Hernia Symptom
It was during the 3rd week of October 2020 when one night I suddenly encountered an unbearable pain in my groin. That pain has really tormented me like hell for about 10 seconds and the agony I felt has rendered me helpless to call for a help nor even move to lessen the pain. After, the pain has gone, I had a cold sweat and my body was shivering for unknown coldness. That was the moment I was able to wake up my partner for help. I had only a short sleep that night as I feared that the pain might attack again. The next morning, I informed my parents about this experience and that I learned that we had a heritable genetic condition in my mother-side known as hernia. Because of this, they insisted me to go to a doctor for a medical checkup.
Hernia Diagnosis
After a couple of days from this nightmarish experience, I decided to visit a surgeon who is a hernia specialist. He physically examined me in my groin and even ask me to deliberately cough. I knew to myself that I already had this abnormal bulging in my left scrotum probably for 2 years but I was just ignoring it as sometimes the bulging does not appear and I was not experiencing any discomfort in its presence. Not until this October 2020. The initial diagnosis of the doctor to me is Inguinal hernia at the left side due to this bulging. However, to fortify his findings, he recommended me to undergo an Inguino-scrotal ultrasound. In my ultrasound report, everything else is normal like position and size of testes, parenchyma and epididymis. Unfortunately, there was no finding relating to hernia condition. Instead, a minimal hydrocele formation was found. This hydrocele are minimal fluid collection seen within the scrotal sac which was seen in the left side. Regardless of the ultrasound result, the doctor still believes that I had a hernia condition and recommended me to undergo Mesh hernioplasty at the left side.
What is Inguinal Hernia?
Basically hernia is an abnormal condition wherein a tissue or an organ go through the wall of the cavity and resides to where it is not supposed and normally be. In my condition, Inguinal hernia, a part of my intestine protrudes through a weak spot in the abdomen. Normally this spot is along the inguinal canal thus called as Inguinal Hernia. (See below photo taken from https://www.mayoclinic.org/ site).
My doctor has explained to me further that during development of babies inside the womb, there is naturally a hole in this inguinal canal (both left and right) which serves as a passageway for spermatic cord for boys and ligaments that holds the uterus for girls during reproductive development. And yes, both holes are present regardless of the gender. So basically girls can also get Inguinal Hernias. However, according to the doctor, these holes normally close itself once the baby is born and during growth development. This statement gives me a conclusion why Inguinal hernia is common to males. Most males normally have tougher jobs than female requiring them to exert more force. This exertion of force creates pressure in our abdomen specifically to intestine pushing down to inguinal canal that eventually weakens the soft spot until it punctures the inguinal canal. However in my condition, this is not applicable as I am a programmer and I don’t lift any heavy loads physically which can lead to this Inguinal Hernia. My doctor’s diagnosis for the cause of my hernia is congenital. I also believe this is hereditary since this condition is prevalent in my mother-side.
Hernia Repair
Prior to my surgery, my doctor enlightened me about the operation. According to him, there are two types of hernia repair. One is traditional method (I can’t recall the term he used). This method is where the surgeon makes an incision in the abdomen part affected by hernia, pushes back the intestine to its correct position within the abdominal cavity and stitches it to close. However, this method has long recovery period and high chance of hernia recurrence as the stitch can burst open due to person’s activity. The other method of hernia repair which he highly recommended to me is the the Mesh hernioplasty. The surgery is similar to traditional method however instead of just stitching to close the opening, the surgeon uses a patch like mesh and stitch it to the unwanted opening. This method has shorter period of recovery and lower chance of hernia recurrence.
Surgical Preparation and Planning
To take advantage of the upcoming holidays for my recovery and complete all my task at work before the year ends, we planned to do the operation after Christmas. Due to ongoing pandemic, my doctor obliged me to undergo swab test prior to surgery for safety of both parties. The swab test procedure was really nasty and you can tell it by looking to how the patients react to the procedure. Some flinches while others almost cried. The attending nurse used a long cotton buds to extract specimen from my oral and nasal cavity and both are really irritating. The discomfort feeling continues for few minutes even after the procedure. Just imagine a small fly gets trapped in your nasal or oral cavity and is struggling hard to get out of the cavity. So as the plan, the swab test was taken December 21 and after that I have to self-quarantine until my admission. My admission to emergency room is December 27 and Surgery is December 28. Luckily, the swab test result is negative from causative agent of Covid-19.
Mesh Hernioplasty Surgery
Before 12:00 noon of December 27, I was already in the Emergency building of Calamba Medical Center for admission. I only brought with me my Medicard, some clothes good for two change and medical documents from my Surgeon. Around 2:00pm, my nightmare begins. I have hemophobia and needles are one of my fears. Even as of this writing, the fear I felt that time is still haunting me right now as I refreshes the experience. In the admitting area, an attending nurse extracted blood from me and after few minutes a different nurse came back to inject dextrose. The first attempt of dextrose injection was in the right hand and it failed as the fluid flowed out from my vein. So a second attempt was made to my left hand. Fortunately they made it right. It was a relief though I really felt so weak that time and that feeling of weakness has continued until the next morning due to the thought that there is huge needle injected in my left hand. Naah! That night I was told that I could only eat a meal and drink water until 12:00 midnight as the next morning will be my surgical operation. I passed the time by watching T.V. though I cannot ease myself thinking about tomorrow’s operation. Again, I just had a short sleep. The next morning, I woke up earlier than my set alarm clock around 6:00AM (Dec 28) to take a bath. I think that is one of the hospital’s requirements prior to operation. Around 7:00AM, they carried me to the operating room. As we traversed the hallway with me sitting in a wheel chair, I recalled the story and final moments of “Baby Ama” who is about to meet his execution via electric chair . Hahahaha. I guess that’s the same feeling, though I’m not gonna die in that operation, the thought of surgery, blood, operation and stuffs inside the operating room is already killing me. Few minutes later, my anesthesiologist sedated me (my lower part of the body) with anesthesia through my IV as the Surgeon is about to arrive. After that, I can’t recall how I fall asleep or what time I slept. After an unknown past time, I found myself waking up in the middle of the operation. I saw the surgical light of operating room and it was bright. I was not afraid as I was curious and wondering what is going on but I do know I’m undergoing a surgery so I know to my self that I was supposed to get scared but I didn’t. Probably the effects of the Anesthesia. Next there was a piece of cloth which prevents me from looking down my lower torso but I hear voices talking at the other side of that cloth. I did not understand what they are talking about but I do know they are still performing the surgery. Few moments later, I knew and I heard the anesthesiologist saying that the operation is done and she is tapping me like pampering me as if she knows I’m awake. After that, I woke up in the other room, probably the recovery room. And someone asked if I can feel my feet. I tried to move them but I can barely move just the right leg. When my both legs came back to me, I was transferred back to my private room. It was around 01:00PM when I get back to my room. The operation was supposed to last for one to one and a half hour but probably I spent too much time in the recovery room asleep. At last! My worries are gone. I really lingered in my bed that afternoon feeling so relieved and still sleepy. The next morning, December 28, I was discharged from the hospital.
Hospital Bill
Just right before the operation, I already researched about the coverage of my PhilHealth and my HMO (Medicard) to my upcoming surgery. Of course we do wanna know if we can afford the operation, avoid unwanted bill shock and financially prepare for other miscellaneous fee. And most of all, we don’t wanna leave the hospital empty handed. As expected from my research result, my Philhealth coverage reached P21, 000 and P30,000 from my Medicard. My total hospital bill summed up to almost P80, 000 and the money I took out from my wallet is approximately P29, 000. That is just for 3 days stay in the hospital and the reason why I need to leave the hospital the soonest is that the room boarding is P2, 250 daily! (that is included in my total bill) Besides, I really don’t feel recovering inside the hospital because of my own perception of its ambience. On the fanciful side of my mind, any hospital is nothing more than a slaughter house (although the CMC hospital is totally neat and clean).
Recovery
According to my doctor, I need to rest for one month before I can go back to my work. For my recovery, he prescribed me medicine for treatment against infection in my wound and of course for pain and inflammation good for 5 days. After that, I went back to the hospital for follow up check up (Jan 5, 2021). He examined my stitched incision and informed me that everything else is getting fine. I can now stop taking my meds but I still need to go back to him for certification of fit to work. I tried to bargain if I can go back to my work after 2 or 3 weeks of recovery but he just threatened me that the stitches might get ruptured and everything else will be wasted if I don’t take serious of my recovery. Of course I conceded!
Final Thought
Finally, I just need to practice patience at home while killing the remaining days of recovery (20 days left as of this writing). To withstand the boredom, I decided to write this blog to share this experience and hopefully be a mind-changer to those suffering the same condition but hesitant to undergo the surgery. After all, nothing beats a worry-free mind if your worries will be taken care of the soonest. I also hope this blog will help to answer the questions of those who are planning to undergo the same surgery pertaining to the operation details as well as the preparations you need to work up yourself physically, mentally and financially. If you have comments and question, just drop it in the comment section below and I will be glad to answer you promptly. Thanks!
Wondering how much I got from my SSS Sickness benefit during my reimbursement for my hernia operation leaves? Check this out.
