Going under the knife... Thanks, Job.

I'mone of those people that's hard working, dedicated, and tries to find the best way to deal with whatever my job throws at me with a positive attitude and some initiative. You know... an idiot. It also didn't help that for personal reasons I had a bit of a misguided notion of personal worth and holding a job.

So like the myth of the boiling frog I didn't realise what I was doing to myself as we got cut from 4 people in two rooms down to more or less 1 person half the day and then finally a second about half-way through the closing shift on top of getting treated as the spare labor force. Less people, more work, shorter deadlines and a general callousness towards our safety equipment (and, yknow, FLOORS) and the predictable eventually happened. Cue hernia, tendonitis, and a collapsed arch.

So while I sit around with my guts trying to poke through a tear in my abs, thinking about the fact I may also have (or had) an ulcer and coming up with "Yo Dog We Herd U Like Holes" jokes, I'm also wondering what the f#@% i've gotten myself into. I've never had a surgical procedure before, and I've really got no idea what to expect. The doc, who it seems specialises in laparoscopic procedures, says I should literally have no restrictions on my life after everything's completely healed. I did my own research and everything he said medically checks out, but given that it was a lack of experience that got me into this mess I feel I ought to learn from that mistake. I've been in some ugly life situations before but for some reason I've never really felt this out of my league.

I've read stuff telling me never to get mesh or that you never really recover fully from a hernia on the one hand and on the other data and surgeons telling me if I even found a surgeon that doesn't use mesh that the recurrence rate without it is pretty bad and that there's no reason I shouldn't be literally in perfect condition to do anything post-recovery. And that's before getting into the endless arguments about flat feet.

All I know is that in the space of a few months I've gone from the guy that could run a 5k, enjoyed martial arts and wanted to pick up parkour and capoeira to the guy that can't walk across campus or even lift his own damned laundry. I don't know who to listen to here, and even with the data I'm still afraid of false optimism if I listen to the surgeon's opinion that I should be back to 100% after this is done.

Has anyone else been in a similar position? Going under for a hernia repair, or dealing with getting injured by work's callousness and stupidity? I've got no idea what to expect and a lot of conflicting reports.

 

It's not the short-term rehab that worries me, I've been involved with that with others enough to know it will take time. What frightens me the most I think is that I'm going to come out of this with a permanent addition to my tissue layers stitched, stapled, and clipped into place. For the first time I find myself genuinely fearing what would happen if I ever took a hit to that area even a year, two years, three years down the line.

 

Ahh, the body's a wondrous thing. It's so elastic, yet breaks so easily.

From what I've heard about the mesh, is it's usually obese people that have to worry about the risk of it breaking.
From the pics I've seen of you, you're far from obese.

Here's a quote I found when I went to refresh my memory.

Like Niner said, give yourself some time to recuperate, and try to keep your mind occupied, as well. No use worrying yourself sick.

 

You're too young to be worrying. Sounds like an easy fix with the mesh.
I agree with Fremen, give yourself time to recuperate. Anytime you have surgery that entails any incisions through stomach muscle; you can expect residual dull pain for months.
Had my appendix removed last year, and I'm 53. Was back in the gym within three weeks, but at low level physical activity.
--- merged: Mar 5, 2012 1:04 AM ---

 

Amusingly enough I'm willing to say that at 5'8" and a whopping 120lbs not having enough muscle on me is about a third of what led to this.

Which ball?

 

Saw "going under the knife" and then "Tilted Sexuality" and immediately assumed this was a thread worthy of Glory's Sun prurient interests.

...

My current partner had an exercise-related hernia repaired with a large square of mesh over a year ago and states that she can "feel the corners" sometimes when she is working out. The scars from the sneaky surgery are sensitive to waistbands and general touch. The puffiness associated with the surgery hasn't really receded despite the full recovery period having come and gone. It's an individual thing. Maybe you'll heal up good-as-new.

 

Anybody else keep reading this as "Going under the knife... Thanks, [Biblical] Job."

Trials of the Devil. "Why do the righteous suffer?" Kinda makes sense.

 

Two anecdotes to help ease your mind. First, a friend of mine had a hernia repaired surgically 5+ few years ago. He gave it the full recovery time and it has never bothered him even when pushing himself to his limits deadlifting 400+ pounds or running around in the mountains and cities of Afghanistan in regular patrol duty, in many combat situations, or when he got pulled for missions supporting special forces that he's not allowed to tell me about. Second, my uncle had a particularly bad hernia repaired 30 or so years ago and also has not had any complications. In one case, he was asked by an inexperienced X-ray technician taking a pelvic X-Ray, "Sir, do you have staples in your underpants?"

Don't think you're smarter than the doctors, follow your recovery instructions to a t, and don't be afraid to call and ask questions if something doesn't seem right.

 

MSD: That helps more than anything else I've heard from anyone so far. I've always been what you'd call a physical guy, sparring with friends, crashing my bicycle trying a new shortcut, failed parkour or somesuch and that sort of impact-punishment was what I was really frightened about never being able to handle again more than getting back into weights or diving.

If your friend can haul ass in combat odds are that a rough sparring session or just gutting myself on the handlebars isn't going to be a problem after I follow full recovery procedures.


Now... airport security on the other hand.

 

post op. the right inguinal was nastier than we thought, and i had another i didnt even realise on the lef that was more severe still. spring breaks inactivity very likely saved my life. still lapaoroscpic repair, but im meshed frfom one end to the other more or less. they gave me way too much meds so i got really sick in the car on the way back and threw p something fierce... hurt like amotherfucker but the surgeon had already told mom thats ALL that would happen. i think the most annoying thing so far is actuslly being incapable of just taking a solid wee. you never realise just how bnig a fullbladder can be until after surgery rightnin that area...​

​

​

 

Good luck Shadow, take it easy. It takes a while to get back on your feet. I'm sure your surgeon gave you orders about resuming normal activity. Follow them.

 

ugh, second daaays worse. andvi need to move becaause theyre heat treating for bedbugs.

 

Sounds like your having a rough go of it. Bedbugs yuck, the hotels use heat treating to kill them.

Good news is that next week you will be bouncing back unlike those scary little creatures.

 

Hi, Shadow.
I've been following this thread and silently cheering you on.
I'm glad the operation has gone OK

And like Craven Morehead says, follow the post-op instructions. Even when it 'feels like it will be OK'. A friend of mine, clear-thinking responsible chap, had a shoulder operation, and after a few weeks, 'reckoned it would be OK' to slip out of his immobility-sling for a couple of careful moments here and there. He was wrong. Nothing tragic, but required a bit of adjustment and a few more weeks to get better ... /mother hen

Anyway, glad you're on the slope to recovery and dang glad they caught that other one.
take care

 

zen: oooh yeah. mom has had double digit surgeries so im followig her and te surgeons word like the tanakh. doing my breathing machine etc. also advil only since i hate nausea more than pain and percocet slows haling anyway.

 

Six months... it's hard to believe it's been that long already. So much happened, graduation, my thesis defense, mom's fight with cancer (still wrapping that one up actually) that I pretty much forgot about this thread.

I'm not recovered completely yet, I still feel pain either around the incisions or down where the work was done when I get physical. For a fairly strong obsessive compulsive having permanent changes to my body is going to take me a long time to get used to. Had a bit of a scare from that actually, on the left I've just got a smooth expanse of muscle near my hipbone but on the right it contracts into a more prominent hard knot where I can feel a bit of an outward bulge whenever I do something like bounce on my mattress or blow my nose and so on. We did a CT scan though and it came back normal so whatever it is i guess I've just got to live with it. It's kind of funny in a sad way that not being able to jump on my bed anymore is what really made the reality of what's happened to me sink in.

In terms of recovery the surgery hit me a lot harder than any of us expected. While I was walking again in time for commencement, I had to defend my thesis (successfully) from a wheelchair and limped through my finals (also a success) on a cane. Trying to get back into my exercise regimen just kept knocking me on my ass though, so my surgeon recommended me for Physical Therapy and they're working with me to try and get back to a healthy baseline. After that I should be able to take it from there on my own.

So after all of that I'm mostly left with a constant existential horror at my now asymmetrical inguinal regions (praying it's not a failed repair) and contemplating how long I have before the mesh degrades and needs to be replaced like all synthetic implants.