The details

Time for a surgery recap for those of you that like that kind of thing......  It is a reasonably simple surgery since it doesn't involve cutting through or near any major organs, muscles etc.  Because I had a bilateral hernia (both sides) he recommended general anaesthesia VS local with sedation.  He's the expert so that's what I did.  Went under about 9:30am and came round in recovery about 11.  He took pictures for me, and this is apparently what happend during those lost 90 minutes.

First shot is the left side after the initial opening.  The cut is about 1 1/2 inches to give you some idea of scale.  The stuff outlined in green is my insides and really shouldn't be visible!  There are two layers of muscle wall that I've torn through to do that.

Next shot shows the stitching for the lower layer.  This should keep the inside bits inside, where they belong.  He prefers to do this type of open surgery with real sutures instead of going laproscopic and using mesh.  Sutures are more effective in guarenteeing things are closed and you don't have to deal with any potential side effects of having mesh inside you.  Also, as you are open he can see exactly where the issue is and remove anything else that shouldn't be these.  In my case I had a lipoma (buildup of fatty tissue) on each side which he took out.  These occur about 50% of the time with hernias and are another cause of pain, so I'm glad they are gone.

This one shows the final stitches in the top flap of muscle wall.  That bit at the bottom of the picture, held out of the way by the yellow/white strap is my spermatic cord (sounds important to me).  They pull that out to avoid cutting it by accident!

This one is the left side all stitched up - final scar is just over 1 inch long.

The right side was pretty much the same, here's a picture that shows the right lipoma!  This was over an inch long and couldn't have been helping me all that much.  The body is definitely a weird thing.

Recovery is going well.  There is swelling, which is going down a little, and plenty of bruising.  I have a percocet prescription but so far have just been taking ibuprofen.  Doctor is surprised that I am not needing anything stronger but says that it's fine if I'm OK with it.  I really don't want to be completely drugged out on painkillers, so will try to keep going with just the vitamin I.  Right now it feels like a dull ache, which to be honest is how most of my long runs felt for the last few months.  I'm meant to do a little walking if I feel up to it, so will be doing a few laps of the block today.

So it looks it's all been successful, and I am on track for a reasonably manageable recovery period.  Gonna spend today/tomorrow at home but back to work Monday.