunately a good office manner may not have a great correlation to competence. I found mine by word of mouth. You might want to see if there are any local newsgroups or information systems that can help you get past this information barrier.

Blacknet,
How did you find your second guy? I'm sure you were VERY focussed on his capability by then.
 
Hello,

I found the 2nd surgeon by 'word of mouth' He's a 'wound care specialist' and very damn good. I had an easy 6 consultations with him, over $100 a visit, before I agreed to let him cut on me. The man is really awsome. He told me things that most dr's will never mention. Things like warning me to be very careful in who I do choose, tips like skill level, number of procedures done, bedside manner, attitude, etc..

My corporate attorney recomended me. What happend after surgery #1 I was watching Lord of the rings part 2 and it felt like someone was ripping a muscle out, had this burning twisting nitense pain, i called the surgeon, 3 days later he called me back and said "that's not good", ordered a CT scan. went to the hospital for the ct scan and had a panic attack (had a very horrible experience with the hospital staff) then i walked out, called the 2nd surgeon and let him handle the case.

You can contact the medical board and see if the doctor has any discliplinary actions against him/her. However, 1/3 of malpractice cases are won by the patients, of those 1/3 less than 10% receives any type of discliplinary actions, even if the doctor has more than 5 malpractice cases against him, i.e. lost 5 cases. As you can see the odd's are you'll never find any 'bad' stuff about a doctor unless you go by word of mouth. The first surgeon is 'head of surgery' at one of the hospitals and i heard good things about him, I may have fell into that 1% catagory but it's still worth checking into. What your looking for is very strong praise.

Ed
 
Well Jepuskar...

It would definately be a sleepless in Seattle night if we hooked up...but is there an Aunt Pug that would join us instead? more my thing....hehehe


My invitation still stands....
 
Poor baby, I hope you have someone to bring you chicken soup!
My mom had this surgery about a year ago, she was pretty much out of commission for more than a week. I remember the dr. telling me she wasn't supposed to do situps for a while or lift anything heavy...hope that won't be a problem for you if you know what I mean...LOL
The pre-op paperwork said something about being careful with sex for awhile...not that my parents do those things! Ewwwwww
 
Hello,

As for sex goes, you won't feel like having sex for at least a month. Durring the hernia repair they will also work on the spermatic cord, this cord is longer than most people realize. Lippatoma's and other stuff accumulate on the cord.

Ed
 
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