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Post Op Experience :Laparoscopic Left Inguinal Surgery
I’ve received a great deal of useful info on the various posts in this forum so I thought I’d start a post regarding my post op experience as it occurs so that it may benefit future readers Also it possibly allow me to get advice if there are any future issues. Note I am an engineer so my posts may be a little anal 🙂
Background: Atlanta, Ga, Late 50’s, 5′ 11″ 210 lbs active male, retired last year. Diagnosed with a Left Inguinal Hernia at a general physical a about a month ago. I’ve noticed a small lump for the last year of so but no real pain.
Poured over the posts in this forum, other forums and watched numerous videos. Submitted one post on Surgeon recommendation in Atlanta GA area. Used a combination of American Hernia Society website, General Internet searches and Amino (the free option) and settled on a surgeon, had the initial consult, asked 15 or so questions and decided to go with selected surgeon to have TEP Laparoscopic surgery with mesh.
Had the surgery today 9 Apr at 7:30 am.
From a prep standpoint other than spending the past week or so doing every manual labor chore I could think of my only real prep was to go on a stool softener about 3 days prior and ate a lot of fiber/vegies. I struggle with constipation so I generally am on a high fiber diet anyway but generally don’t require a stool softener.
Enough background and on to day 1 experience:
Surgery was pretty seamless. Had it at a Ambulatory surgery center. Showed up at 6:00, in pre-op at 6:40, General Anesthesia applied at 7:35, First recollection of being coherent again at 8:40, out the door at 10:00
No issues whatsoever with nurses, Anesthesia Dr, Surgeon etc . As discussed in the consult this Surgeon does not use a catheter, he had me void about 5 minutes prior to getting knocked out.
Post op Surgeon discussion with the wife notes were: No abnormal issues, hernia was direct, had an opening the diameter of a 50 cent piece and a sack the size of a small lemon. He said my bladder was definitely empty and as such I was not able to urinate after waiting an hour so home I went. Was given narcotic prescription and a stool softener. Not the facility had a Pharmacy in the same building which was really nice.
Home for about 5 hrs now. Drank a bunch of water to re-hydrate and was able to urinate at about 1 pm. Started slow food-wise with crackers etc and am now on the fiber/roughage train.
Pain-wise I have:
Zero incision pain whether sitting, standing or walking
Zero hernia site pain when sitting in recliner, Pain at about a 1 or 2 when I get up and are walking around, pain at a 2 or 3 if I need to cough, pain at a 1 or 2 the first couple of times I urinated (from slight pushing) Seems to be better now. Luckily thus far no sneezing
Minor sore throat I’m assuming is due to breathing tube.Generally my game plan has been to sit in recliner and ice for 45 minutes or so then walk around the house for 10 min or so. Feeling a little better now so I’ll probably sit at a desk for something different and do some web surfing.
Drug-wise I’m leery of the Narcotics but Dr does not want me to take Advil on first day (I’m assuming due to blood thinning properties) so I took one narcotic pill at 2 pm and may or may not take another before I go to bed then hopefully switch to Advil and/or Tylenol tomorrow.
Long post but that’s it for day 1 thus far. Will plan to walk more tomorrow and maybe try stairs. No regrets thus far
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17 Replies
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Very happy with the surgeon but I’m not sure I should provide a name. I struggled with how to find a hernia surgeon in the Atlanta area in that there are many surgeons that list hernia surgery but no reliable way to figure out who does the most hernia surgeries. I looked through numerous bios from general web searches focusing on years of experience, hospitals associated with, medical specialty/education. Got down to about 5 or so then used a site called Amino to figure out who does a lot of surgeries. Not sure if Amino is 100% accurate but they apparently data mine insurance claims and compare the surgeon you are looking at against other hernia surgeons in the Atlanta metro area they give a result that says “Dr X saw more hernia patients than 95% of similar doctors in the Metro Atlanta area in 2014–2018”. When I met with the surgeon I then asked him how many hernia surgeries he did per year and what was the ratio of open vs lap. His answer was about 70 per year and 60% lap, 40% open. Lastly the Dr I chose had completed a Laparoscopic fellowship at a well known Med school and since I was leaning toward Lap this tilted the scale somewhat.
If anyone is looking for a Hernia surgeon in the Atlanta area and figures out how to message me from this board (not a forum expert but I think this is possible from looking at other posts) then I will gladly provide the name
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[USER=”2457″]Jim82[/USER] Thanks for the status update, glad to hear you are doing well 3 months out.
Do you mind sharing the name of the surgeon you had, and any other details you may have about them or their experience? Other patients may find it potentially helpful to know.
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Status Update: 3 months post-op from left inguinal laparoscopic TEP with mesh hernia surgery and still no issues. No pain, tightness or swelling. I will say I am being super cautious though. I’m doing strenuous yard work, house repairs etc and walking/elliptical but I’m self limiting lifting any more than about 50 lbs from the floor and have not done any running or golfing. Thinking of re-starting light jogging (1/2 mile or less) and nautilus type weight training (mostly for tone, not heavy lifting). I’ve also self referred to a physical therapist to learn some safe exercises on core strengthening to hopefully build up the various ab muscles. If anyone thinks the start up of light jogging/weight training is too soon at 3 mos let me know.
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Thanks for sharing. You had an excellent recovery so far. This is pretty much what a standard recovery should be expected to be. It is the norm, not the exception, especially if you pick the experienced surgeon.
I hope your post helps shed some positive light, as it can be very scary for patients to read only complications and horror stories posted online.
And keep the constipation in check for the rest of your life.
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Good Intentions asked what type and size of mesh was used. I had my 2 week follow-up appointment yesterday and the Surgeon said that he used Parietex (Covidien) folding mesh and that it was about 4″ x 6″ in size. This is a polyester based mesh with a removable suture to enable ease of folding/insertion during laparoscopic surgery.
I realize any issues crop up months down the road but for now at the 2 week post op point I feel fine with no twinges/pain/ itching/etc. Other than walking, elliptical and general house projects with no heavy lifting I plan to be fairly conservative with regards to aggressive exercise/motion for 4 or 5 months.
As a side note for those that are considering living with a hernia; even though mine was NOT incarcerated I had a constant battle with constipation that has gotten significantly better since having the surgery. It is my un-medical theory that the loop of intestine/bowel poking down through the hernia site was negatively impacting normal movement. There’s a lot of web results on constipation straining causing a hernia but not much on a hernia causing constipation. Still on a high fiber, lots of water diet but bowel life is definitely more normal since the surgery.
Will post to the above link after a few months
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Jim82, if you could come back every few months, good or bad, that would be fantastic. Despite the huge number of hernia repairs, it’s very difficult to find any real-life success stories. There’s no way to tell why, if it’s something people don’t want to talk about, or if things are so good that they’ve forgotten they ever had a hernia.
I started a thread to try to collect some, hoping that something positive might show up. If the bad can’t be weeded out, maybe the good can be identified.
https://www.herniatalk.com/6883-successful-good-mesh-stories
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Day 5 was a carbon copy of day 4.
Day 6 (Saturday, surgery on Monday) was overall about 20% better.
A little soreness at the hernia site area when first getting up then a little tightness depending on what I am doing.
Improvement from day 4 and 5 was noticed primarily in the area of the belly button incision.Stopped taking Ibupropen with no apparent issues. Could have returned to work (desk job) today if required to.
Will stop posts unless something significant occurs.
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Day 5 was a carbon copy of day 4.
Day 6 (Saturday, surgery on Monday) was overall about 20% better.
A little soreness at the hernia site area when first getting up then a little tightness depending on what I am doing.
Improvement from day 4/5 was noticed primarily in the area of the belly button incision.Stopped taking Advil with no apparent issues. Could have returned to work (desk job) today if required to.
Will stop posts unless something significant occurs.
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Day 5 & 6 Update (Friday/Sat)
Friday was a carbon copy of day 4 (see previous post)
Saturday (Day 6) was maybe 20% better than day 4/5.
A little hernia site soreness/tightness when first standing up and then still existent but a little less when walking/moving around.
Abdominal pain around the belly button incision area still exists when getting up/coughing/bending over but overall better than day 4/5.
Stopped the advil today with no apparent issues.
Felt comfortable enough to drive a short distance and kept up the three 15 min walks per day and light activity around the house.
Could have went back to desk job work today if necessary.
Haven’t tried yet but I’m guessing the middle incision site would be problematic with a non-elastic/real a pair of pants. Will save that test for a later day.All in all a pretty smooth process for now. Will stop posting unless something significant pops up.
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Day 4 Update (surgery was early am on Monday ) Thursday = day 4
Day 4 was overall a little better than day 3
Hernia site pain is starting to feel more like just general soreness level 1 or 2, with a high 2 when just getting up then a 1 the rest of the time
Pain of 2 or 3 still around the general area of the incisions.(mostly near the belly button incision) when getting up and moving around
Pain of 2-3 around belly button when coughing. Found best way to minimize cough pain is to take a large pillow and lean firmly against a wall or dresser when coughing.In general I was able to be up on my feet a larger percentage of the time today.
Medicine-wise took (2) 200 mg Advil at 10 am, (2) Advil again at 9 pm, (1) Colace at 8 pm
Activity-wise took a few 15 minute walks, up and down stairs a few times and general light activity around the house.
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It’s good to hear you are doing well so far. Keep us updated on your case and progress.
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Will try to get clarification from the Dr at the two week post op visit on the exact mesh used.
Day 3 Update (on the morning of Day 4) Just for reference surgery was early am on Monday. Calling yesterday (Wed) day 3
Day 3 was essentially a carbon copy of Day 2
Hernia site pain of 2 or 3 when first getting up from sitting then 1 or 2 when walking around unless I walk around too much
Pain of 2 or 3 around the general area of the incisions.(mostly near the belly button incision) when getting up and moving around
Pain of 2-3 when coughing. Nagging fluid coughing probably due to allergies/high pollen season in GA. Started allergy medicine to counteract.
Key lesson learned is not to sit at a desk for more than 30 min or so without getting up and walking around.Medicine-wise took (2) 325 mg Tylenol at Breakfast, (2) 325 Tylenol mid-afternoon and (2) Advil at bedtime and (1) Colace
Activity-wise took a few 15 minute walks, up and down stairs a few times and general pacing around the house
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Progrip apparently started out as a Parietex dereivative. There’s a reference to Parietex Progrip in this link. It seems popular with the surgeons.
Some of the surgeons still use the old names for materials, or companies. For example, Johnson and Johnson has separated themselves from mesh by creating Ethicon LLC.
I really hope things work well for you. I’ve heard good things about Progrip. Just a couple of stories, but they were still promising.
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Parietex is a polyester-based mesh, apparently.
Good luck.
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At the consult surgeon said he used perietex mash. Will ask at the 2 week post op visit if that is what he ended up using and how much.
Day 2 update:
Lots of morning activity due to taking 2 colase tablets (12 hrs apart) yesterday and full 4 tablespoon dose of Milk of Mag before bed.
Pain status as follows: Note I stopped Hydrocodone after last night’s bedtime pill and switched to Tylenol today
No pain when in recliner or laying down.
Hernia area pain is still a 2 to 3 when first getting up then 1 or 2 when walking around
Started getting stomach pain/tightness today (around 2 or 3) around the general area of the incisions. Not sure if its incision pain, pain from ballooning up the area (TEP) or residual cramping from the stool medicine.
Pain of 2-3 when coughing or passing gas but no pain anymore to start urination
Used ice three or 4 times when in the reclinerActivity-wise took a few 15 minute walks, up and down stairs a few times and general pacing around the house
No bruising yet other than around the LAP incisions and no fluid bulge yet. Surgeon told my wife that he didn’t think i would see much of a fluid bulge.
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Do you know what type of mesh was used, and how much? All types of mesh tend to get lumped in to the one small descriptor of “mesh” even though there are many many different types. And surgeons use different amounts, some only treat the existing hernia, others will fill as much space as possible, to avoid future recurrence.
The poorly defined materials and procedures used around the world is one of the big problems with solving the chronic pain issue with “mesh”.
Good luck. You’ll probably experience changes at the repair for at least a year, maybe longer.
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