gj senior has informed me he has to go in for a hernia op, which will leave him unable to drive or climb a ladder (don't ask, but it involves model railways in lofts!) for 6 weeks.

He's 72, in pretty good health and no underlying issues. He's a bit old school about being ill, and I get the feeling, I'm not being told the full story.

Does this sound plausible?

TIA

Sounds about right apparently.

I think they can be repaired using an endoscope which means a quicker recovery time than open surgery……..It could be worth asking, but the surgeon should know best about recovery times.

Dunno, the climbing a ladder bit sounds plausable. But driving a car isn't that much more taxing than shitting on a bog, and is he unable to do that for six weeks?

i had a pretty simple repair keyhole and it is v painful afterwards – getting out of bed was hard work and painful for a couple of weeks – to running / riding / climbing about 6-8weeks but with care

driving – about 2-3weeks – need to be confident can do emergency stop is what consultant told me and made some sense – age wise a bit younger late 40's for what it worth

Thanks folks. I feel a bit more reassured.

I'd had 4 now. As a kid, I had 2 – couldn't do anything for 3 months.. big scars etc. Had 2 repaired a couple of years ago (38 yrs old) -keyhole… was riding the day before – and about 2 weeks after, although very gently. Very little pain…. No issue driving….

Depends on his exact circumstances I suppose….

The reason for not driving is if you have to do an emergency stop. If you hit the brake pedal hard and you feel pain you'll instinctively take the pressure off. It might only be for a split second until the realisation kicks in that the pain of crashing could be a whole lot worse but that's enough time to travel a long way.

Had mine done by key hole in April, was driving a week after, easy riding 2 weeks after, ran a marathon 3 months after. Didn't need anything for pain after the anesthetic wore off, surgery without weeks of pain – totaly amazing what they can do these days. No issues since – not even a twinge.

I had keyhole surgery for a hernia last year. Out of hospital the same day; but had to be collected by my Daughter. Very painful for 36 hrs and off work for 2 weeks+ but after that healed very quickly and was able to ride the short course on the Marin Rough Ride in Kington exactly 1 month after the op. On the driving question I was told not to drive until I felt happy with an emergency stop. I was certainly happy that my present car is an automatic though!

I had a double repair by keyhole about 4 years ago aged 36.
I had read all the adverts saying one day in hospital, walking next day , jogging the next week etc. Was the most painful experience i have ever had ( and I have been on fire ) Had to Morphine post Op, spent the night in hospital and was kicked out next day.
No work for 5 weeks, no biking for about 10, and about the same for windsurfing as I could not put on a wetty. I had to have laxatives as it was to painful to drop the kids off at the pool.
It depends alot on the surgeon , i reckon mine was crap. but the 6 weeks with no driving and climbing laders might be about right , although the ladders thing mine be longer. With me it was the change of position from upright to sitting and vica versa, and to be truthful it still hurts now and does effect my work and riding.

I had one about 5 weeks ago. There are hernia ops and hernia ops, both in the sense of where your hernia is (para-umbilical for me) and what they do to fix it.

Advise as to when you can do what tends to err on the generous side (quite sensibly). I'd say for a week you're next to useless, partly for the discomfort – surgery itself might not be that sore but you feel pretty bruised and bloated, and partly because the anethestic buggers you up quite a bit (and knocks your immune system back a bit so you are a bit lurgy prone too). For the first week I'd say being driven somewhere for coffee and cake, then driven home again was the limit of my abilities each day.

For my procedure I was advised not to drive for 2 weeks which proved about right, up til then just being a passenger was harder work than you'd think, You do more work with your abdomen that you'd appreciate when you are travelling in a car and you'll never have such venom for traffic calming measures. "F@%king Humps!". I was also advised to avoid lifting,shifting, pushing, pulling for eight weeks, although I've been steadily getting back into lifting a shifting (and pushing cars through the snow).

Keep in mind that if you've been advised not to drive you might find you're not insured to do so as a result, you certainly aren't insured for the first day or two after a general anesthetic.

However…… Although keyhole is the preference it won't be clear until you are on the table whether its viable, in fact it won't be clear until they go inside, so what can start as keyhole can turn into good old fashioned butchery, especially if your gut accidentally gets poked, and you need to sign consents for both types of procedure. The recovery for that is a lot, lot longer, you'll be kept in the hospital for a few days for starters (rather than walking out at lunchtime) and the care you need to take throughout it is greater too, perhaps even being advised not to raise your voice!

"F@%king Humps!"

Make preparations to lay off activities for as long as you are advised, don't find yourself breaking the rules because you've given yourself no choice, or because you're bored. The first repair is the best repair so don't let impatience bugger it up, as it just leads to nastier ops and less successful repairs.