Hernia Operation at Hand Today!
Three months ago I visited a close friend and neighbor who had just undergone a hernia operation, and one of the first things that popped from my mouth was that I was surprised that I hadn't had to have one yet. He is around 50; I am more than 20 years older.
Maybe I shouldn't have said that because just a few weeks later a bulge suddenly appeared in exactly the same spot at the top of my groin and slightly to the right. I quickly guessed it to be a hernia and my doctor confirmed that. He referred me to a surgeon who had already done the same operation on him, and the surgeon said that my hernia is a "good-sized" one, and now, in less than 12 hours, I am to go under the knife.
It is 2:30 in the morning. I've had nothing to eat or drink for four hours, and things will have to stay that way until after the operation, which will be around noon.
I look forward to this imminent experience in the hospital with interest yet also with apprehension. The last and only other time I had a full-fledged operation was in 1953, and I had to stay in the hospital for two months. I could have put this hernia operation off for a while, by wearing a truss. At no time has this bulge hurt or felt unpleasant. But I had heard and read things about a very threatening possibility called "strangulation." My tolerance for having things hanging over me has dropped sharply in recent times, and I am too adept at hosting spectres in my head.
I will be lucky to have my excellent wife of 40 years to drive me up to Charlottesville and back and to look out for me. I understand from the neighbor I mentioned and from another who is only 20 yet needed the same operation at nearly the same time, as if there's a hernia epidemic going around, that the first day you don't feel much because you're so heavily sedated but that the second is pretty tough, and so are the several others to come, though in decreasing severity.
I will have my own experience to add quite quickly.
Maybe I shouldn't have said that because just a few weeks later a bulge suddenly appeared in exactly the same spot at the top of my groin and slightly to the right. I quickly guessed it to be a hernia and my doctor confirmed that. He referred me to a surgeon who had already done the same operation on him, and the surgeon said that my hernia is a "good-sized" one, and now, in less than 12 hours, I am to go under the knife.
It is 2:30 in the morning. I've had nothing to eat or drink for four hours, and things will have to stay that way until after the operation, which will be around noon.
I look forward to this imminent experience in the hospital with interest yet also with apprehension. The last and only other time I had a full-fledged operation was in 1953, and I had to stay in the hospital for two months. I could have put this hernia operation off for a while, by wearing a truss. At no time has this bulge hurt or felt unpleasant. But I had heard and read things about a very threatening possibility called "strangulation." My tolerance for having things hanging over me has dropped sharply in recent times, and I am too adept at hosting spectres in my head.
I will be lucky to have my excellent wife of 40 years to drive me up to Charlottesville and back and to look out for me. I understand from the neighbor I mentioned and from another who is only 20 yet needed the same operation at nearly the same time, as if there's a hernia epidemic going around, that the first day you don't feel much because you're so heavily sedated but that the second is pretty tough, and so are the several others to come, though in decreasing severity.
I will have my own experience to add quite quickly.
posted by Carl (aka Sofarsogoo) | 3:58 AM
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