Hernia Surgery ALERT !!!!!!!!!!
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Hernia Surgery ALERT !!!!!!!!!!
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Please read this and read this carefully.
I'm on day twenty one after a double open inguinal surgery. My experience is documented in more detail than you probably care to read. But here it is, in case you'd like to see the details: hernia-man.blogspot.com
MAKE SURE YOU MOVE AFTER YOUR SURGERY.......MAKE SURE YOU MOVE AFTER YOUR SURGERY.......MAKE SURE YOU MOVE AFTER YOUR SURGERY.......MAKE SURE YOU MOVE AFTER YOUR SURGERY.......MAKE SURE YOU MOVE AFTER YOUR SURGERY.......MAKE SURE YOU MOVE AFTER YOUR SURGERY.......MAKE SURE YOU MOVE AFTER YOUR SURGERY.......MAKE SURE YOU MOVE AFTER YOUR SURGERY.......MAKE SURE YOU MOVE AFTER YOUR SURGERY.......MAKE SURE YOU MOVE AFTER YOUR SURGERY.......MAKE SURE YOU MOVE AFTER YOUR SURGERY.......MAKE SURE YOU MOVE AFTER YOUR SURGERY.......MAKE SURE YOU MOVE AFTER YOUR SURGERY.......
Don't mean to be pedantic, but I was oblivious of the need to MOVE after the surgery. Like the person who started this thread, I sat and slept in a couch for 5 days, without moving much, if at all. The pain was too intense for the first 3-5 days and I was reduced to being stuck on the couch. I could not sleep on a bed, because my incisions would stretch and hurt TREMENDOUSLY.
That said, my immobility climaxed on day six when I began to feel pain in my left side, under my rib cage....worse pain than the pain from the incisions! The pain was OFF THE CHARTS! I thought it was gas and it finally went away. But, the next day my sputum had blood and the pain returned, but even worse!
To make a long story short...I had to visit the ER on the eighth day after the surgery and was hospitalized for four nights for Pulmonary Embolism; a fancy term for blood clots in the lungs!!!
An ultra sound proved that I did NOT have DVT(deep vein thrombosis) in my legs. My surgeon wants to blame my genetic predisposition toward clots, but my blood work hasn't proven than, conclusively. By contrast, my family doctor is certain that the clots came from the surgery area because someone in the operating room put pressure on the incision/s during surgery and created the clots.
Interestingly, I developed a quarter-sized lump about an inch from where they'd administered the IV anesthetic. The lump appeared a day before my pulmonary embolism pain set it on day six. The lump was hot to the touch and hurt so badly that I couldn't sleep and required ice and multiple ******** tablets to even make it tolerable. My doctor believes that this was a blood clot that was either the culprit or combined with the other clots that got trapped in my lungs.
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How am I doing?
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Well, I'm going on day seven after being released from the hospital for treatment for pulmonary embolism. I had to inject myself in the stomach with Lovenox, an anticoagulant that is hard on the liver. It raised my liver enzymes through the roof, but I'm finally off the stuff. Bad stuff, but mandatory for getting the clots under control as soon as possible, while in the hospital.
My lungs are fine, not spitting up any blood nor are they hurting. I have full pulmonary function. Only if I put pressure on my left rib cage at night, while sleeping, do I feel a little pain. But not much. After all, my lungs are healing.
Sadly, I'll have to be on Coumadin(an anticoagulant) for the next six months, to ensure that new clots don't appear while the existing ones are being absorbed and aged out by my lungs.
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What about the hernias?
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I still feel a burning pain in my right incision. Enough to make me cringe in pain. My left incision is fine. I am able to sleep on a bed, sleeping on either side or on my back with minimal pain. Getting up out of bed in the morning is difficult. It feels like I've played football the previous day; my entire body is sore!
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How about weightlifting?
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I've been working out with rubber bands every other day. Upper body workout: complete shoulder routine, curls and triceps. I'm not sure how heavy the bands are, but I'm using the blue ones which feel like anywhere between 20-40 lbs(the black ones feel more like 60lbs, and those are too heavy for me right now).
I feel completely confident that once my right incision heals, which I'm hoping happens in the next 2 weeks, I will be able to work out with weights. The surgeon said for me to wait SIX weeks before lifting weights and that is about how my recovery is falling into place.
Oh, did I happen to mention that if you undergo inguinal hernia repair that you should.....MAKE SURE TO MOVE AFTER YOUR SURGERY!