Any advice please re hernia op?

[Maur1]

I'm having a femoral hernia repaired next week. I put off the op before but now I'm having it. It involves general anaesthetic. I've had GCA since March 2016 and was down to 2mg Prednisolone in October 2017 when I had a chest infection followed by a flare so had to go up to 20mg. I was down to 10mg at end of March 2018 when I had another flare so back up to 15mg. Now at 9.5mg. My blood markers have always reflected flares and how I feel. Last blood test 8 days ago was CRP 15 and ESR 22 - on the high side for me. Any advice re general anaesthetic? I have a phobia re hospitals. By the way, I feel that the hernia was caused by the Prednisolone.

[DorsetLady PMRGCAuk volunteer]

Hi,

No specific advice other than to discuss with surgeon and anaesthetist before your op.

Good luck.

[piglette]

Hi Maur, I believe you can have a spinal for a femoral hernia rather than a general. I discovered spinal when I had my hip done. You can have sedation with it and know nothing, have mild sedation and listen to music for example or in my case be totally awake and talk to the surgeon. I wanted to know what was going on. I was then offered general for another operation and asked about spinal, which they had not mentioned, and they said fine OK.

[Maur1 in reply to piglette]

Thanks for replies. I had a spinal block when I had a hip replacement but unfortunately it caused a punctured dura and I was in agony with headaches for about 5 weeks.

[piglette in reply to Maur1]

In that case you may not be so interested in one then!

[SheffieldJane]

Just make sure your anaesthetist knows all your history, tell them and tell them again. Good luck with the op. You’ll get a pre- med that should mop up the anxiety, I remember wanting to kiss my surgeon for being so kind and clever, it’s powerful stuff.

[Maur1]

Thanks, SheffieldJane

[ConventCassie in reply to Maur1]

I just had my femoral hernia repaired yesterday. I think they do General because it can take a while, which surprised me having never dealt with laparoscopy before. It only took 1 hour & 45 minutes thou. I’m down to 4 Mg so they don’t do anything special, but she said if it was “higher” they might. She didn’t define “higher”. I was anxious about the anesthetic but loved the gal who did it. (I wanted to make sure they had my weight correct.). I’m certain my hernia was not from Prednisone, it was from work and carrying heavy things all the time. Plus I had the hernia previous to PMR. Be sure you have some cough drops handy to soothe your throat with the General because they entube you.

Best of luck to you-we can always ‘chat’.

[Maur1 in reply to ConventCassie]

Thanks, ConventCassie. I'm having open surgery, not laparoscopy. Don't know if that takes less or more time. How are you feeling after surgery yesterday? Don't know how to send private messages. Thanks for advice.

[ConventCassie]

creen & klick on cloud left of bell. I feel great. Still sleepy. Watched soccer & missed most of the goals falling asleep. Also trying to watch my favourite Wimbledon & dozing.

Took 2 strong pills yesterday but so far today I’m good with Tylenol. But then I went home after. Will you need to stay in The hospital? Do they use mesh over there?

[Maur1 in reply to ConventCassie]

Glad you are feeling great. They use mesh here but not always. Don't know if I'll need to stay in overnight. Thanks for info.