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would hernia surgery messed up by overactivity a few days later be felt?
A few days ago I had a robot laparoscopic surgery for a right inguinal hernia, that used mesh, technical details unknown. I am a fairly healthy male in the early 60s, and had a very mild exercise routine that I stopped after the hernia was discovered, and know not resume for two months. Walking is part of it, though, and is found in the many Internet guides about hernia surgery recovery, so I am trying to go easy to not overdo it.
But, there has not been any pain from the operation, and only mild discomfort in the area when I move. I did not need to use any pain medications.
The day of the operation it was easy to be restrained, as it was uncomfortable to painful to move freely, but since the second day it is almost as if nothing happened, so it is hard to know what “overdoing” routine daily life physical activities would be felt as.
Can one tell the difference between overexertion that messes up the hernia repair vs. just expected pain from the surgery as parts heal?
It is several more days until my followup appointment, and I’m trying to figure out how active to be, as that aids the recovery by getting blood moving and reducing constipation, vs. how cautious to be to avoid damaging the repair work.
Re-stating my question, if I did something that messed up the mechanics of the repair, would I even feel it?
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2 Replies
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Before the surgery I had reviewed the most restrictive post-surgery quides I could find, to aid being super careful for the recovery. I know to not do any of my usual stretches and exercises. The 8 lb dumbbell I had been using remains untouched, and I will wait the two months to lift it again. The lawn mower and rake stay in the garage.
The theme of the guides was to let pain be the guide, but since I only had a dull ache if I moved too far, after the first few days there wasn’t any pain as a reference. E.g., I’d raise my legs onto the bed, then have to ask myself what I was supposed to be careful of.
I did pose my questions about being careful to not overdo it, since I feel so close to normal just days after the surgery.
The repaired hernia is actually less uncomfortable than the pre-repair inguinal hernia itself.
They said that if I did do something to damage the repair I would feel it.What catches me are various normal day to day reaches for something, that don’t involve any lifting or pulling.
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rd9432
Let me ask you a quick question. Is healing of the hernia important to you or testing the surgery area; so you can mess up with the tear, more important?For asking this question you already are cursing me, aren’t you? So there we have the answer already. A surgery is S-U-R-G-E-R-Y. Let it heal well and while you can do some walking and move around, better not to do anything that could tear the wound or mess up. First of all what is the hurry to do anything excessive? I waited 6 weeks before I could venture out on the roads, walking. But as I gained better health and the pain reduced from surgical wound, I started jogging. I keep saying on this forum, surgery will fix you up but will NEVER make you a superman. There is no such thing as a superman. Movie guys create a fictional character portraying Ahnold Schwarznegger as a superman but Arnold himself may have his own health problems – may be even went through hernia surgery ha ha. I do not know. If I were you, I will rent lots of DVDs, enjoy those, or read books or do something like playing chess. Better yet, write your hernia surgery details here on the forum and share your experience. Or even buy a Rubik’s cube and try to solve it. 🙂
Let the body heal and heal well. If you do anything wrong now, it will only mess up much worse. What I did was to walk normally first, slowly increased that to brisk walk, then to quicker walk and then jog and by 8 weeks run normally. But the cut remained hard for me for over 2 years. As any surgeon will tell you the surgical area wound heals over several months. Yes sir, you read it correct, outside would closes up quickly but inside it takes MONTHS to heal and become normal. So give it time.
You said your surgery was few DAYS AGO, so I would say you can start your normal routine by New year very well. Normal routine BTW is NOT lifting 2000 lbs on a bench press. For that kind of lifting I would wait 6 months to one year. In the end the best option is to listen to your body.
Disclaimer: Nobody is forcing you to sit on couch all the time anyways and this advice is free. So feel free to dump it.
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