I'm due to get a hernia fixed sometime between now and christmas (no date yet but was told to expect about 8 – 12 weeks)

Now I'm self employed, work alone mostly and do a lot of steel and plywood fabrication – lots of lifting shifting and shoving. I've been getting a fair bit of conflicting advice over recovery time.

The surgery is expected to be a gauze applied in a key hole manner, in the pre-op interview the nurse charmingly referred to this as "3 of 4 stabs" adding "you gingers tend to bleed a lot". Nice!

I understand that the keyhole procedure is more disruptive than regular butchery as theres a lot of poking and prodding to get the gauze into position, but that its also ultimately more successful. However I'll be consenting to both/either keyhole and meat-cleaver procedures incase they need to change plans while I'm on the table.

Now the surgeon in my initial consultation seemed to suggest that recovery would be very quick, and that while things might be uncomfortable I'm not just going to come undone if I get back to work. But I might not have been paying too much attention as there were also two astoundingly pretty student doctors taking turns to poke my belly button while we were discussing all this, and he might not have grasped what I mean by 'work'. However the nurse at the pre-op reckoned I should expect around 6 weeks or more before I start chucking 40kg sheets of ply around again (and to be honest I didn't tell her they weighed that much of that I sometimes shift hundreds of them in a day).

I've even read advice to not even raise your voice after surgery!

Now I've no qualms about pain (grrrrrrr! get me!) but I need to know what to expect so that I can try and limit the damage to business, or at least try and pitch for/ schedule more of the design and consultative work I sometimes do.

Now I know someone on here had the same surgery because it was thanks to that tread that I realised my bump I'd been ignoring for a decade was a hernia, but I think the thread must have been pre-hack because its not coming up in the search.

So…. what are people's experiences?

Slight hijack, but I have to have an inguinal one done by what sounds like a similar method to skidartist's. I'm in a similar situation to him with regards to self-employment and lifting and shifting (sometimes sheets of ply and chipboard but more often than not, piles of wood flooring that were placed on the wrong side of the room). I've read stuff about quick recoveries but the period of "no lifting" seems like ages…sometimes 8 – 12 weeks.

Interested in hearing other person's opinions too…

more often than not, piles

sniggers

sniggers

sighs head resignedly…walked into that one 🙄

Sorry not going to paint the most optimistic picture here but I had both groins mesh repaired at the same time – they call it a sports hernia or gilmores groin op – and my recovery took longer, and was a lot more annoying than I would've imagined from the pre-op patter.

Mines was standard butchery, I got let out the day after the op, and basically couldn't get from the car to our front door for the pain, then was out of action (heavy lifting) for around 3 months.

I think the key to a good recovery is lots of pre-op core muscle exercises, then follow the post op rehab religiously.

Good luck with it

Can you let me know what the symptoms are? My groin is grumbling and does not seem to be getting any better, wondering what it might be and could it be this?

ddmonkey, if you've got one, you'll know! Is there something like a squash ball shoved in underneath your skin?

The 6-8 week recovery time is/was a standard reply. The laparoscopic repair aims to do repair your hernia without a large scar and get you back to work quicker with hopefully a decreased risk of infection and recurrence when compared to a standard open operation. The keyhole/laparoscopic repair will leave you with about 3 small scars ranging from 5 to 11mm and a number of 2mm holes which you'll hardly notice. People usually get out the following day, depending on the size of the hernia.

Going back to work is common sense……..no right answer when to return….just build it up slowly but in your case would avoid lifting heavy weights for a few weeks……….the mesh is fixed to the inside by yours to keep titanium helical tackers, so the longer you leave them to bed in the better! If you do too much too soon, you will rip them out and recurrence will be likely.

Advice would be the same for an inguinal hernia.

As for Gilmores groin………..jury out on that one…….some believe in it, most don't. A cynic might say the one s who believe in it work in places other than the NHS 😉

titanium helical tackers

Want!