How did you decide to go ahead with surgery?

[G]

Three years ago on the “twenty something” of August 2020 I had my right side indirect hernia repaired by “no mesh only” doctor William Brown. I was led to choose that time as it was right around the time of the pandemic and I could see how options were disappearing and we were becoming a one sized fits everyone world. For some reason, call it God, intuition whatever I felt that if I didn’t make the appointment with Dr. Brown now I might very well lose the option. Dr. Brown was within driving distance to me and I trusted his skills and character. I had a successful surgery with a great result. No pain and I’m back to life as normal. Not too long after my surgery Dr. William Brown retired.

[Mike M]

#1. I went from 0 (no hernia) to a 7 in pain with direct hernia in matter of 4-6 weeks.

#2. Sooner I did the surgery I felt I had better chance to recover completely. Age is always a factor in surgery imho.

#3. There was someone I found that I felt could resolve all my linger doubts with this type of operation and thankfully I was correct – Dr. Kang

[Oceanic]

The horrific testicle pain I was in forced my hand into getting surgery, I thought the pain after the surgery couldn’t be any worse than the pain I was in before, I was wrong however.

First few weeks were hell but I’m completely OK now at nearly 3 months post surgery and no regrets on getting it all fixed.

[spinotza]

I chose to go ahead with surgery after 5 years+ of watchful waiting because the pain was getting worse even though I’ve been wearing a truss that was keeping my bits in place. The right side indirect hernia was big and I couldn’t go through a day without feeling sore by the end of it and it was clear that my discomfort has gotten worse in the last few months even though I had excellent physical standards: I was swimming every day, good cardio levels, excellent BMI. I went for open mesh and I feel happy so far but it’s going to be a long road as I want to be very careful not to risk recurrence even though I miss swimming, cycling, calisthenics.

[Good intentions]

I chose to go ahead with surgery because I thought that it would get me back to my full fitness and ensure that I would be free of hernias in the future. That is the way that laparoscopic mesh implantation is sold, especially Lap TEP. They make it sound like you will be bulletproof after the procedure.

If I had known the truth and the true odds I would have waited and/or chosen a different solution.

The most difficult part of the decision is understanding, really, what the risks are. That is the heart of the travesty. The risks are actively hidden from the patients. The vast majority of surgeons either don’t understand the risks themselves or have convinced themselves that they are insignificant. Or that sacrificing a few patients is okay as long as most of them do well.