Inguinal Hernia Surgery. Anyone Have Experience?

My daughter, at 7 years old, had Hernia Surgery.
Her's was an "Inguinal Hernia."

Keep in mind, that hernias can get worse. It is a hole in the abdominal wall... and the internal organs, poke out of that hole. Hence the 'bulging' of a Hernia.
Now, what is poking out of that hole/Hernia, are internal organs. Such as, intestines or in my daughter's case, even the Ovary.

IF a Hernia "strangulates"... this means, that whatever is sticking out of that hole, is getting strangled.... by the Hernia hole, which at any time, can close up. Hence, the internal organ if it is getting squeezed like a vise... and it is sticking out of that hole... it can GANGRENE, and it is then an EMERGENCY situation, and you can lose, that organ.
If an organ is getting strangulated... then you have about 2 hours to get into the ER and operating room.

My daughter had her's surgically corrected/fixed, via Laproscopic surgery.
She was a champ about it.
She said, she is GLAD she had the surgery because now she does not have to worry... and she was having pain from it too. And it was Bulging...

It is not about how much pain it causes... but the 'potential' for it getting 'strangulated.'

Look online about 'strangulated hernias.' or symptoms of strangulated hernias.
There are MANY types of Hernias and levels of seriousness.

My Daughter's surgery took 1 hour. General Anesthesia. Then recovery after. Of which, it can take a couple of hours. Then she came home. Rest and not doing ANY strenuous activity. Follow-up check ups. And per HER Surgeon, not doing anything strenuous or heavy lifting for about 2 weeks post-op... BUT that the incision takes IDEALLY 1 month, to completely heal and mesh together. He has seen, in kids, the incision/suture rupture/split, because the kid did not reduce any heavy activity after the surgery.

My Daughter, recovered fine and was up on her feet in no time. BUT... just to be cautious, we did not have her do any heavy activities, for 1 month. AND I told her Teachers in school.

Her Surgeon's own son, had a Hernia surgery... because one day, he got a call, his son was being flown in to the hospital, because his Hernia, was strangulating. The Surgeon said at that point, it is about 2 hours, that you have to do surgery on it... or you lose that organ due to Gangrene... etc.

Hernia Surgery, is done in various ways.
Sutured together or there is a "mesh" that they can use too.
EACH case is different.
The Surgeon, should explain this to you, per your case and issues.

Don't worry Grandma T... if my Daughter at 7 years old handled it fine... then your Dad can too.
:)

Hernia surgery, is very routine.

Tip: While the Surgeon is in there doing the surgery, have him look around to the other side too... SOMETIMES, there is a Hernia there too. My daughter's Surgeon, did this with my Daughter while she was in for surgery. AND if she also had a hernia on the other side... then he would have fixed that too, at the same time.
They check the other side, with a scope.

They WILL give you an after-care sheet of information... so you will know how to care for him and for himself to know... and when he can take a bath.

How funny! I just asked a similar question earlier. Mine is for an umbilical hernia. I have no experience other than having the hernia and was wondering the same thing as to what to expect. I hope it goes well for your dad!

They will use a small scope (not sure) what the name of the instrument is. They will also use a mesh to help reinforce the opening. They will only make a small incision, big enough for the scope to go thru. He should be able to move around in about a week. It's quicker recovery time for a man than a woman because they don't have the other organs surrounding the area.

The only concern I would have is his age and any medications or complications he might have. If your doctor doesn't see any issues with his health and he is in good health, the surgery itself is not a big deal.

Stock up on bags of frozen peas! He will need something post surgery to put on the area, and that's what my husband's doc recommended when he had it done 2 years ago. Also, he will most probably be given prescription pain meds - it's a good idea to get those filled ahead of time if possible, or at the hospital pharmacy before he's discharged so you can get him straight home. If he's anything like my husband, he will be very uncomfortable once the anesthesia wears off - the first couple of days are the worst. My husband had to ice the area 15 mins on and 15 mins off pretty much round the clock. Your dad will have to take it easy obviously for awhile, but should be up and around and feeling better after a few days. My son also had this procedure done at age 4 - of course he bounced back much faster! Good luck with it!

I used to be a worker's comp case manager and my "favorite" injury was hernias because they recovered so quickly and there were never any complications. In a 5 year peiod, I dealt with several hundred hernia claims and seriously - there was never a problem with any of them. Full recovery time is typically 4-6 weeks.

Son had double inguinal hernias that were discovered upon a physical for him to play ball. Obviously they weren't bad as hadn't cause him any trouble - but the pedi had me make the call to the surgeon from his desk phone! 30 minutes later, we were in the surgeon's office! (helps w/good docs!)

General surgeon said he'd do surgery when son was off Christmas break - my mom about had a fit figuring kid's holidays would be ruined! LOL! Like SH below - by the second and third days, you could hardly tell anything had been done and the holidays were fine! (doc wanted him off school in case other teens jostled him)

Dad will be fine - I'm sure that surgery has come a long way in about 15 years!

Oh goodness, dad is worrying for nothing. My husband had his hernia repaired last year. He was at the outpatient surgery center at 7am, on the table at 8:30am, and back in the car to go home by 12:30pm. He laid on the couch that day and the next, but by the following day was up and about. He was pretty much back to normal within a week. It was really pretty easy. Tell dad not to worry!