Ventral Hernia Repair

[Pineywoods]

I'm going in for a ventral hernia repair next week (tension free mesh). There's a bulge that looks like a baby's head to the left of my belly button, left of the hysterectomy scar. I have been pacifying myself thinking it would be day surgery, or perhaps an overnight stay, few days off work... Surgeon said yesterday it would be a 3-4 day hospital stay to get the pain to a manageable level so I can go home. Off work for 2-3 weeks. I'm pretty tough but have to admit this has all been hard to sink in. After my TAH/BSO with a scar reaching from public bone to belly button and above, first 24 hours on morphine and then nothing but Advil. He says he will re-open the original incision and extend it 2-4 inches farther up. No ON Q allowed like I had with the hysterectomy. Probably a drain. Any advice you can give give me other than grin and bear it? Husband and daughter will be there for the surgery then they have to go back to work, so I'll be alone at the hospital.

[gitterbug]

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.

[Pineywoods]

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.

[gitterbug]

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.

[gitterbug]

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.