This is a great article. Very thorough. I had an inguinal hernia repaired about 30 yrs ago. It was a same day surgery. Big cut. The area around the incision is still numb. I had the surgery on a Friday before Labor Day as I could not take time off from my business, so I recouped on Saturday, Sunday, Monday and back to work Tuesday. That sucked. I did develop a cough. That sucked as well. I had a pillow to hug my abdomen with and found that laying down helped as well. I would definitely want a 7 day healing time.
My grandpa had a similar surgery when he was working and older and he couldn't understand how come I was having pain and wasn't out running a full marathon the next day. This was a man that worked at a stockyard his whole life and never missed a day of work.
I have developed another inguinal hernia on my right side. I'm just waiting on it mostly due to not very good insurance. I would think laparoscopic surgery would be cheaper then traditional.
SDG
Very interesting info! Thanks for chiming in. It sounds like things have changed quite a bit in just 30 years even. My big scar from 7th grade, about 30 years ago is numb like that too. But the scars from my laparoscopic operation can barely be seen and I can not detect any numbness. SO that could be a good sign for your future!
You grandpa sounds like the real deal. I know the type, older folks seem to be really tough when you get down to it. Much tougher than people are today. Sometimes I think that living any longer back than 150 years ago must have just totally sucked. So it made them tough. Those are probably good genetics for you in the long run!
Hugging a pillow sounds like a fantastic idea, I should have thought of that. This post was not easy, kinda embarrassing, but this is why I wanted to get this info out there. The docs are super knowledgeable and they are there for you. But they are busy too. I had a hard time finding info like this out there.
I think they said the operation cost 15k, roughly. Funny how no one can ever give you an exact cost of such an operation. I have pretty good insurance but I still paid 3k out of pocket. Ouch! We saved money for over a year to get it done.
However, the doc's office was really cool about getting paid. They were happy to take money from me at any rate I could afford and they never once pushed back at me.
I wish you the best of luck in the future!
It is definitely hard to find out an exact cost to a procedure, part of the problem with our healthcare system. I know there is a same day surgery center in Oklahoma that does all of there procedures for a set price, but they will not take insurance. You have to pay them and then submit to insurance, but the prices are generally a 10th of the price of a conventional hospital. Unfortunately they don't have the price for a hernia repair. I'm not sure why they don't.
SDG