Hernia Operation for Someone Older
The other day on Friday, March 20th of 2020 I finally decided to go to the hospital to have surgery for a Hernia that I got back in October of 2019. Now first I didn’t just walk into the hospital and get the procedure. After helping move a 55-gallon container of fuel I had felt a little pain in my back but really never noticed any other problems, my age is 68.
So let’s take this step by step; 1st I noticed that I had a small lump on the right side of my groin while taking a shower. In the beginning, I noticed that it would go away if I was to lie down and got back up the next morning. This was pretty much the case for a little over a month.
As time went by I started noticing that it wasn’t going to go away and it was there more times than not being there when I got up every day.
Now not having a lot of information it was time to go and visit my family doctor. My doctor told me that I had a small hernia, and she wanted to try to push it back in. Now I had tried that myself and you can feel the hernia move back in, but I was a little skeptical that she could do a better job then what I was doing.
Now the next step is to go to a medical person that does an ultrasound on the area. I would have to say that it is no more than a woman having an ultrasound when she is pregnant. Now here is the wording that I received from the Medical Facility.
After the exam my company was very busy, so I had no time to start taking this seriously, but it was getting very uncomfortable just to sit at my desk and work with my daily emails. I really knew I needed to take some action, but we were in the middle of handling a lot of Transportation for one of our larger accounts.
To make things worse we were now in the middle of a new virus called Covid-19, and hospitals were running at full capacity, so I knew it was really now or I would be waiting for some time.
Next, I scheduled an appointment again with my Family Doctor and said we need to get this fixed now while we still have time. She immediately scheduled me an appointment with Dr. Keller a general surgeon highly recommended here in town. We had a quick meeting in his office and he then scheduled the surgery for Tuesday, March the 24th. Notice as I write this blog today is Saturday, March the 21st only after an hour of leaving his office his nurse called me and said we had to do this on Friday at 5:00 AM or it would not happen until this Covid-19 was under control, and the only surgeries being done after that morning would be emergencies.
Now here is the part you want to hear the most. When I arrived at the Hospital all precautions were now in place, first, you had to have your temperature taken and documented, along with your name and the time you arrived. Next, you had to have your hands sanitized and you were given a red bracelet with the hospital’s name on it so you could move freely around various floors, this was for security to check that you had been vetted at the front door.
As different nurses came in they hooked me up to an IV, constant monitoring of your blood pressure, and temperature. I guess the scariest part was they asked me if I had a trust or a living will. Now I knew I was going to be sedated but this was a little more than I expected. I just kind of wonder what might have happened if I didn’t have all of that? Next came the Anesthesiologist, and I would swear he didn’t look like he was over 40 years old. The average Anesthesiologist salary in the United States is $387,000 as of February 26, 2020, but the range typically falls between $335,300 and $438,700. Salary ranges can vary widely depending on many important factors; including education, certifications, additional skills, and the number of years you have spent in your profession. The one thing that really put me at rest was him saying not to worry I’ve got you back on this and you will be in and out before you know it.
The next ride was to the operating room where I was hooked up to an IV, and as they moved my gurney next to the operating table that was the last thing I remember after I was on the operating table. After a couple of hours, I was awake and looking at the nurse. I now had about a 2 and a half to a 3-inch scar on my right groin area and I was able to be picked up and back at my office to finish payroll.
I hope this helps others out there that are wondering what to do in the same situation that I was in. You will have some pain and the first night might be really uncomfortable to sleep, but today, as I write this my pain is not that bad and I’m able to walk around, it is a little uncomfortable but not near what I thought it would be like.
Medication given; Meloxicam 15G take 1 a day for 5 days
Tramadol 50MG take 1 by mouth every 4 hours
