Sunday, July 29, 2007

Warning! Warning! Emotionally challenged Woman Approaching!


No, it's not that time of the month - it's operation week!
The man heads off to hospital on Friday to have a hernia operaton.
That means lots of loose ends to tie up this week before he is incapacitated for about a 6 weeks during his recovery. We have heard many scary stories of what to await after the op from not being able to move even an inch due to excruciating pain, fevers,constant 24 hour care for weeks on end to mild pain,restricted movement and no lifting, carrying, or anything for about eight to ten weeks.

For anyone who does not know what a hernia is, let me enlighten you.
A hernia is an abdominal wall defect where a tear in the muscle wall occurs and YOUR INTESTINES start to poke through!

Ewwwwwww!!!!!!!
Because the tear is in the muscle wall it needs to be repaired and the intestinal bit poked back in or all hell can break loose if left to rupture.
Its a bit like repairing a puncture in a tyre.You dont want to be on that bike when the tyre blows!!!

Sounds straighforward - but apparently its quite a delicate and painful proceedure and because of where it is that means no lifting, bending, turning etc until the internal stitches have healed or they may split.

Yet another challenge for the man to endure and one of the reasons he chose to take a year off work. We have been waiting since the beginning of the year for this surgery to come around. It is taking place in the public hospital system.

So my time will be a precious commodity for the next few weeks and we will take it one day at a time.

10 comments:

The Tall Red Head said...

My hubby had a hernia op in 2003 and he was a mess. Just warn your man not to do anything to hard for 6 weeks at least. They really are painful and my hubby wasn't expecting the amount of pain he was in. Good luck to him, not trying to scare you, just letting you know!!!

Kathie said...

Thinking of you both : )

Anonymous said...

Thanks Rider Waite - I may need some hints on how to cope with the pain for my man....any pointers? Anything that you did that worked?
Lucky

Kristy-Lee said...

Good luck guys. Thinking of you. I had a friend that had a hernia op in 2004 and he was ok. It was not as bad as he expected. He had to take it easy of course, but I picked him up from the hospital and he was not bad at all.

Depends. Every hernia is different. Every person handles pain differently and feels it differently.

After what your man has recently been through, hopefully this is a walk in the park.

The Tall Red Head said...

A big piece of wood to hit him over the head. Helped me cope with his pain.

No seriously, poor Jack did not cope at all with the pain and the Panadine Forte they gave him constipated him, which as you can imagine was not nice after a stomach op. Just to warn you about that, it was not nice at all.

My man was discharged after one day though and was in so much pain he could not walk to the car. I was not impressed with the hospital at all. All they were worried about was freeing up the bed. After hearing that your hubby had cancer though he may be better at dealing with pain and discomfit better than others. Hope all goes well and he has an easy time with it.

Just warn him about the Panadine Forte!!!

Cyndy said...

Twist is right. Hernia-ops effect different people differently. As you say, one day at a time, and take it very slowly. There are no heroes after surgery; just people who do the right thing and..... the others. The same goes for vasectomies.
80 yr olds manage the hernia op quite well, but their expectations are probably different to thoise of a younger man.

Thinking of you all. ;0)

Michelle said...

Yes....my friend who had one just had to take it really easy for a few weeks and it was quite painful....big cushion for the bottom and lots of sennakot for constipation!

Anonymous said...

Okay!
Those comments have now put the fear of God into the man - we expect it to be unpleasant and I will keep in mind the panadine forte. I have Mersyndol forte which I use for my neck and shoulder pain but the man gets constipated after those too...so I may have to go for the plank of wood option.I have told him ....NO F...ing more operations.Lucky

Tesah said...

Lots of love to you guys

Unknown said...

sending healing and love your way