Getting my clothes on at the hospital and riding home in the car were not too bad. For sure, I knew my guts had been cut open and my brain was still a bit groggy from being put out, but I was feeling OK all things considered.
Most of the way home I relived how foolish I acted after waking up from the anesthesia, high fiving the nurse and then when the surgeon came by, I high-fived him too though the memory of him looking at the nurse with this quizzical look when I put my hand up and her telling him to high-five me still causes a wry grin to spread across my face. All fairly silly stuff and what happens when your brain gets zoned out by heavy drugs. And, for some reason I woke up with this insane desire for chocolate cake. I wonder if someone talked about cake during the surgery and my brain picked up on it.
After getting home, I limped upstairs to lay on the couch and maybe watch TV and check email. Before too long, with pillows under my knees and head, it was lights out again while laying on my back. At the time this seemed a good idea. After waking up and finding that the normal movement pattern of turning to my side to get off the couch was way too painful, like a knife in the gut painful, second thoughts about the wisdom of sleeping on the couch were front and center in my pain seared wide-awake brain. Try as I might to find a way to move without pain there just wasn't any way around it so I slowly and in agonizing pain slid, shifted, pushed, pulled and cried my way off the couch. Once crawling downstairs I looked at the hydrocodone pills and decided to wait until the morning to try them. Instead I took some ibuprofen, ate a little food, and then crawled into the spare bedroom bed since my moaning and groaning would surely wake my wife who needed to work the next day.
This is the end of the story for now. Since the response was pretty underwhelming, I ran out of motivation to keep this going through my recovery phase. Suffice it to say, I did recover. Most likely the surgeon nicked a nerve during surgery which apparently happens all the time. Six months later I was having some minor problems with leg strength. My advice is that though no one tells you should do it, get Physical Therapy even if insurance does not cover it. Your core muscles are weak. If you don't rehab them completely you are going to end up with back pain, hip pain, and maybe other pain that radiates down your leg.
Any questions, leave a comment. Thanks!
Gutpatch Hernia Repair Series
1. This Sucks! Step 1
2. You Have A - I Have A - Hernia?! Step 2
3. Oh Man! Getting Surgery Scheduled - Step 3
4. Let's Have a Hernia Repair Operation - Step 4 Part 1
5. Hernia Surgery Part II
6. Post Hernia Surgery
