Well two and a half weeks after my surgery I had gone in to my suregon’s office and had my follow-up (and final) visit with him. He said the procedure had gone very smoothly but my left side was quite badly torn so he had sewn one of my lower left abdominal muscles to my pelvis (which is why I had so many stitches, over 100).
Apart from that he said that I’d have SOME discomfort in the groin region (just in the outer skin between both hernias between 6 months and 1 year. No big deal though. I’m just happy that he reported no ill effects should occur. Thankfully he is the official Calgary Flames doctor and he told me to do a LOT of abdominal work (a weak mid-section was the cause of my hernias even though I did more deadlifts and squats in 2001 than many people do in 5 years). He said if I maintain a strong mid-section it will not only prevent me from ever having another hernia but it will alo make me considerably stronger than ever before because of the additional support that the mesh provides.
He also stated I should begin swimming immediately and said that I could beginning training in the gym providing everything is very lift, ensuring that nothing gives me any stress on my abdomen and I should do virtually everything seated just to eliminate and stabalizers from doing any work. He figured with 3 weeks I should be able to slowly incorporate ab work into a routine. That was about it for the visit.
If anyone has any questions regarding my ‘ordeal’ feel free and I’ll do my best to answer them if in any way I can help you out!
I started doing some light (25’s) dumbbell curls at home yesterday. High reps, like 4 sets of 15, then 4 sets of 12 with the same weight for hammer curls. It felt good to get a slight pump back in my arms, mind you the 25’s are a long way from 75’s!!!
Oh well, you have to learn how to crawl before you can walk!
I’d be interested in updates as you progress if you don’t mind doing it. I’m going under the knife tomorrow morning for a left inguinal hernia and I’d like to have a comparison on things I could be doing.
I’d like as much info as anyone has on this subject. Seems I will be getting cut here soon as well.
I was REALLY looking forward to a better year than 2003, especially in my training. We’ll see what happens now that I probably have to have hernia surgery. Not sure of a date yet but I want to get it over with so I can heal and get back to training.
I’ve had a slightly noticeable abdominal hernia since I was a baby. Looked like a fat quarter sitting under the skin all these years. Doctors said it was so igsignificant that surgery would be overkill…dumbasses.
Well, 30 years and a crap load of athletics later (football, highland games, etc) it is a lot more noticeable, has been bugging me lately and REALLY hurt after lifting the other day. Granted, I was doing a number of decline situps but I have done them for years and never felt pain like this. My doc scheduled me to me with a specialist on Monday…yee ha.
Okay, my surgery was a double (bi-lateral) inguinal hernia.
As for how I got it? Well, here is the eact routine I did for three weeks as soon as I got back from the 2001 Canada’s Strongest Man in July. Okay, I was goingto compete in the NASS’ North American’s Strongest Man in the heavyweight division even though I only weighed 217lbs. Anyway, here’s the routine: Power cleans up with 275 for three sets of triples, then deadlifts up to 600 for two sets of four. Then my final exercise was the ral killer but it’s old school traning and it works awesome, actually I’m definately goin to do it once I’m better. Anyway, I’d power clean 225, then front squat it, then dump it to the ground after I had squat it. I’d wait exactly one minute then do it again. I did 100 singles of the power clean and front squat. After three weeks of the routine, I noticed some serious buldging in my guts. Don’t get me wrong I did fel some pain in my abdomen but since there was so much adrenaline while training I hardly felt the tearing/pain.
After noticing there lumps and fearing they MAY be hernias, I took a couple of weeks off but I didn’t want to ruin my chances at the Nationals. Anyway, I started deadlifting again but only up to 435 and that’s when I felt some good pain, from then on I went to the doc’s office.
So, that’s how I got the damn things, here’s what happened after the surgery…REMEMBER ALL OF THIS STUFF!!!
On the day of surgery, bring sweat that have a draw string or you can tie up or loosen at the front…basically so loose that they’ll fall off if there not tied up.
HAVE A FRIEND, NOT A FATHER OR MOTHER OR AUNT or SISTER pick you up. They’re going to release you after you can cough on your own and piss on your own. I lied about talking a piss on my own because I was so swelled up that there was no fucking was I was able to. I just wanted to get the hell out of there. Anyway, my buddy had to help me put my sweats on and i had to put ALL OF MY WEIGHT ON HIM just to stand up, don’t forget I had a double hernia. anyway, after I got home I had my girlfriend fill my prescription of pain killers…oh yeah, make sure someone is around for 24 hours to help you out. Getting up to take a piss sucks, but the shittiest thing is getting up and off the couch for the first 24 hours is hard, I mean you can’t use your abdomen AT ALL!!! Don’t think that’s hard? Try it after you’ve read this.
Next, if you get tylenol 3’s for painkillers…go easy on them because you’ll get constipated. (Note - I’d never been constipated in my life until this surgery). Anyway, you’ll want to eat only toast and have water for the first 36-48 hours after the surgery. NO PROTEIN SHAKES!!! They’ll eventually make you want to have a bowel movement and taking a shit after a short while will put pressure on your stitches and holy shit will you be in pain!!! Now, remember only toast and water. Remeber thoug, the worst of it is the first 48 hours, if you can make it through that, you’re home free. The rest is easy street. I stopped taking pain killers after two days. I took my first dump after three days, but I lost a lot of weight but it’s back on now. Umm, after a few days you’ll be able to walk on your on (slow) but you’ll be able to do it on your own. Same with driving…DON’T WEAR BOXERS!!! Just kep wearing the loose fit sweats or track pants or whatever. Other than that…it’s easy street.
If you have any questions…lemme know and I’ll help you out.
RAGINGHULK
THought I’d add my current experience since I just went under the knife yesterday morning. I went with sweats like you suggested and also had my ex gf come pick me up and she’s been watching me for the past 24 hours. I had surgery for a left inguinal hernia and was ok to walk, slowly, and pee right after the surgery. They gave me local anesthesia on the left side in addition to the percacet and that local stuff lasted probably 12 hours. I bled a lot longer than I thought I would…surgery finished at 11am and I was still bleeding slightly at 8pm that night when I went to sleep, but it had stopped by the time I woke up this morning. Getting off the couch is definately impossible without my ex’s help and if I were going though it again I’d make sure you have a gf or ex gf to help you out b/c frankly wearing any clothes the past 24 hours other than a big tshirt hurts. The pain is a lot less than it was yesterday though and I’m still constipated like raginghulk said from the painkillers. I can kind of shuffle around on my own but I can’t stand up straight and walk normally, still hurts too much and I tried once but it feels like the stitches would get pulled apart. Hmm…doctor also told me not to shower for 3 days and change the gauze pad regularly…I think that’s about it. Good luck to anyone else who is going through it. I think the funniest part for me was that I apparently fought the nurses when I first woke up b/c I thought I was dreaming and didn’t know why they were holding me down, and they told me they had to drug me a 2nd time to knock me out…and I was calm when I woke up after that.
