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My Dr Kang Hernia Surgery
It has now been about 75 hours since my Dr Kang surgery. I am very pleased with how it went. I had a scrotal hernia close to the size of a tennis ball plus a bulge on my right side where the hernia was. I told dr Kang during my consultation that 11 months prior my ultrasound showed fat content only in the right inguinal canal with no intestines. Dr Kang upon examining me was surprised how fast the hernia developed.
I decided to go with prolene sutures because he said the recurrence rate is less than .5% compared to 2-3% with absorbable sutures. He makes a 3.5cm incision.
Stephen was very helpful and walked me through the admission process and about seven different tests. Everything was fast and smooth.
Went back the next day for the surgery. Stephen assisted me in getting set up in the hospital bed assigned to me.
They provide a cabinet and a safe where you can lock and keep your valuables.
Then I was brought into the operating room and administered some kind of sedation through my nose to put me to sleep. The OR nurse said Dr Kang will come in 10-15 minutes and give me the local anestesia while I was sleeping.
I woke up during a dream and I could feel some pushing and pulling in the area of the hernia but no pain at all. Dr Kang then said to me that the only thing left to do was closing the skin and he also said that it was a large hernia.
I was wheeled back to my bed and told to stay in bed for one hour. Stephen came back and said that dr Kang was doing ten surgeries that day and that I was the fifth one. He can do two an hour as it takes him 20-25 minutes for a unilateral surgery.
I opted not to take any pain pills. I had some constant mild pain in the area of the surgery which stopped a few of hours later and then I only had pain upon moving especially when getting out of bed. I could walk very slowly. That night the pain became quite intense but only when moving. No pain at all if I wasn’t moving. I applied a cold pack which brought the pain down considerably and then I took a tylenol at 4:30 in the morning and the pain went down even more. When Dr Kang showed up four hours later around 8:30am I just got of bed in front of him pretty easily with bearable pain.
Went back to the hotel and the pain got worse. Stephen said that is to be expected. I also had some burning sensation upon getting out of bed.
Yesterday the pain was intense but I was still able to get out bed and walk slowly. This morning towards the end of the third day the pain decreased quite a bit and I am able to move around faster. One of the nurses at the hospital said most patients take the pain pills. I didn’t want to take them one reason being that I would be walking faster and making jerky movements which might work against the healing process of the incision. After day four I expect the pain to go down even more as the pain pills are to be taken for only four days.
As far as cost goes I moved with my family to the Philippines over four years ago. Ran into somebody there who had mesh surgery which he said went very well with no problems. He told me the cost. The cost of Dr Kang surgery plus about $1200 for hotel and airfare is about $500 less than the mesh surgery in the Philippines. You would think the opposite would be true.
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This discussion was modified 1 year, 2 months ago by
roger555.
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This discussion was modified 1 year, 2 months ago by
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14 Replies
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One year update. I am at the point now where I have not had any symptoms at all for the last few months. A few months ago I had on a very few occasions some very minor pain that would last for a few days if I lifted something heavy. This would happen only during certain movements like going up the stairs but the pain would stop if I no longer continued with the same activity that caused the mild pain.
I can definitely say that my operation couldn’t have gone any better.
My right side where I had the surgery is now better than my left side where I get some mild discomfort if I sleep on my left side. I can feel the same discomfort when I put strain on my abdominals but not on the right side where I had the surgery. I avoid sleeping on the right side where I had the surgery. Most of the time I sleep on my back so as not to put any strain on my abdominals.
I think sleeping on my side strains my abodminals on the same side and I am afraid over time that could weaken the abdominal muscles and cause a hernia. That is my thinking which I think has merits. So I tried to avoid putting any strain on my abdominals as much as possible.
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Thanks Roger. Sounds really good. Only things putting me off Dr Kang is distance and hence cost too!
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William, I am in the Philippines. Moved here from the U.S. with my family a few years ago. It was only a four hour flight for me. I can say I can’t feel anything from the surgery now other than the tingling upon rubbing the skin which is really nothing and it has diminished a lot. If I had to do it again I will definetely choose Dr Kang. Couldn’t have asked for a better outcome.
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Thanks Roger, appreciate the update. I can’t remember where you went from. Which country.
It takes a long time for things to settle after surgery/treatment it sounds all is going well.
I had niggles for about a year after a lump (not hernia) was removed from my stomach. I kept thinking it can’t still be op, but I think it was.
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One month update.
Everything going as well as can be expected. No pain. I had some occasional burning when moving which stopped completely
about a week ago. I also had some testicle pain at times when moving but it went completely away about a week ago.
But I had some constant testicle pain a year ago which went away after a couple of weeks. So it may or may not have been related to the surgery. About ten days ago I felt some tingling about an inch and a half below the incision but only when I rub my fingers on it. The tingling is only skin deep and has diminished considerably.My goal is now not to get another hernia. I have had some sore abdominals at times for the last few years from side to side or just on one side or in the middle. I attribute it to sleeping on my side. I have gotten a lot of relief be sleeping on my back during the last week.
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Yes, that’s what dr Kang said. Indirect.
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Good progress – thanks for the update. It sounds like you had an indirect hernia. Is that correct?
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Sounds brilliant Roger. Thanks for update.
Keep them coming to. You’ll be pleased to get home I expect. -
It is now five days plus seven hours after my surgery. The pain has diminished with each passing day. I can now walk faster and get out of bed with almost no pain. The burning sensation I had when getting out of bed is now gone. Coughing lightly just to clear my throat hurt really bad until two days ago. Today I can cough much harder with little pain in the incision area.
I never felt any tension in the incision area except for when I was pushing the skin above the incision during the first two days to see if there was any sensation. I only felt some very light tension or tightness which went away on the third day. Now I feel like I never got a surgery unless I am moving or cough hard. I am now confident that I will not have any issues due to the surgery in the future based on how things have gone so far.
Dr Kang sounded very confident during my consultation and told me that I had made a good choice. Like everyone else who needs hernia surgery I had a tough choice to make. After reading Dr Kang’s writings on his web site and on this forum I was quickly convinced to go with him. And he didn’t disappoint.
I was anxious about flying to Seoul and with all the things that I had to do. But it all worked out. I still need a negative covid test to get back home.
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Was it the hernia that caused the hula hoop type internal ring or the other problem? Excuse my lack of anatomical knowledge.
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My internal ring was more like a hula hoop (huge defect size) than a ring, so not sure how Kang’s indirect hernia repair would have worked. I think I needed the full low-tension reconstruction of the Shouldice procedure, but I don’t know for sure.
Regardless, there’s the question of recurrence, and that takes time to study. The reports of recurrence are a concern, particularly since that’s the natural fear with these limited-scope techniques.
I’m a bit surprised by the level of post-surgery pain reported by his patients. It would be interesting to understand the nature of that as well.
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Thx so much for the update. Please keep them coming. Watchful want to make if this report? Sounds like this guy had the same type of hernia ad you and kang handles it with a 3.5 cm incision? I think dr kang takes the lead again as the go to surgeon.
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Thanks for that Roger, if you get time can you update us again in a few days and/or week as quite a few of us have Dr Kang down as our preferred choice.
Many thanks and good to hear it went well
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The hernia. It grew larger over time – I had it for decades.
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