Right inguinal hernia, open mesh surgery

After reading many blogs on hernia recovery, not many were exactly what I was hoping to see, many saying how easy it was to recover from and painless. Here are my views, will be updated regularly.

I'm a very active and fit 23 year old. I do not do any gym exercises and my work isn't very strenuous at all. Never had any muscle issues or strains before in my life.

December 2015. Was at work, felt a sharp pain in my groin and panicked thinking I had a testicular torsion again after having one 3 years earlier and requiring emergency surgery to fix it. Off to the hospital I went who misdiagnosed me with a possible STI. 3 misdiagnoses later at doctors and walk-in centres I was sent for a scan in Feb 2016 and diagnosed with a right inguinal hernia, finally.

DAY OF OP - Fast forward to 25/07/2017 and I was finally on my way to the hospital for my surgery at QE Birmingham. No eating from 11PM the night before, no fluids after 6AM (only water) that morning. Arrived at 7.15AM, in my bed by 7.30AM. Shortly after I had a visit off the nurse, who told me I was first on the list (what a shock, expected to be waiting for hours!) and checked my heart rate and asked the usual questions, allergies any broken skin or conditions they should know of etc. Visits off the consultant surgeon, consultant anaesthetist and a second visit off the nurse followed. On my way to the theater at 8.20. Next thing you know I'm waking up at 10.25 in recovery, feeling brilliant. No pain, no groggy feeling, overall very positive about it all. Took a shot of morphine as it was offered to me. By 1.20PM I was in the car with my dad on the way home. Rest of the day was fine, walking around was weird due to the numb feeling in the area operated on, as well as the mental side of trying to not put too much pressure on it.

DAY 1 POST OP - Had a great sleep, woke up feeling fine, the incision was slightly sore but nothing too painful. Sharp shooting pains when walking or turning but easy to put up with. Couple hours later I couldn't even move. Pain was absolutely excruciating, stuck in same standing position for 10 minutes due to not even being able to shout nobody (even that was incredibly painful). Took some prescribed codeine and paracetamol and was assisted to sit down in a chair until they kicked in, this was also extremely painful. Throughout the day this pain persisted, getting easier the more that I moved around especially with the effects of the painkillers in my system. Last few hours of the day were spent in bed to relax, feeling pretty worn out due to the pain and suffering throughout the day.

DAY 2 POST OP - Sleep was good, didn't wake up at all. Back was aching and a dull ache in the groin area where the incision was made. Took some more codeine and paracetamol tablets and began to make my way downstairs. Pain is a bit better today, still moving pretty gingerly but able to move around unassisted so far. Done a 5 minute walk around the house an hour after waking up, plan to do some more throughout the day.

Will be updated.

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