It’s been a couple of weeks since my surgery for bilateral inguinal hernias and I am getting back to normal. I went an unorthodox route for my surgery so I’ll detail it here in case anyone else finds themselves with a big lump on their groin. YETI- thanks for the well wishes bro.
Disclaimer: I am a dual Canadian-US citizen so I researched both American and Canadian health options.
I live pretty evenly in both countries due to work.
Background: I think I ended up getting my hernias from bent over dumbbell rows. The twisting motion you get when you yank up the weight probably puts unneeded strain at that interface of the groin/abdominal area, which caused the tear in my inguinal canal and led to my intestines popping out. But I cannot 100% guarantee it was that; it could have been anything that caused it because I did not feel any pain when it happened. It did start to lead to a dull pain so I went to the doctor to have it sorted out.
I went to my Canadian doctor in a prairie province and he immediately diagnosed one hernia and referred me to a specialist. He said that in the Canadian system it would be 4 months until I saw a specialist and then twelve more months to get surgery based on his experience. So 1.33 years total from diagnosis date to surgery date. This was unacceptable to me so I went to a Urologist in Montana. He diagnosed it quickly and said he could get me into surgery quickly. But this would cost me $12,000 USD ($15,800 CAD) to repair both of my hernias (he actually noticed that I had a second smaller one on my other side). I was pretty reluctant to go this route because that’s a lot of money, especially since this would be laparoscopic and I have heard that method isn’t as effective as open surgery.
So I went online and did some research. I found one interesting website:
http://www.shouldice.com/
I had never heard of Shouldice hernia repair, but basically in the 1940s a doctor in Toronto pioneered a new method of hernia repair because so many young guys were getting hernias in Basic Training before they were shipped off to fight in WWII. His method was, using local anesthetic, cutting a 6-inch incision, cutting through your abdominals, then sewing together your inguinal canal and abs again twice with surgical metal wire. The wire stays in you for the rest of your life and has a 99.5% chance of not failing, as long as you don’t become obese. The hospital stands to this day and is basically semi-private health care. For Ontario residents the surgery is fully subsidized but they make you stay there for 4 days if you have 1 hernia repaired or 6 days if you get 2 hernias repaired. The cost to stay there is $240 CAD per night.
So I phoned up the hospital and after sending them my medical records, they gave me a quote and a surgery day in Toronto a month away. The charge was $3800 Canadian, since most of my two surgeries was covered by my Province (I do not live in ON). Plus $800 for flights to TO.
This blog summarizes the exact experience I had, thanks to this guy who spent the time writing it out. The only difference is that since I was not an Ontario resident, I did not go in to the clinic beforehand to get evaluated. The surgeon just got the info faxed from my doctor and he checked me out when I came in to confirm. Also, he speaks of taking Oxy pills to knock him out before surgery. For me they IV'd Fentanyl and a benzo and I was out cold.
https://shouldiceherniarepair.wordpress....alization/
Since I had two hernias I had two different surgeries. All I can say is that the day right after each surgery SUCKED, which is to be expected. But it was amazing how quickly I recovered day-to-day. It’s been just over 2 weeks now but I am very impressed by my progress, I still haven’t lifted weights because I was getting pain carrying heavy bags of groceries the other day. But I am riding the stationary bike and improving each day, and stopped taking painkillers 1 week after the surgery. I just ate like a horse and took plenty of protein and vitamins in to help speed up the healing which seemed to help.
The hospital itself was fine, they make the best of a bad situation – there is maybe 60-70 patients there at any given time from all over the place. Mainly old men, but a few young guys and even some women (although obviously 95% men due to the genetic weakness 25% of males have in the Inguinal canal). The food was good, it’s a relaxing place, and it was cool how they did group dinners with all the patients. Didn’t matter if you were rich or poor, Canadian or American, straight or gay, black or white. Everyone in there was getting cut open and getting a hernia repaired, so we were all in the same boat. You could shoot the shit with people and get tips from the guys who were operated on the day before, and monitor each other’s progress. Where else on earth can you hear conversations at the dinner table like “Man, I took some narcotic painkiller yesterday and now can’t take a dump, do you guys have any tips on how to crap because it hurts too much to push right now!” They do about 125 surgeries a week and they have about 7 surgeons who only do hernias, it’s just a total hernia factory. You know you are in good hands when the surgeons are doing so many operations, they are definitely experts which is why the failure rate is so low.
For Americans you could probably expect to pay about $3000 for one surgery and $5000 for bilateral hernia (including the meals and a bed), since you don’t have provincial health coverage, but they accept all kinds of insurance. Plus the cost of flying there. Flying wasn’t even a big deal just a couple days after surgery, as long as you get up to walk once an hour. Amazing how it is cheaper for an American to go to Canada for a surgery.
If anyone ever has an issue with Hernias and is interested in more info, let me know. I may be off with the costs because every case is different, this is just my experience. Apparently the Shouldice method has the lowest chance of reoccurrence versus laparoscopic or open mesh repair, but that could be just due to the fact that the surgeons are so experienced. Maybe a surgeon who specializes strictly in mesh and does hundreds of mesh surgeries a year would have better stats but I don’t know how you would find such a guy. Hopefully I made the right choice by going to Shouldice but based on the amounts of guys from all over North America there and their good stats, I think that I put myself in good hands. To me, it would be a no-brainer for a guy in Ontario to get a hernia repaired here, obviously for non-Ontario guys it’s a different decision. I am just happy that I got two hernias at the same time, so I won’t ever have to think about hernias again, knock on wood!
Now just waiting to get back under the bar and can get back on the road towards Steelex gains!
