Reply To: My surgeries with Dr. Kang and Shouldice Hospital

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WilliamT,

Thanks for the detailed write up.

I had an inguinal hernia repair at Shouldice recently. Their sedation protocol is very different now. They use IV sedation with midazolam and fentanyl. Sometimes they add propofol as well. I woke up toward the end of the surgery while the surgeon was performing some stitching, and it was very painful, although not as excruciating as what you describe. They increased the sedation when they noticed that I woke up. Seems like a common thing there based on reviews. The anesthesiologist also told me that it’s normal. I think they try to go with as light a sedation as they can get away with, which is a good thing – this stuff isn’t good for your brain and other organs. Unfortunately, the local anesthesia isn’t as effective as one would hope. Not sure why – maybe skills of the surgeon, maybe they don’t want to use too much of that either, maybe it really needs to be done ultrasound-guided and they don’t do it that way, I have no idea.

I also have abnormal skin sensations around the area – similar I think to what happened in your case. Some numbness on one side of the incision, and paresthesia on the other side. It feels like something more than just the nerves being cut at the incision – I think ilioinguinal nerve irritation is causing the paresthesia.