Helping a Loved One Recover From an Inguinal Hernia Surgery.

Inguinal Hernia surgery recovery was stressful! In 2019 my husband found out he had an Inguinal Hernia and required surgery. Due to the chaos of 2020, it would take until 2021 before he would have the surgery to repair it. My husband is a construction worker, so tons of walking up and down stairs, lifting, pulling, ladder work, etc. This was an extremely rough couple of years for him and he was eager to get this surgery over with.

Knowing my husband does not do well laying around the house, I set to work to ensure he would be super comfy and have everything at his disposal.

First things first! If you do not already have a hernia belt, get one!!! This handy item is the only reason my husband was able to continue working with an Inguinal Hernia.

One of the things I noticed during my deep dive into what he would need was that there isn’t a ton of information out there! SO in case you’re in this same situation, here is the must-have list of items that were super helpful to keep him comfy during his recovery.

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Must-Haves for After Hernia Surgery

• I stocked up on tons of flannel pants and sweats in a larger size so he would be more comfortable. I honestly grabbed these from Walmart and Giant Tiger as I knew once the recovery was over he wouldn’t wear them again.
• A picker upper grabber thing from the dollar store as I knew he would struggle to bend over for a few days
• A bed tray off of amazon to help him be able to eat more comfortably in the first couple of days after surgery.

The night before his surgery I put a basket on his nightstand and filled it with the usuals for surgery recovery:

• Water bottles
• Gatorade bottles
• Ginger ale
• Gravol
• Tylenol
• Advil
• Heating pad.

I then made sure all of our ice packs were in the freezer and would be ready to go for him. Again, we have a large collection of these. Hard ice packs, large gel ice packs, magic bags, and small gel packs. We have ice packs on ice packs. 

Day of Hernia Surgery

Before we left I pulled out all of our pillows. Our house is stashed with all types of pillows to aid anyone recovering from a surgery or illness. I loaded our bed up with:

• Chair-looking pillow (it looks like this, but we purchased ours years ago)
• Body pillow (like this one. We have this heated one, but you don’t need to be that bougie).
• Tons of normal pillows
• The newest addition to our pillow collection, a v-shaped pillow that I read would help him keep his legs separated and sleep more comfortably (he didn’t like this though. I ended up stealing it and it’s my favourite pillow when I’m sick now).

I then put a throw blanket and a pillow in my back seat for when I drive him home.

The surgery went longer than we had anticipated and with the new COVID rules it was a different experience when picking him up than I’m used to (way more chaotic and less information is given to the person picking them up). On the drive home, he threw up. As someone who has done a few too many surgery runs in my life, I was weirdly surprised this was the first time this had happened to me and that I was completely unprepared for it. I strongly recommend you bring a small bucket in your vehicle!!! I have now added this to my list of surgery item must-haves.

Diet for After Hernia Surgery

The diet for this surgery recovery was super easy. The first night was tons of water and I made him soup for dinner. After that, he was back to his usual diet.

Pain Management for Inguinal Hernia Surgery Recovery

The doctor will give you directions on how to care for the incisions and you should get a prescription for pain pills as well as advice on Tylenol and Advil. I kept him on a strict medicine schedule (if the dose is 4 times a day, set your alarms for every 6 hours, if it’s 2 times a day, set your alarms for every 12 hours). My best tip for medicine schedules is to name your alarms! it gets very confusing after a while and it’s just easier to see alarms labelled “Advil” or “pain meds”.

Disclaimer: I am not a doctor, nurse, or medical professional of any type. These are the very simple thoughts and ideas that I formed while helping my husband recover from his surgery. Please do not take this as medical advice, and if you have concerns please contact a medical professional immediately.

If you’re looking for ideas for a care package to do up for your loved one, I strongly suggest you click here to find out my best tips for post surgery care packages.

If you have any tips and tricks for inguinal hernia surgery recovery, I would love to hear about them in the comments section!