I want to pass on information relative to my recent experience with an
inguinal
hernia.

I am   a 74 year old retired male and have always been blessed with
good health. Other than removed tonsils as a kid never had another
major surgical procedure.

In September 2005, I discovered a lump in the left groin area when
drying after shower. Since my wife and I are in the mountains of North
Carolina in summer and I walk my 60 lb dog daily on a steep hill there
adjacent to our property
, I initially figured it was a pulled muscle.

One night while having dinner with friends, I experienced a sharp pain
in the area that did not subside until I got up on my feet. I also
discovered the lump disappeared when reclining. I decided then I had
something more than a pulled muscle in that area and google searches on
hernias led me to inguinal hernias and searching a yahoo image of
"inguinal hernia" led me to an image that could have been a clone of my
own groin area.

By that time, it was early December 05 and my wife and I were preparing
to leave our summer home for our winter home in southern Georgia and I
decided to get a professional diagnosis upon arrival at our winter
home. A local surgeon advised that my self diagnosis was correct and
that a surgical procedure was indeed necessary. Since my son on law had
a laparoscopic  repair, I asked the local guy about it and he advised
he only did the traditional open surgery procedure. He also was candid
in advising that at my age, my biggest risk could be the effects of
general anesthesia   An internet search comparing laparoscopic vs
traditional led me to a third alternative which was the tension free
prolene mesh procedure.

I found this procedure being performed at two locations, one being the
Hernia Institute of Florida in Miami at http://www.***.com/
and the other outside
of Philadelphia at http://www.***.com/

I then called the Hernia Institute of Florida and got some preliminary
information from Jennifer and was advised that over 90% of their
procedures were done with sedation combined with local anesthesia.
General anesthesia was sometimes need in cases of obesity. At 6'2''
175lbs, I felt that would probably not apply in my particular case.
Jennifer advised me that the next step was to get medical clearance for
surgery and then to call Mary who was the coordinator for the Hernia
Institute. Since I had no regular Dr, I made an appointment with a
local GP and he found I had some hypertension and prescribed medication
and other tests. After a couple of weeks my {*filter*} pressure was normal
and according to the GP on 01/20/2006 all the tests looked OK so I
called Mary on  Mon1/23/2006. Mary adivsed Dr.
Michael Graham could see me On Tue 01/31/2006 for possible surgery the
next day and also advised about nearby hotel reservations and
transportation to and from the hotel for the procedure.

My wife and I flew from Tallahassee, our closest airport on 1/31 and
the procedure was performed the following day at the Larkin Community
Hospital in SW Miami by Dr Michael Graham.  When I was wheeled into the
operating room, I glanced at the clock on the wall. It was 11:35. By
2:15 the procedure was complete,. I had had a light lunch immediately
provided after the procedure by the friendly Larkin hospital staff, the
hotel van had picked my wife and I up at the hospital and we were back
in our room at the hotel. We even went to dinner at a nearby restaurant
that evening,  courtesy of the hotel van.

The People at the Hernia Institute are outstanding and the people at
Larkin Hospital are outstanding and I highly recommended them both as I
highly recommend Dr. Graham.

I would also recommend the nearby Hampton Inn Dadeland for those in
Miami for the procedure since they coordinate very well with the Hernia
Institute

Since Larkin is in SW Miami, Spanish is the pre{*filter*} language but
all I had contact with had some command of English, some better than
others but I did not consider language a problem at all even though I
cannot speak or understand Spanish at all.

Dr Graham checked me out the next morning 2/2 and I was given the
clearance to return home the next day. My wife and I went to Dadeland
Mall for lunch, again courtesy of the Hampton Inn van and flew back to
Tallahassee yesterday 2/3/2006. Since 48 hours had passed and I could
drive, i walked about a half a mile from the terminal to long term
parking, picked up the car  and drove us home. Still having a little
discomfort, particularly when I stand after  sitting but it is
handleable today on 2/4/2006,