I am a 51 year old male in good health. I do not smoke or drink. I am approximately 6ft tall and weigh 175lbs.
I was recently diagnosed with a right inguinal hernia. I was not able to have surgery
for approximately 3 weeks after the discovery. In order to function during the 3 weeks before surgery, I purchased a hernia support device from a local medical supply company. The device essentially was a support belt which helped "hold in" the herniated area. Wearing the belt allowed me to continue work until the surgery could be performed.

The surgery:
After careful consideration and research I elected to have the surgery done laparoscopically. I chose an accomplished surgeon who is board certified by the American Board of Surgery. His areas of interest include general surgery and endocrine surgery with advanced laparoscopic procedures, including inguinal hernia repair.
The number of laparoscopic hernia repairs he had completed certainly numbered well into the hundreds.
Obviously, there are pros and cons to laparoscopic versus open surgery and I think ultimately it is a personal decision. The main disadvantage of laproscopic is the additional cost. One of the major advantages of laparoscopic is that the surgeon was able to "look" at my left side after repairing my right side. A weakness was discovered and he was able to repair the left side during the same procedure without making additional incisions. Thus, the initial added cost of laparoscopy versus open could be justified since I most certainly would have incurred more medical expenses as well as more lost work etc. by coming back at a later date to repair the left side.

My surgery was schedule for 12:00 noon and I was to report to pre-op at 10:30 that morning. Special directions ahead of the surgery day included: Stop taking ibuprofen, Alleve etc. 3 days prior, hydrate well the day before, do not drink or eat anything after midnight the day before. The actual procedure duration was about 1hr and 5 mins. When I woke up after surgery, I experienced some pain that was alleviated with demerol and later morphine. The surgeon visited me while in post-op and said that the procedure went well and that he did repair the left side as well as the right. He said he appreciated me being in good shape because it made his job easier. I stayed in post anesthesia for about 1 hour before being released to go home. The first few days of recovery at home were relatively slow and moderately painful. I was able to get some relief with 1 Darvocet every 4 hours. Painful urination occurred during the first 24 hours at home probably due to the catheterization during surgery. The painful urination subsided the second day. Coughing, sneezing or even clearing the throat was painful during the first 4 to 5 days following surgery. As of this writing, I am one week into recovery and continue to improve daily. I only take Darvocet at night to aid in pain relief for a good night's sleep.

I hope to return to work 4 to 6 weeks after surgery. Since I do some lifting at work, I want to make sure I am sufficiently healed before going back to work. The last thing I want to do is re-injure the sight.