When it comes to neck hernia surgery, our patients have many concerns and questions. By the way, one of the most frequently asked questions is “When will I be able to go back to work?” the question is. This issue depends on factors such as the type of surgery performed on the patient, how many distance hernia surgery was performed in the surgery, the patient’s body structure, age, job characteristics (in and out of the office, body-weighted work, etc.), whether a titanium plate was used in the surgery. In this article, we will discuss a patient who is 45 years old, male or female, works at a desk with a computer in an office, spends almost all of his day in the office, has no other important health problems, has a suitable height/weight ratio, has a single-distance neck hernia and has decided to undergo surgery.
Preoperative Process
We make the surgical decision after examining our patient and taking a cervical (neck) MRI and a simple X-ray of the neck vertebrae. After that, we refer our patient to the external physicians of the hospital where we work 1 day before the operation date and make pre-operative examinations. Afterwards, our anesthesiologist friend evaluates our patient. After that, the patient is sent home on leave to come the next day, the day of surgery.
Operation Process
We take our patient, who was hospitalized the next morning, to surgery in the afternoon. For information about surgery options, you can read the article in the relevant link by clicking here. The operation takes 2-2.5 hours as departure and arrival from the patient’s room. Of this period, 45 minutes before the operation is used for anesthesia and adjustment of the surgical position of the patient, and 30 minutes after the operation is used to wake the patient from anesthesia. In other words, we can only say that the surgical process takes 45 minutes to 1 hour.
Postoperative Hospital Process
It is carried out 5-6 hours after the patient is taken to the room. He starts taking his first soft food regimen after 6 hours. The night is mostly uneventful. Sometimes there may be difficulty in swallowing and sometimes a feeling of being stuck in the throat. Our patient has breakfast the next day and is discharged after dressing is done by me.
Postoperative Home Process
We recommend a 2-3 day non-inpatient rest period at home. On the 4th day, our patient can go out. We also recommend a soft food regimen in the first week (soup, bread crumbs, pasta, mashed potatoes, pudding, etc.).
When Will I Return to Work?
At work, we encounter patients with severe leave or report limitations. Due to the fact that these patients cannot return to work in the early period, they have concerns such as dismissal and loss of position. While these problems should not be encountered in institutions where social security rules are strictly enforced; This problem is a serious concern in a group of patients whose number is not small at all. For this reason, I give permission to patients who have undergone neck hernia surgery (if they work at a desk job) who want to return to work in the early period, provided that they comply with a moderate work schedule after the 10th day. However, if our patient does not work at a desk job, for example, a person who drives constantly, works in construction work or travels very often, we do not want him to start work with full performance before at least 20 days.
In conclusion, although neck hernia surgery is performed in an area where there are very important anatomical structures, the postoperative period is a very easily tolerated process as everything goes as it should in surgery.
I wish all my patients a Turkey and a healthy life where they will not have to worry about social security and work.
