Insight Please.

[drtowfigh]

Thank you for using and contributing to HerniaTalk!

[DanGom]

Thank you guys for your comments! It did give me a bit reassurance about the surgery. And my surgeon recommended physical activity which I am happy about! And I feel no pain where the mesh is, sometimes my leg is a little sore in the mornings and my stomach is swollen from where my incision is scaring but it’s the size of bottle cap so not worried about it. In a way I’m glad I got a hernia while I’m still young that way I could get the surgery out the way :). I’ve had several sports injuries ranging from a broken foot to torn muscles, however this is the first I’ve revived a surgery on. And I’m glad I can read all of your post to help me access how I’m doing based on how everyone else has around my time of healing. God bless and I will keep updating with my progress!

[Chaunce1234]

How do you feel? And what did the surgeon recommend in terms of activity and return to running?

I imagine that if sufficient healing time has passed, and you feel good, and you got a stamp of approval from the surgeon, then the doctor advice and your friends recommendation of “listen to your body” is probably reasonable.

If you’re a few weeks out with no pain, and the doctor gave you an approval for increased activity, try it out and see what happens. If it hurts, back off a bit, rest, and give more time to heal. If you have some limited soreness after activity, ice and NSAID might be helpful.

Keep in mind that you are still healing, and that scar tissue will continue to remodel for quite some time too.

Best of luck and keep us updated on your case and progress.

[Good intentions]

Going in for a unilateral procedure and coming out with a bilateral repair is very common. There’s often some small asymptomatic defect on the other side.

I wish I could be a reassuring voice. But the reality is that it’s 99% luck. It really is. There is no known high probability path to fitness after any mesh repair. No professional papers or programs to follow. That’s why the only advice you get is to “listen to your body”. Even the pros, professional runners, have had bad results, with professional trainers. But, like your friend, some people do okay. Sorry, but it really is unclear.

Listen to your surgeon and gradually work your way up. Keep a log of your activities and the effects from those activities and you’ll know what to avoid if there are issues. I had bilateral TEP placement of mesh myself and was a runner and soccer player. But I am much older than you are. I found that sometimes it would take a day or more for effects to show after certain activities. It helps to keep track so that you can see the correlations. Get more details from your friend and compare materials and methods.

Stay in touch with the forum. Your story will be interesting. If you can get your records and share them, and have good results it will be useful to future searchers. Good luck.

[DanGom]

Hello Good Intentions, I wasn’t given notes on what type of mesh he used and he also didn’t tell me. But on my discharge summary I can tell you what the procedure was. I went in with a Left Ingunial Hernia, but I was told they had found another a repaired that one as well, from what I was told it was very close to my hernia they diagnosed me with that they couldn’t see it on the ultrasound until they went in. So it ended up being a Bilateral Ingunial Hernia. It was treated Laparoscopic, and the clinical course was Unremarkable. I’m sorry if my original post didn’t point out what I was trying to ask clearly. I’m still trying to learn the big words they used haha.

My question is will the mesh be able to handle the pressure of me running on pavement for example without causing any type of damage? I know it may be uncomfortable at first and that’s just something I will have to get used to. I was told that even though it’s been almost three weeks I’m able to work my way back to were I was, just to hold off on heavy weight training for now. The surgeon checked the area and said I was healing very well. I am not doubting my surgeon in any way. He is a surgeon because he has obviously shown he is capable of performing surgeries and giving good advice for afterwards. I guess I’m just looking for more of a second opinion or reassurance.

[Good intentions]

quote DanGom:

I just had a laprosopic ingunial hernia repair surgery using mesh almost three weeks ago. I’m 22 and have lived a fairly active lifestyle involving long distance running and weight lifting.

I’ve recently had my follow up and my doctor told me I was healing perfectly and that he felt no need to put me on any further physical restrictions (other than the no heavy weight lifting and strenuous exercises)

I talked to a buddy that had the same surgery as me a few years back, and he told me “After two weeks the scare tissue heals over your mesh keeping it in place so it’s a matter of pain tolerance.”

There are many different types of mesh and they are not the same. Some are pretty strange. And each surgeon will have their own way of doing a repair using mesh. Laparoscopic is either TAPP or TEP and those methods also have their own attributes. Generally, today, the surgeon will place as large a piece of mesh as they can fit, to cover as much area as possible. Plus, apparently, each individual’s body has its own type of reaction to the mesh, whatever type of mesh it might be. So, overall, each individual surgery is a gamble, with the vast majority of the risk on the patient. With about, roughly, the same odds as a “game” of Russian Roulette with a six-shot revolver, as far as chronic pain or discomfort is concerned. There is no way to predict the results of any mesh implantation. All the individual and the surgeon and everyone else involved can do is hope for the best. That’s just the way things are in today’s hernia mesh repair field.

The best that you can do, probably, hopefully, is to work your way back to the level of activity at which you want to be. If you’re lucky you’ll be able to get there with no, or minor, setbacks. You might find that you have to choose between discomfort and/or pain, and being physically fit. You won’t know until you try. And the tissue around the mesh will continue to restructure so things could change over months or years.

Do you have any details on the type of mesh and the extent of the mesh placement? Plus the type of hernia that was repaired? There might be some specific knowledge here related to those facts. If you did not use the same surgeon as your friend then you probably had a somewhat different repair method than he did. You should get a copy of your surgery notes so that you know what was done, for future reference too.

Good luck.

[DanGom]

I understood what he meant by it, what I was told is when you start exercising again it may be painful, because you had a surgery there. I know that doesn’t mean it’s messing up, it’s just from the scar tissue. He told me he had to deal with the pain for a little while after he was given the clear to exercise with no restrictions but that it went away after a few months. Another piece of advice he told me is if the pain is to intolerable then to stop what your doing

[pinto]

Did you understand your friend saying, “…so it’s a matter of pain tolerance.” He’s saying that once having the operation you must live with the subsequent pain; or that the pain is temporary until you have completely healed”?