Up and Down

During moving in September I did a lot of lifting large items that were probably too heavy for me. That, combined with improper technique, over time caused the painful lump I found on the right side of my abdomen in November.

Doctors checking me out (ultrasound, surgeon's visit) concluded that I had either a tumor or an abdominal hernia. The first treatment would be a hernia surgery which would also reveal whether there was any tumor. There was none, so the remaining hernia repair was done by putting a standard hernia mesh on the location. As usual with hernias, a hole in one of my abdominal muscles had tissue pushing through it, causing the lump. It may have been an accident stemming from a C-section surgery I had a few years ago - maybe there had been some tissue accidentally cut or torn.

Surgery took an hour in the day surgery unit. I was unconscious when they went through the scar from my C-section surgery and repaired the abdominal wall with hernia mesh. I was very groggy upon waking and under heavy medication for pain.

Recovery Day 1:
I was brought home and spent the next few days on the couch. I preferred to sit at an incline, with a pillow and the arm rest of the couch for support. Sitting straight up was out of the question - too much pain. I was given Vicodin and the pain was intense when the pain medication started to wear off. A sneeze or slight cough caused tears in my eyes. My entire abdomen ached. The medication was the biggest help for the next few days.

Going to sleep was uncomfortable. I chose to sleep on the couch because getting up from a laying position seemed impossible. Trying to move during the night was an ordeal. When I woke from sleep from the night the medication had completely worn off and any sort of movement caused intense pain.

Recovery Week 1:
The entire first week of my hernia recovery I spent most of my time on the couch. The pain medication, unfortunately, was causing me to become constipated. Trying to move my bowels was an effort in itself. I had dealt with 10 days of not have a bowel movement before when I had my daughter and was terrified of having to go through that again. I forced myself to move my bowels through moving my body while on the toilet and trying to only slightly use my abdominal muscles.

Recovery Week 2
Now I was up and moving a little. Still mostly at home and not driving much. I didn't lift anything more than a few pounds. My medication dosage was being eased off, but not all the way yet.

Recovery Weeks 3 and 4
I returned to work, wearing tennis shoes instead of dress shoes. Rather than sitting at the computer / keyboard, I actually felt better standing. Walking wasn't much problem except for some lingering pain where the surgery was.

Recovery Month 2
I started feeling pain again - sharp jolts where my hernia was. They became strong to a point where the area seemed constantly sore. I worried that the repair may have failed. But when seeing my surgeon, he insisted that it was pain from scar tissue forming. Luckily, it went away after a while.

Long Term Review
After more than 2 years, I can say I'm very glad to have had the hernia surgery done. It was a success and my life is back to fully normal. Certainly by 1 year, I was back to normal, more like just 5 months.