I have not :rolleyes:
but ohhhhh....not good :(

I did not mean that badly...just ouch

Hey Beads...
From a doctor´s point of view...
If nothing is popping out or hurting you....there is not a serious thing...
The procedure is pretty quick...the results are almost 100% great...the surgical time is short....and you be back on the saddle in no time.
Nowadays...the type or hernia you have is easily repeared...so my best wishes to you man...everything is gonna be just find....and keep us updated how is it going....
Amigo...nothing to worry about

Beads, you gotta stop laughing so hard!

At 'my age'?? Look who is talking?
I think I can keep up with the 'TGGW'.
That is a great benefit of training. ;-)

Hi Beads -

I can give you my account, however it's useful to you - I felt a hernia for about a year before I had surgery. In my Web MD and online research it seemed it wasn't life threatening, and only would become so if it got twisted (I had the full on protrusion). So I held off the surgery until my season was over, and it was generally a non-issue until my very last road race - a 10 mile run - of the season, where it was bothersome. Not painful, just...present. So I made my appointment the next day, and was in on November 1. I did lots of research, as you are, and generally felt like it was going to be a pretty painless and quick recovery. Other than this, I'm a really healthy guy - no other surgeries, I rarely get sick, I recover from injuries pretty quickly, etc. etc. So I considered myself "above average" a bit in how I might heal...if that makes any sense. I was 30 years old when I had the surgery.

The surgery apparently went very well and was totally routine. Nothing exceptional whatsover. They inserted a piece of Gore-Tex mesh to plug up the hole, which is apparently typical for an inguinal hernia like mine was - without the protrusion, I don't know what you could expect. The first 2 days were, for whatever reason, really tough. Getting up to walk to the bathroom or whatever was beyond painful, and twice my body almost sent me into unconsciousness from it (I stayed on top of my pain meds and everything). By day three that kind of pain had subsided, but of course I was still very slow and tender. I did my first walk down to the end of the block and back on day 5. I have to tell you that at this point, after believing I'd be up and around in no time, I felt pretty discouraged - the way my body felt, triathlon seemed like the last thing I'd ever be doing.

Anyway, healing progressed, and I was slow for another week, and after that I could walk around without noticeable slowness, etc. - about 10 days or so after surgery. About a month after the surgery I tried the pool for the first time, and it was just too painful. Not like a stabbing pain or anything, but a discomfort great enough where I was altering my stride considerably, and that would only lead to other, secondary injuries. Running was also painful. I could sit on the trainer okay, but that was about it.

Long story short (or at least shorter, sorry for the length here, but I thought I'd give you the whole lowdown) - it was March before I felt comfortable enough to actively and fully re-engage in training. It was June before I felt no pain at all. I was pretty irritated those 5 months - I hadn't expected such a slow recovery. And I frequently said that I regretted having the surgery - that the hernia was nothing more than an inconvenience and the surgery was totally elective, and it threw my training off 3 months. I was frustrated, and I'm sure having the surgery was the best thing to do, but it was no quick flip, like I thought it would be.

If I had any advice, it might be to talk to your doctor about your lifestyle, and its importance to you - I never felt like my doctor "got it", that I wasn't the kind of guy where taking months and months off from activity was best for me. He might be able to recommend some physical therapy or low impact exercise while you're out of commission or something. Or, if you're training for an IM right now, or any other race that is really personally significant to you, you might discuss with him how necessary the surgery is at this point, and see - if there are no adverse risks to you - if a later, more convenient time might work.

Anyway, my two cents. Don't know how typical my situation is or not, or what similarities, if any, our situations might have. In any case, I wish you the best of luck and the best in health.