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Posted 3/30/2010 1:46 AM (GMT 0)
Hey folks, i`ve got to get this hernia fixed as it rreally makes my job etc just too difficult to do. Would you have any concerns getting back in there for some follow up repair? This deal has to get fixed but i`m kind of waffling on the idea of sticking tools back in there. Any thoughts? Thanks Tim
Posted 3/30/2010 1:54 AM (GMT 0)
I wouldnt want it either Tim, but many on here have had the hernia repair. Keep us posted as I know it must be a tough choice to make.
Michael
Posted 3/30/2010 2:52 AM (GMT 0)
Hey Tim, here's where I went for my hernia:

http://www.shouldice.com/

It is a world famous center and people come from all over the world to be 'done' there. I can't say enough positive things about my experience there and the quality of the repair job. I know it is foolish to recommend plumbers, or doctors, but I have no qualms about encouraging you to check them out. I have several friends who have had their hernias repaired there and they all were delighted.

Sheldon AKA Sleepless
Posted 3/30/2010 3:30 AM (GMT 0)
Hernia repair is almost minor surgery compared to an RP. They are only going in far enough to insert mesh or repair the tear in the abdominal wall. I personally wouldn't worry about it affecting any thing but what they are fixing.

Having had several surgeries of multiple types, I don't like any surgery. More specifically I hate anethesthesia, but the hernia repair will be really staright forward.

Good luck.
Posted 3/30/2010 11:27 AM (GMT 0)
Ditto on the anethesthesia and waking up in recovery isn't my favorite thing to do.

Think on the bright side of getting it FIXED.

Posted 3/30/2010 1:37 PM (GMT 0)
Goodlife and Steve are right about the anesthetic business. I don't know what is normally done, but the surgery I had at Shouldice was with a local and some happy juice so it all was pretty much a dream. And, as they note, compared to a radical prostatectomy, it's no big deal. Not how you'd choose to spend the day, no doubt, but my experience was an easy one.

Sheldon AKA Sleepless
Posted 3/30/2010 6:39 PM (GMT 0)
This is one of the reasons I asked the doc to do the hernia repair at the same time I had my prostate surgery. I figured it made sense since they were already in the neighborhood. I understand it increased my time under the knife by about 20 minutes. Needless to say, with everything else going on, I didn't notice any recovery issues from the hernia repair. I read somewhere that 20% of PCa patients have a hernia that could be repaired but, apparently, few take advantage of the opportunity. I suppose it isn't quite as easy as an add-on to robotic surgery.
Posted 3/30/2010 6:45 PM (GMT 0)
I will be the odd duck here, I enjoy being put under, have around 17 times in my life so far. I have never had any nausea or trouble coming back out of it. And some of the nicest nurses I have ever met were the angel nurses in the recovery room. To me, there's a certain bliss to getting pulled into the blackness of nothingness. You feel nothing, you think nothing, you remember nothing, for a brief moment in time.
Posted 3/30/2010 6:59 PM (GMT 0)

Had a hernia repaired twice in Ontario 25 years ago.  Failed both times after only a number of months and I was and am not a heavy exerciser.

After the failures, when I saw my urologist about a pee problem, he said why are you not going to the Shouldice Institute in Toronto.  By the time I arrived there I had two hernias.  

Sheldon is right -- at Shouldice they give you a local anaesthetic and happy juice.  25 years later I have had no further problems.

You can google Shouldice repair to see the technique.  One would think it would be performed in the US.

If you want more US information, google hernia repair -- there is a forum at Penn Hernia Insitute, for example, which is interesting.

By the way, my experience with hernia repair supposedly by a good surgeon was the reason I made sure that I had one of the best surgeons in Canada do my prostatectomy.

Skeener

Posted 3/30/2010 10:24 PM (GMT 0)
I'm going to see a surgeon next month. My guts are trying to come out my navel!
Posted 3/30/2010 11:56 PM (GMT 0)
My Dad had three failed hernia operations, lots of pain, lost a testicle in one botched job, and finally went to Shouldice - and had no problems after that - ...

Wishing you all the best - find the best place for you - and here's to a speedy recovery

hugs
BRONSON
Posted 3/31/2010 12:02 AM (GMT 0)
Bronson, that really sounded tough for your poor dad. Sorry.

David in SC
Posted 3/31/2010 12:27 AM (GMT 0)
Hey Tim,
Mine kept popping out; I kept pushing it in. I even tried duct tape stuck on top of my undershirt. What an idiot.
It won't go away by itself. Just man up, and do it. (said the wimp afraid to stick himself with a 31 ga needle.)
Jeff
Posted 3/31/2010 1:28 AM (GMT 0)
thanks David - the third operation - was by , allegedly, the best internationally known doctor for hernias - ... he used Dad as a guinea pig and used cat gut to sew it back together inside... it failed within 6 months... the trapped fluid swoll up the scrotum and cut off the blood supply and that is how he lost the testicle.... -

mind you, Dad found out what the doc had done to him after the fact ..

that is why it is so important to discuss all details ( especially with the presence of a spouse - taking notes) so you get what you agree on - whether it is hernia, RP, davinci, hrt, etc.....

hugs
BRONSON
Posted 3/31/2010 2:03 AM (GMT 0)
Bronson, my friend, that's good advice for any of our newer brothers/sisters here. The devil is always in the detail. My dr. and I have a great relationship actually. I always hand the receptionist a typed note from me, and say, give this to Dr. Smith before I get called back.. On it, I bring him up to day in summary form of what has happened/not happened from my prior visit. I also make an opinion of where I think I stand, and what my expectations are. When he comes into the room, it stops me from getting tongue tied or stuttering or completely forgetting what I wanted to discuss or go over. People seem to forget, dr's aren't mind readers, the more a patient can communicate to the doctor, the easier it makes for the dr. to help you.

When discussing a major treatment or op, I always have a notebook going, and if its convenient or major enough to need my wife, she is my back up set of ears/eyes, and as a nurse, she understand the jargon that I don't always understand.

Can I assume your father is still with you?

David in SC
Posted 3/31/2010 2:59 AM (GMT 0)
On a lighter note this thread reminds me of going to see my doctor about the hernia.

I walked into his office and he was sitting at on a chair by his little desk and I said, "I think I've got a hernia," and without getting up he said, "you've got a hernia and I want you to go to Shouldice --- I'll get you booked for surgery."

"Hold on," I said, "how do you know I've got a hernia? You haven't examined me?"

He said, "Easy. In 40 years of practicing medicine I've never had a man come through my door and say, 'I think I've got a hernia,' who didn't have a hernia. It is the only medical condition I know of where the patient's diagnosis is always 100% correct."

Not much about doctors makes me smile with fond memories, but my hernia experience from self-diagnosis to being "done" at Shouldice is all pleasant memories.

By the way, Skeener is right. Shouldice has its own proceedure for hernia repair. Others think it overkill --- Shouldice prides itself on your being able to carry your suitcase out the door and having a virtual 100% no return policy. Once you're fixed, you're fixed.

Sheldon AKA Sleepless
Posted 3/31/2010 5:58 PM (GMT 0)
74 years old had my second or L side patched on December 8th 2009 a Detroit Beaumont hospital satellite in Lake Orion Mi. Got there at 8:00 AM and was home by 10:30 AM.....then my Vattikuti robotic prostatectomy on Februare 10th at Henry Ford Detroit. All that's left is a colonoscopy April the 8th and I will be ahead of Obabacare....To your original question / hernias are nothing anymore.
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