Friday, July 25, 2008

Umbilical Hernia - Consult

Saw the surgeon about the hernia. Nice guy, but very quick. It was nice in a way to feel like he was blowing through my case because it was so routine.

He confirmed I have a ventral umbilical hernia, but no other hernias. Apparently in my case it's caused by some medical word I don't remember, that mean that the connective tissue in teh middle between both sides of your abs in your six pack thins and stretches apart, in my case starting at the belly button, and that created a weak spot.

I go in next Thursday to the clinic, they use some general anesthetic, make an incision around the belly button, insert some mush through the hole and under the muscle, tack it in place, superglue me together, wake me up and send me home. No weights over 20 pounds for a week, and according to the doc, no running for 4 weeks. Apparently the no running is not because of potential problems with the repair, but because if the increased chance of infection from sweating, etc at the incision site. We'll see how well that rule holds up. :) If I do listen too him, my knee will probably appreciate it. :)

A 4 week off period gets me started back running around the 28th of August. About 13 1/2 weeks before the marathon. I'm definitely going to miss the half marathon on Labor Day I had planned on. My current training plan is loosely based on the Hal Higdon Novice plan. 13 weeks puts me exactly where I am in the plan, at week 6, which is fortunately a fall back week. The question is, is it safe, or am I capable of picking back up where I left off. Going to have to think and ask some more questions. I'd go from 4 weeks off, with maybe a run or two the previous week to start back up to 3, 5, 3, 7 and then 3,6,3,12. Hmmm. not sure I like the way that looks. Maybe I need to think about doing the half in November instead.

2 comments:

Da Doo Run Run said...

Not the news you wanted to hear, and I'm sorry about that. I hope you continue to run just as soon as you are permitted to. Maybe you will surprise yourself with how quickly you bounce back. And if not and you have to run the half in November, just think how in shape you will be for the marathon next year! At the very least just think of how beneficial all this running has been to your health, and by continuing to run regularly you are giving such a gift to Kaitlyn. She will grow up thinking that taking care of oneself and being fit is the norm, not the exception to the norm. Don't give up! Although from reading your blog about your latest run it doesn't seem like you will.

Laura said...

What if you put some super-absorbent-something over the incision so that the sweat is soaked up immediately?

I don't know why I just thought of/suggested that. Sometimes I think if someone told me I couldn't run for a while, I'd just be relieved because it would make a great excuse to relax :)