Hernia surgery post prostatectomy

I had a Prostatectomy in 2006. Since then I had 4 hernias. And sever bladder leakage leading me to get the male sling which slowed the leakage down. If I were to do it all over again ,with the advances in radiation, I think I would choose radiation treatments. Just my personal opinion. God Bless.

I have an inguinal hernia at the belly button after my robotic prostatectomy in September 2022. While my PSA has been < .01 for the first year I have now gone .04 being detectable and am going to my urologist next week. I understand that if the PSA keeps going up I will be headed to radiation, I had several positive margins during the surgery. I still have incontinence issues ( had some problems prior to surgery but am much worse with added stress incontinence). I am of the impression that my urologist was going to suggest an AUS but I am not sure I want surgery in the pelvic area because I have pudendal nerve hypersensitivity. I have had a nerve block which has helped the sitting pain that occurred after the prostatectomy but the penal and perinium pain which I had before surgery is still present causing urinary frequency and urge incontinence.
The question I have is should I be trying to get surgery prior to radiation or should I just wait and see?

I had robotic Prostatechtomy in early 2017 & was fortunate enough that the scar tissue wasn't significant enough that my surgeon couldn't perform a double hernia repair. I will say, he commented it was more difficult than what my Urologist had told him it would be! Luckily I didn't have the abdominal procedure. Good luck my friend!

Seems to me there is no obviously correct answer to your question, "Should I repair my umbilical hernia now?" On the one hand you do not yet know when or even if you might need pelvic radiation. On the other, unless the hernia is impacting your life, e.g., pain, preventing activities you want to do, risking entrapment of bowel, there may be no reason to rush into surgery.

This is when a conversation with a neutral medical provider, your primary care/family practice doctor, might help you think through the question. Surgeons wanna cut, oncologists wanna treat/"cure" cancer. FPs *should* be concerned with the holistic you.

Good question. I have a bulge where the camera port was for my laproscopic surgery. Doesn’t bother but wasn’t there prior to surgery.

I agree completely with you, I prefer to push things out to see what happens and if it does not bother me to leave it alone. Two weeks ago I had a CT scan and they found a large minimally complex hepatic cyst ((13cmx12cmc12cm). While I was told it was not likely to be cancerous and nothing worrisome I questioned whether it should be removed because my daughter felt I should question it. I am now being sent to a surgeon at the beginning of April to discuss it and my daughter talked to her gastroenterologist and she said anything larger than 5 cm should be removed.
My highest priority on my list is to get sleep, the urinary frequency gets me up every 45 to 60 minutes. I feel so much better when I get sleep. As you say the best thing is to discuss this with my PCP which I intend to do, he is very good. The surgeon will probably say I have to have the cyst removed, my urologist will probably say I should have an AUS put in (because of my ongoing nerve issues in the pelvic area and the intense pain it can cause I will not go for it, I will endure the incontinence) and the oncologist will monitor my PSA. All I want to do is get clear of doctors and enjoy my grandchildren. Wishing everyone happiness always.

I had a prostatectomy on March 22 of 20222 by Dr Steven Sukin (who never mentioned anything about possible post surgery hernia risk) and developed an inguinal hernia on the left side a year later. I put off surgery for a year with the hope I could somehow "heal" it myself but it just got worse. By the time I had the surgery at Methodist Hospital (Houston, TX) by Dr Drew Howard of Woodlands Surgical Group on August 5, 2024, it had developed into two (or three) hernias with a small one on the right, and the left side extending down into my scrotum area. After surgery the Dr told my wife that there was extensive scar tissue, which, I assume made the operation more complicated, but I remember telling Dr Howard prior to surgery that I had a prostatectomy just a year prior, so he should have been expecting some scar tissue. I felt ok for the first 4 weeks or so after surgery, but began to feel a small inguinal hernia protruding on the right side and went in for an office visit on September 16, during which he briefly examined me and said it was probably just fluid, and that "solid tissue could not pass through the mesh". I wanted to believe him, so I thanked him and left, only to suffer an ongoing and increasing hernia on the right side, with occasional pain on the left. I am wondering what the best way to proceed might be? I purchased a couple hernia supports on Amazon that help some, but I am an active 70 year old and need to get this fixed properly.

All I can offer is to say that hernia repair is one of the most unsuccessful surgeries around; I’ve heard way too many stories of relapse after relapse.
I have an incisional hernia near my navel from prostatectomy and so far have not had to do anything about it - luckily!
I keep looking online for a surgeon who fixes them the old fashioned way - with sutures only - but good luck with that.
This mesh nonsense keeps getting pushed as the “Canadian method” but that’s BS. The Shouldice Clinic in Canada uses many, many sutures for hernia repair - not mesh.
In fact, Sen Rand Paul had his own hernia done there at a cost of $14K and he’s a surgeon himself.
But your case sounds more extensive with multiple sites so mot sure what can be done…keep looking!

Thanks for the advice and support. It's comforting just knowing I'm not an anomaly.

Wondering about the correctness of calling an umbilical hernia "inguinal", as it doesn't pass through the inguinal canal. Could a physician comment on this?