learn me hernias

Dr. Hess (Forum Supporter) said:

I have a lot of first hand experience with hernias.  Inguinal hernias are really fun.  A cool little operation.

The potential ways it can go wrong always worried me.

Have you ever seen one spontaneously heal up?  Asking for a friend.

In reply to Pete. (l33t FS) :

Speaking of inguinal hernias, no, I haven't.  Lots of things can go wrong.  I worked for a company that had a CIO that was a former fighter pilot.  He went in for a routine inguinal herniaraphy.  The anesthesia killed him.  The repair can rip (fail) again.  If you're overweight, diabetic, smoker, etc., there can be healing problems. A lot of them.  Mesh is good for strength of the repair, but also has risks, and not small ones.  There was a big class action law suite on one brand of those not long ago.  Lawyers made a lot of money on it.  If they get infected, you're really screwed. We did a death row inmate once.  Sending him home, he deliberately ripped his wound open before he was put on the bus. "Oh, I don't know, it just opened up."  You try to preserve that nerve that innervates half your scrotum, but sometimes it gets cut or damaged, so the patient loses feeling there, maybe (OK, probably) permanently. 

So, uh, pain, bleeding, infection, failure of the procedure, need for additional procedures, death.  Those are your risks.  Some more than others, and you usually don't mention "death" for consent for a inguinal herniaraphy, but any surgical procedure has the risk.  Ask the former CIO of the company I used to work for.  Well, maybe not.

When I had my epigastric hernia repaired, I insisted on a MAC and a local, not general or spinal anesthesia.  A little fentanyl, a little versed, some local, in and out in no time. Propofol would be even better from the patient's point of view.

My mother-in-law is in the hospital right now for the 2nd time due to a botched hernia operation.

There's some passing the buck, and playing hot potato with the blame, but none of the Dr's will outright claim the previous surgeon was at fault.  Regardless MIL's mesh didn't stay put, a few years post surgery, the mesh became attached to her bowel, caused an obstruction, required emergency surgery, and removal of several inches of bowel.  That surgery was about a year ago.  Now they're going back in to fix a kink in her bowel, caused in part by the hernia that wasn't fixed correctly the first time, and hopefully actually repair the mesh correctly this go-round.  Not the same surgeon as the first attempt thankfully.

Granted I'm Monday morning quarterbacking the situation and I just barely know enough to carry on a conversation about the matter.  All of the surgeons have told her she needs to lose weight to reduce strain on the area, but none of us expected her to be going through years of pain and surgeries due to complications from a routine hernia operation.  So, yeah, there can be complications.

In reply to Dr. Hess (Forum Supporter) :

I think my first mesh (left side) may have come loose/torn/something. Been waiting for E36 M3 to calm down before going to the doctor. I had that one done in 2008 IIRC. the last few weeks its been sore and causing a lot of discomfort if I bend/work in certain ways.

I had a right side inguinal hernia many years ago until I could no longer ignore it.

Had the operation done.   No problems.   My doctor said to walk.  which I did.

 The no lifting thing is real.   I tried lifting a crank shaft (4 cyl.) off the bench after 4 weeks.  Nope.

I suspected a typo, but I like the idea of a UFO enthusiast dishing opioids.

While all surgeries have a risk, not having a surgery that you need also has a risk.  If you have a "hernia," and I'll just use that term despite it not being medically correct, you should see a general surgeon and follow their recommendation.  Not getting it fixed can result in a strangulation of your gut, which is a bad thing and suddenly a little inconvenience becomes a major catastrophe.

Right now (yeah stoopid virus response) elective surgeries such as this are WAY on the back burner, as in just about to be considered for restarting in this state. 

I forgot this one:  Incisional hernia.  Those suck too.