Flirting With Being Completely Healthy

i am just a couple days from two months post double hernia surgery. i've had a scare or 10 along the way. the latest scare came after ski touring two weekends ago. let's just say things didn't feel right during or after. i decided to take the following week off from skiing and running and i spoke with my surgeon. he assured me this could be normal because the mesh has to reassimilate with the abdomin. so again, i rested.

i tried the abs out again yesterday, 14 miles of awesome pacnw trail running at the middle fork of snoqualmie with the patagonia green runner justin angle and his buddy tom. beautiful snowy trails had me euphoric for the first 45 min or so. for the first time in over a year i didn't feel the abs/hips during a run! i was thinking "so this is what it feels like to run with a healthy body. i can get used to this... it's a lot easier!" however after a few slips on the snow and wet roots the pain reared it's ugly head, but this time with considerable less discomfort than ever. today i feel great and i can do leg lifts with less pain than i can remember in recent memory... it's still there, but it's obviously getting better. needless to say this has me very excited and all fired up about this season.

when i think back to how i ran at the hurt 100k in january of 2007 i recall my strategy to get around the right side abdominal pain i had yet to diagnose as a hernia. it was to make every big step up a log or root with my left leg.. because lifting the right side hurt. sounds ridiculous for 62 miles of constant up or down terrain right? yeah. so the prospect of running without issues slowing me down has me all giddy inside. now i just need to put in the work - but that is the fun part!... and planning my season, that is fun too.

How Much Does a Double Hernia Surgery Cost?

$9,765.09

Hernia Recovery

hernia is a dirty word. i have a slight feeling of shame when i admit i just had a surgery on my double inguinal hernias. i think this is because most people believe this to be a condition associated with overweight people. as this post shows (thanks sean) it's very common in runners.

i'm now 11 days off of my double hernia laproscopic surgery. they made a few small incisions, blew my stomach up with carbon dioxide and slid a camera on a stick in there to check things out. my dr then stapled a mesh patch over each of my holes. from the operative report: "A 3x6 sheet of ultra Pro mesh was then tacked to Cooper's ligament, the underside of the tranversalis fascia and the symphysis pubis. No tacks were placed lateral to the epigastric vessels or the iliacs. Laterally, the mesh was interspersed between the peritoneum and the pelvic sidewall without any clips. This laid down nicely. It covered the possible location of the femoral hernia as well as an indirect and direct hernia nicely."

so how do i feel? after a week i was a bit disapointed that my stomach still hurt as much as it did. i've had lots of friends and elite runners tell me they had the same surgery (well 1 hernia, not 2) and that they were running rather quickly after it.. one said 4 days, another 9 days after surgery. i am still not sure i could run if i wanted to. i have very localized pain, especially on the left side. a life without activity is tough for me. my life literally revolves around it. i taught a track workout on wed and had to just stand there, in the rain. ugh. i called the dr last week and asked if i could ride my bike "super easy". the nurses response was "absolutely not! not until you see the dr."

well i am just back from seeing the dr today. everything looks good and i have the green light to ride super easy on a stationary bike. i'm going to give that a try tonight. on saturday, which is 2 weeks post-op, i can start to do normal training and ramping up my efforts... albeit extremely slowly

Hernia Surgery Done!

up at 4am. my saint of a friend cory fraser picked me up at 5am. checked in at the hospital at 5:30am. drugs kicked in at 7:37am.. dreamland. i wake with two titanium mesh patches over the holes in my abdomen. my stomach hurts... bad. i took some oxycodone and next thing i know cory and little baby colin (who just turned 2!) arrive with smiles.

today i had surgery for my two inguinal hernias. now i'm drugged up on cory's couch. i can't situp, or stand up on my own yet so cory and his family are taking care of me. i'm lucky to have such good friends.

hernias leaves and interbike

after flying from vegas to seattle, seattle to new york (red eye), and finally new york to portland, maine. i'm finally here in the shire, the sticks - freedom, new hampshire. no cell service, but deathly slow dial up internet. i feel awful. interbike and the travel has crushed me. i'm on the verge of becoming really sick. it's a pretty time in new england right now, the leaves are turning and the foliage is beautiful. it makes me very excited to run this weekend in vermont. if i wasn't feeling so beat up i'd be itching to get out into those white mountains and run.

hernias: yep. talked to my dr. yesterday. ct scan showed i have bilateral inguinal hernias (hernias on both sides). i am still running the vermont 50 miler this weekend. pain is temporary. surgery is scheduled for friday oct 12th, a couple days after i get back home to seattle. doesn't matter if i have to work on paying this off for the next 5 years - it has to be fixed.

interbike: i was too busy to take photos or blog while there. the outdoor demo was awesome, dusty and hot.. perfect for nuun. i hope to at least add some photos soon.

read

• grist article - 15 green business founders (#1 is patagonia's yvon chouinard, but there are some other interesting founders in there.
• interview from may with matt carpenter, who at 47 just won the pikes peak ascent and pikes peak marathon the following day!
• poor floyd landis - is he really guilty? i think so.

my status - well i grow increasingly frustrated with health insurance in this country. i spend $280 a month.. for what? with deductibles i still have to put my ct scan on my credit card. anyway i should find out monday if i have two or just the one hernia and what type.

i leave first thing tomorrow for interbike with nuun! - then this young man heads east! flying into portland maine... hanging with family in freedom new hampshire.. visiting friends in portsmouth new hampshire... heading to brownsville vermont for the vermont 50 miler... then recovering on the cape with family! it's going to be an awesome few weeks!

Double Down

surgeon: "put your fingers here. you should feel something pushing through when you cough."
cough
me: "hmm.. i guess." i think to myself, check the other side to compare.
cough
me: "doesn't feel any different to me than the other side."
surgeon: "let me check."
cough
surgeon: "thats cause it feels like you have a hernia on both sides."
scene...

awaiting ct of pelvis for confirmation.