Had my hernia fixed last Saturday; my first experience with surgery of any sort so it's been a bit of a learning curve.
I pitched up at the allotted time to be booked in and found a list on the notice board all neatly printed out with various bits run over in highlight pen depicting the operating list for the day. My name was scribbled on in biro at the bottom; evidence that I had indeed been given a short notice cancellation then....
The staff were all brilliant; but they all just gave me that stop-in-mid-sentence, under-the-lowered-forehead look when the subject of local anesthetic and 'external' rather than 'keyhole' came up. Anyway, the time came and off I went to theatre in the paper hat and arse hanging out of the gown look that seems to be their way of lightening the moment. The theatre nurse started prepping me when the aenethetist came in, read the notes and said somewhat incredulously, "LOCAL"??? "Why"? I said it was mainly about nauseous after effects and he replied that I was nuts. "Be a good bloke and let me put you out, you'll be glad later", he said. Just then the nurse who'd had one done local and two done general chimed in "General is definitely the way to go".....
So I woke up about 90 minutes later on the ward thinking, "WTF..."? I was a bit groggy when the surgeon popped in and said all was well then buggered off before I could formulate a question. A nurse came by and said, "You can go home tonight if you can eat a meal, walk to the toilet, and pee at least a cupful". "Game on", I thought so caught the passing dinner trolley and had sausage in onion gravy with mash and ice cream and jelly without incident. I then drank two jugs of water. That was probably my first mistake. In addition to the general anaesthetic they had also used local, which knocked out any feeling in the bladder region so I found more and more pressure building up and not enough muscle control to release it. It took four hours before the objective was achieved.
The ride home was uncomfortable as my wife's car has low profile tyres but we got there eventually. I spent the night sleeping in a chair because I couldn't lie flat on our bed but awoke comfortable enough, got up and made myself some breakfst. "This isn't so bad" I thought, a bit of an ache but otherwise ok. Second mistake. Around lunchtime the local began to wear off. Faaaaccccckkk did it start to hurt. I quickly stepped up the meds and wound down the moving about.
Rapid forward through four days of improvement, the odd pang or stabbing pain, but otherwise nothing of note in the wound area. Around the bollocks however........ swelling, dark purple, and a constant feeling that my scrotum is being waxed by a maniac-sadistic female, one slow hair folical at a time. It appears I have some nerve damage which might take months to settle down.
And I thought I'd be driving in a day or two........
So here I am; today is the first time I've been able to pick up my laptop let alone bear it on my lap, and recovery is a long way further than the advised 2-4 weeks I was expecting unless progress takes on a logarithmic turn.
And there was I thinking "What a brave little soldier getting that done under a local" still as I was told by a surgeon years ago "if you can feel the pain it's good, means we haven't screwed anything up" :icon_rolleyes:
On the mend, that's the main thing :thumbsup
Excellent. You're patched up and on the mend!
Get the feeling the doctors got bored of you asking for a local and as soon as you were out punched you in the nuts, hence the purple plums.
Well done, Hospitals must be my least favourite place. And in that region, whooa. Hope you mend soon.
Do we need to chip in for a hoist? So BixxerBob won't lift his bike with one hand.
Get well soon. :thumbsup
Thats the reason I didn't see you at Pembrey today then Bob?
Quote from: threepot on March 25, 2016, 08:02:50 PM
Thats the reason I didn't see you at Pembrey today then Bob?
Yeah, or me, had to pop into work in Bristol, still gave the Girly a run though
Get well soon! Riding season is fast approaching!
They must use different meds over there. My ex-s/o had a hernia op a couple of years ago and they kicked her out about four hours after the surgery, without the eat/drink/be merry/pee proviso. She had no discomfort at all and was puttering about the next day. :blah :blah
I've had to be killed and re-booted a few times (aka cardioversion) and knocked out for them to do it. I assume it's disconcerting for the patient to hear "CLEAR".... The 'new' knock out drugs don't seem to leave any after effects.
I can sympathise with the swollen and blue dangly bits, having had the snip in the good old days before lasers. :augie
Quote from: nickjtc on March 25, 2016, 10:17:30 PM
I can sympathise with the swollen and blue dangly bits, having had the snip in the good old days before lasers. :augie
Taking it easy IS the way BB... even when it feels OK - I've had the (mechanical) snip too and I also had a reversal 10 yrs later, and shortly after that had a Hydrocele removed... no problems really - except for the sadistic nurses performing the spud shaving ceremony.
I'm sure you'll be with us in July :thumbsup
Quote from: threepot on March 25, 2016, 08:02:50 PM
Thats the reason I didn't see you at Pembrey today then Bob?
It is. I was gutted not to be going, but having now seen the weather forecast... :augie
I had the snip too, yonks ago, done under local and it didn't give me any trouble so this was a bit of a surprise / disappointment.
As you say though, I'll be fine by July :wheel
Quote from: Bixxer Bob on March 25, 2016, 11:24:35 PM
It is. I was gutted not to be going, but having now seen the weather forecast... :augie
I had the snip too, yonks ago, done under local and it didn't give me any trouble so this was a bit of a surprise / disappointment.
As you say though, I'll be fine by July :wheel
Well,hope to see you in July? I called down to Pembrey earlier with a friend. Weather was fine. We watched practice for an hour or so,and walked around the paddock. Some of the bikes there were fantastic! One of the sessions consisted mainly of Manx Norton's,2 Commandos,and a couple of G50 Matchless's. Fantastic to witness! There was one guy on a Manx..#6 or 8 ...wow,he was fast! Shame the weather might spoil the meet? :icon_frown:
Hey BB !! good to hear ya finally got yer op and it went well :thumbsup
Now sit back and take it easy so it can heal as we don't want any more damage in that area do we :nono
and tell yer misses she'll need to leave you alone for a while :bad :icon_wink:
take care
KK
Thanks Kenny!
One more trip to Wales on the calendar; we'll be at Anglesey 9/10 July TP
Quote from: Bixxer Bob on March 26, 2016, 02:29:40 PM
Thanks Kenny!
One more trip to Wales on the calendar; we'll be at Anglesey 9/10 July TP
Say hello to JD while you're there :wave
Well, the sun is shining, it's warm enough to sit in the garden with a cuppa, and I'm off the meds so can't grumble. This time last week I thought I was going to be laid up for weeks.
Everything is beginning to functioning normally except the errant testicle, which is now down to the size and colour of a large purple plum. Still as hard as a cricket ball though so a way to go yet.
I'm off to a road safety meeting tonight so have to take it easy today, but will be chaufeurred by my delightful wife Jackie as I'm still not driving yet.
I have to say, she's done a fantastic job of looking after me and keeping me in line :>< :>< :><
Right, daytime TV or a nap?? Hmmmm.
Daytime TV will surely lead to a nap anyway, glad your on the mend.
:notworthy that's for Jackie not you by the way :nod
Glad to hear you are noticing the improvement, can't wait to get the bulletin when you're back to cherry size :ImaPoser
I'm concerned about my testicles. The middle one seems smaller than the other two? :icon_sad:
Quote from: threepot on March 31, 2016, 01:37:09 AM
I'm concerned about my testicles. The middle one seems smaller than the other two? :icon_sad:
I once had a Thai girlfiriend with a similar issue :icon_scratch:
Quote from: threepot on March 31, 2016, 01:37:09 AM
I'm concerned about my testicles. The middle one seems smaller than the other two? :icon_sad:
Threeplums?
Triplesac, as opposed to Triplesec?
Quote from: threepot on March 31, 2016, 01:37:09 AM
I'm concerned about my testicles. The middle one seems smaller than the other two? :icon_sad:
As long as it doesn't hang any lower than the other two, it will be fine.
There are disadvantages to local anaesthetic: I once sent a lovely , well spoken lady (she was from Birtley surprisingly) for cataract surgery. She came back to see me for post op' check, I asked if she had any complications during the surgery. " Well", she said " he was a very nice young man, but I gather that he had a problem" , "Oh " said I " why do you say that?".
"Oh it was when I heard him say ,Bugger! I've dropped it, and the nurse ran off to get the senior surgeon to finish off the operation"
Sometimes your better off out of it.
Hoi!!! I'm from Birtley, nothing wrong with that :cp
Although last time I drove through there the biggest shop front was a tanning parlour and tattoo centre. :icon_rolleyes: Says it all really......
I had a similar experience during an angiogram. All was going well and I could see the screen as well as the young lady doctor and the nurse. The doc said " that's odd", the nurse shrugged her shoulders and nodded in agreement, so the doc went to the desk and made a phonecall; to the senior consultant as it turned out, and he was able to see the image on his desk computer, which I was a bit impressed with.
"What"? I said. "Nothing to worry about", said the nurse. "Then your nothing-to-worry-about protocol needs work" I said.
They finished up but wouldn't tell me what they'd found until the consultant's round. There were six of us in the recovery area and he went round the others first with lines like, "You need a stent, and you need a double bypass, and you need... " etc until he got to me then he said " And we need a chat". It turns out I have some unusual plumbing which explained some fitness oddities that have perplexed me and not a few PT instructors down the years (I'm good at endurance such as carrying heavy loads a long way but have no explosive power) such as sprinting).
It was good to finally have an explanation, but I could have done without the alarmist element of the investigation.
Quote from: Bixxer Bob on April 03, 2016, 10:42:19 AM
It was good to finally have an explanation, but I could have done without the alarmist element of the investigation.
Appropriate bed side manner is not part of the modern medical training curriculum, apparently. :augie