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Bi-Lateral Hernia Surgery with Dr. Brown-Description
I wanted to also give description of my experience getting my hernia done as I have been a past reader and responder to this forum from time to time. I hope this will be helpful for future people with hernias that require surgery. It is exactly 1 year from the date of the surgery.
I had my non-mesh surgery done by Dr. Brown 12 months ago, I was referred by all the past reviews on this forum and Dr. Kang’s English Interpreter – Chaplain Stephen Kwon suggestion- as S. Korea was closed from Covid Restrictions at that time. Dr. Brown’s office is just 80 miles away from my home in Fremont, CA. and with the Covid Mass Hysteria just starting, he made it quite easy and quick. He was able to have an appointment set up within that week, and diagnose me- I admit it was pretty obvious.
Nevertheless, he even gave me a special discount because it was inguinal Double/ Bi -lateral hernia operation and the Covid Economic Shutdown was just beginning. Both hernia’s were direct. One was the small- size of plum- he did a Desarda Technique on that one; and the other one was size of large California grapefruit, he chose Modified- Bassini.
I chose to stay at the Best Western Motel across the street from the Precision (Hernia) Surgery Center- 75 yards away as the crow flies- as suggested by staff. Best Western Motels gave me a Covid Special Discount as well so it made it worth it- though I must admit it would have been worth it anyway being so close. I highly recommend staying there . The surgery time was quite early, 5 or 6AM, in the morning so I was glad I could just walk to get there. Afterwards, because liability reasons, I had to be chauffeured down the same street afterwards by Rico, an employee that was specifically qualified to do that. You also can designate a friend or relative do that as well, but I did not have anyone.
(By the way, his Medical Office- not surgery center- is right by the Fremont BART Station)
The one thing I would not recommend is to go for the full general anesthesia, which I did. The reason was that I did not want to be awake during the surgery so I told the anesthesiologist this, and to do a little more than Local anesthesia. I turned out to be to much more than I needed, one leg was numb for a long time. I spent that day back at my room in the Best Western Motel trying to wear off the anesthetic in one of my legs. The pain around the inguinal region came down later that afternoon, but I did take Percoset once or twice thru the nite to get a little bit of shut eye. Dr. Brown checked in on me twice during the stay via telephone. Though I was not sure that first afternoon, I was able to drive home that next morning.
That day I had to attend to a printing problem at a customer’s office, though painful–my back was aching from compensating from the pain in my groin– I got the printing problem solved. Because it was Friday, I did posting to my General Ledger on my computer, then was able to just coast thru the weekend- mostly just lying around, with an infrared pad over my gut. Just tending to feeding myself, and resting, etc.
By Monday, I was able to physically conduct my business all though very carefully. Dr Brown, as said in other reviews, called me the day after the surgery, and we spoke what seemed like pretty much everyday that week via phone.
Afterwards, I used email to report back to him each week, which I much more prefer doing as I am a email person- but others prefer phone communication, so that is why I mention both.
So within 2.5 weeks from initially contacting Dr. Brown’s Office to the operation, everything was all done, even the operation. I took my convalescence slow as per his orders but within the month, I was walking on Saturday with the Sundance Run/Walk club that regularly walk with each Saturday Morning. I really did not even attempt to jog for 30 or 40 yards til 7 weeks after the surgery. I built my exercise regimen from there, increasing jogging distance each week. I took up more bicycling more as it was convenient way to ease back into getting back in shape both in terms of cardiovascular fitness and groin fitness. Soon Winter was upon me though, so I really did not take it much farther as outside temperatures became lower. By 6 months, I was jogging the same amount as I was before, but not sprinting at all. By the 7th and 8th month, I was sprinting after jogging and doing very light dumbbell lifting- but having some cramping problems in my calves as I have been out of shape for 2 years. I was 59 at time of surgery, and now am 60; so I was content to take everything slowly.
Again, I seem always to be busy, so can not exercise as much I would liked to or should sometimes. I don’t compete athletically with others in formal events at my age, I just try to maintain my same level. I took Vit C, Proline, Zn, Lysine, Glycine and a Systematic Enzyme most every day before and during convalescence, as well as used Infra-Red and Near Red Light Pads every other day for quicker tissue regeneration.
In summary, I am sorry about Peter C’s predicament; but my case was pretty orthodox, typical double hernia with fries to go. He made the comment right after surgery that the condition of my tissues were much healthier than he expected, and that contributed to an easier, and more likely successful, operation than he thot going in.
Everything in dealing with Dr Brown and staff was very clear and straight-forward, which I especially appreciate- can not say how much of big fan I am of that. He has seemed quite responsible, and attentive to keeping in contact with me during my convalescence. I was impressed with his 30 years of medical experience doing hernia surgeries as he seemed to know just what to do from the diagnosis, as well as, his ability to do different types of non-mesh surgeries based on the category of inguinal hernia a patient has. Living just 80 miles away was just my luck. I had no complications- just scar tissue- stretching pains which were to be expected. They tended to all go away by the 7th month- of course- less and less from the first month to the 7th month. Only pain I have felt in last 2-3 months down there is when I hold in a sneeze or sleeping too much on one side . I would hardily recommend Dr. Brown based on my experience.
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7 Replies
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@spartan, you obviously are very happy and I’m glad you have had such a remarkable surgery and recovery. When I had my first car ride after my surgery, lateral vibrations like hitting a bump were extremely painful for me. And for a few days very painful to move out of bed, which required very slow negotiated movements to move from lying to standing up. Did you have any of that? Was your grapefruit reducible and about how long had you have it until then? If you didn’t do those special exercises, do you think you could have avoided surgery?
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Just for the heck of it: Here is Dr Brown’s and Dr. Kang’s Contact Addresses:
Bill(William) Brown, M.D.
510 793 2404 Office
510 793 1320 Fax
39470 Paseo Padre Pkwy
Fremont, CA 94538###########Kang /Gipum Seoul Surgery
English Speaking Chaplain Contact: Stephen Kwon at [email protected]Dr. Kang
http://www.gipumhospital.com
Gipum Hospital
122 Dogok-ro
Gangnam-gu
Seoul, KoreaObviously, they are represented multiple times in the forum. I think there is a Search Box somewhere on the site to make that investigation easier.
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@goodintentions, no insult intended. A fact remains that certain concepts are culture-bound, as well as how medicine is practiced. Chaplains are typically certified and licensed in the US. It may not be the case elsewhere. I wonder about when religion needlessly seeps into medical evaluations. In principle, I believe it is best left out.
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Yeh! The size of my hernia really was bad after a constipation incident, so I tried George Hirst Exercises (& Belt) copied from Dr. Andrew Gour circa 1916. It really grew in size then, so I knew I had to get surgery then. Not too long after that the 2nd small one, that was painful, appeared. I don’t blame George, it works for some people; his hernia was small, reducible and caused by boat hitting in the crotch( or happened right after that) which I do not think is typical. It helped him and has helped a few other people all with reducible hernias; but I definitely would not go that way again. I would definitely try something much farther out of the mainline spectrum for the hell of it that did not physically disturb the hernia, then get my hernia operation.
As far as Stephen Kwon, he just thot matching the type of hernia to a specific type surgery was a good idea, and Dr. Brown does that, and he was just next door compared to S. Korea in Lockdown. I still think Stephen Kwon holds the title of Chaplain. I think he was a Christian Missionary to English-speaking countries for a time. You can email him if you want to get his entire past history. He is a very courteous and efficient person- you might receive an email back in less than 10 minutes- that is how efficient he is.
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“Chaplain” is Steven Kwon’s official title at the Gibbeum Hospital. So the usage is correct. And, you cannot know Steven Kwon’s intentions so insulting his character by implying that you know his motives is not right. We’re all a bit cynical but we need to be reasonable.
There are old posts on the site referring to Steven Kwon and I think that he might also have posted some himself.
https://herniatalk.com/forums/topic/new-no-mesh-surgery-in-korea/
And Steven is probably aware of Dr. Brown from past references in the forum and possibly direct correspondence. They are the two most talked about pure tissue hernia repair surgeons on the forum.
https://herniatalk.com/forums/topic/who-is-dr-kang/
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This reply was modified 2 years, 9 months ago by Good intentions.
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This reply was modified 2 years, 9 months ago by
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@spartan, I am happy that you got well connected and served, but religion is unrelated to hernia surgery. (Of course not your intention but bear with me a moment, please :). Mention of “chaplain” likely invokes Christianity or Christian minister in mind needlessly. If he were a monk or a rabbi, you would have likely ignored it. Religion was not the motivation in his referral but a consequence of doing business. Covid pandemic meant that you couldn’t be served there and so good business is making a good referral.
My concern is that the naive Western patient will make too much of the term chaplain, particularly when the concept is culture-bound. That is, it was originally an imported Western concept as is the modern hospital, as is also medical practice. Being imports they are not necessarily equivalent with their Western counterpart, a fact to be well kept in mind.
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Thanks for posting your experience. I can’t imagine living with a grapefruit sized hernia for long. How long did you wait to have the surgery after you knew that you had hernias. Two years? Did the big one just keep growing or did it grow quickly then stabilize.
I hope that more surgeons are relearning the pure tissue techniques. The professional societies seem to be “technology and innovation” focused, presumably because that’s where the investors see a way to profit. Not much money in sutures. Robotics is big now, but it’s just another way to implant mesh.
Good luck.
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