Ventral Hernia Repair

What is ON Q?

Make sure you have cleaned your bowels out prior to going in for surgery.

Make sure this doctor has another plan for pain meds besides MSO4 x 24, then Advil. ??? Has he heard of Lortab q 4-6 po x 24, then q 8 x 24?

C, T, DB is a must. Use that IS.

Avoid any straining, bending, twisting, or lifting anything heavier than a coffee cup for 4-6 weeks. NO sweeping, NO driving, NO reaching overhead beyond what is comfortable.

The drain will probably be removed by the end of the first week unless you have a copious amount of drainage. Milk the tubing easily every 24 hours.

Be very mindful of any signs of infection to the sight.

I do tend to be a little old fashioned on pre-op and post op care. As a nurse, you know we need to take care of ourselves because the job we do is very demanding physically, so do pamper yourself a little while you are off. Do not feel guilty and try to push yourself back to work too soon. I will pray for a speedy recovery.

P.S. I do not mean to sound like you would not know how to take care of yourself, but sometimes we need a little reminding.

Hi gitterbug, thanks for responding. On Q is a pain management system that is inserted into the incision (by the surgeon), dropping small amount of local onto the incision itself for 4-5 days. It was wonderful with such a large incision for the hysterectomy. Because of the drain, doc says it won't be possible this time.

He says after morphine, Toradol is a good choice because I'm allergic to so many things. I guess we'll figure it out. I'm not quite as scared as I was the day we scheduled surgery. Thanks for your words of encouragement and advice.

Toradol here is given immediately after surgery in RR. Then q 6 hr for a total of 3 injections. The docs here are very precise regarding that med.

Stadol, in many forms has been big for patients with allergies, but if you can tolerate MSO4, why not just in PO form x 48 hours and then a decrease or change of pain med. The biggest drawback to post-op recovery is fear of pain, NO one willingly wants to hurt, so if that fear is resolved, doing the necessary post-op activities are less daunting. I hope you do have an easy and uneventful recovery.

P.S. I don't mean to sound like an M.D. I just hate to see patients suffer pain, prolonged recovery times, and less than sterling outcomes when there is so much that can be done to provide good care by the M.D. and the nurse. Happy Easter/Passover to you and your family.