[StevL]

I had my hydrocele removed on Jan 7th, 2010. I had lived with this condition for about 10 months and I was scared to death about having the surgery. After all I had made it 53 years without having any surgeries, only a few cuts and bruises along the way.

I'm a fairly detail oriented person. I paid pretty close attention to what my doctor said and what the nurses had to say. The surgery I don't remember... a good thing.

After waking up from surgery I felt no pain at all. I went straight home and my wife had the pain medication filled. I took the medication before I felt any pain and continued to take the maximum dosage at the minimum time interval prescribed for 48 hours.

After 48 hours I started taking the minimum dosage at the minimum interval for another 48 hours.

After the fourth day I stopped all medications.

For the first two days I basically stayed in bed (other than going to the restroom and kitchen). The next two days I started showering, walking around the house for minutes at a time, but not lifting anything over the weight of a glass of water.

After the first four days I returned to work for a few hours a day. I didn't lift anything over 10lbs for two weeks. I pampered myself, I should say my wife pampered me... I have a really good wife.

The only discomfort I ever had; I could feel the incision pulling a little. As the sutures started to dissolve I had some skin irritation, I found packing the old underwear again seem to make that easier to deal with. Not painful, just irritating.

I never had what I would call pain through the entire ordeal. I'm not 100% as a write this, but I'm very close. Looking back it wasn't anything to be so scared of. I certainly wouldn't look forward to this problem again but I definitely would have it taken care of sooner now that I have experienced the procedure.

Don't wait, it's not that big of deal (I don't think), take it easy, pamper yourself for a few days, and get it behind you. I'm now looking forward to playing some golf again!

Best of luck,
Steve