It's October. Per the prior post, I have been chipping away at the clock for the past many months awaiting, among other things, a hernia repair. Or, most properly, a fatty inguinal bilateral hernia which I had repaired via robotic assisted laparoscopy. That's a fancy way of saying I had tears on both sides of my groin allowing fat tissue (not intestines) to poke through. The surgery was minimally invasive - I have a set of 3 incisions (left, right, and center) a little below the ribcage and all the work was done from the top (no incisions below the belt line). The repair was made with mesh, which will embed and reinforce into the surrounding tissue over time. Without mesh, the doc advertised a 1 in 5 chance at repeat hernias, but 1 in 100 with. So, I opted for the biomechanical upgrade.
The left side was my complaint but the doc isolated a smaller one on the right, so the surgery was a 2-fer. It's barely been a week, but initial prognosis is that the surgery was successful.
At the time of this writing, it's been 6 days. I am off work but am returning (telework) tomorrow. I am sleeping upright in a chair. My goal today was to walk the 1/2 mile outer perimeter of our forest trail, which I did. I took my time and stopped to enjoy a fantastic fall day a few times. I started the walk thinking I'd make 2 laps, but at the 3/4 point of lap 1, I knew that it was time to go inside. This was the furthest I'd walked in almost a week, over uneven ground. And yet, it weighed on me that after this minimal exertion I was 'done' for a couple of hours.
I've lost nearly all my conditioning and am arguably worse than where I started in 2021 (when I bought into Zwift). I'll ponder that later but it's clear I'm at the bottom of a curve.
- Thursday: Day of the surgery. I didn't sleep particularly well and we needed to be checked in by 0630. Staff were great, I had all my questions answered, met with the surgeon and anesthesiologist, and we were rolling by 0800.
- The procedure was advertised at 2 hours. I was back there about an hour and then moved to recovery.
- I got 'stuck' in recovery most of the day. They need you to pee before you can be released - general guidance and also specific to this procedure. I was dehydrated and went pee 3 times before the procedure at the nurse's encouragement. I produced a little but not enough to be cleared. So, I sat and absorbed 2 full IV bags of fluids while I napped in the recovery chair and let my kidneys do the rest.
- They had me walk back to the surgery room, which was surreal. I had a 'dead man walking' feel as staff eyeballed me as I passed - I was the only person in a gown and not scrubs.
- Getting knocked out consisted of breathing some oxygen. I remember the mask and a couple of comments from the anesthesiologist, and then black. I didn't feel it coming at all, unlike my colonoscopies.
- Friday: I woke up at 4am hurting and knowing my nerve block had wore off. Took pain meds and went back to sleep. Day of rest in my favorite chair, watching the first 4 Harry Potter movies with Sherman the cat. Pain was minimal, but I was pretty religious with the pain meds and OTC (aleve). I didn't move much.
- I had very little core strength due to how they routed the procedure. I use/used my arms to pull myself around. This is coming back with time and I have to be careful - muscle memory and habit is a hurtful bitch.
- Saturday: I felt great! I made some crock pot stew and got busy in the kitchen. Overdid it and realized later it was the pain meds talking.
- Sunday: Woke up sore. Hung out in the chair again.
- M/T/W: More chair time, progressively increasing my outdoor walks, doing light chores (dishes) and reheating leftovers and easing off medication.
- Thursday: Back to work (telework).
To steal the title from the prior post - so, now what? It's a bit too early to tell, of course, but I seem to be tracking "as advertised" to recovery, which means I'll be feeling the after effects for 4-6 weeks, after which I might think about getting on the bike again.
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