Modern Buddy

Sorry I have yet to ever make stickers/patches for the 21 Club....I blame it on life getting in the way. Work, riding the scooter, work, the love of a beautiful woman, getting a stella 2t, work, working on the stella 2t, and so on & so on.
The Blackjack got a new battery, the Stella got a new battery, new sparkplug & sparkplug cap, new main fuse & starter relay, both scooter machines are in tip top shape, and me? I just had ABDOMINAL SURGERY!!! (a hernia that has been misdiagnosed for almost two years - my goodness, I was getting ready to call in a witch doctor to fix my gut - it had been called everything from a groin strain to diverticulosis to upper thoracic nerve damage telegraphing to the pelvis)...anyways, laproscopic & mesh repair was done on my hernia, and now? I'm walking like a mummy this hurts so bad at times - I coughed this morning, and thought I was gonna cry...so:
First - everyone ride an extra mile for me & enjoy your scooters and tell them you love them, and if you have pet names, call them their pet names & take them to their favorite gas stations
Second - if any of you most def & bad assed scooter riders have any experience with this sort of medical thing(laproscopic hernia repair - inguinal hernia as opposed to hiatal) would you could you tell me how long it was before you or the person you knew who had had a similar procedure could scoot again? this is 3/27...on 4/29 is a huge multi club all are welcome ride here (and they mean all are welcome - we had choppers last year riding along with the scooters). I'm just getting impatient about riding, and if someone here on the forum said "Hell yes, you'll be fine to ride in 4 weeks, I was..." or "ohhh....better pick a good spot to watch the ride go by" it'd bring piece of mind either way.
Lastly, thanks to everyone on this forum for offering advice, tips, technical solutions, stories, and philosophy to scooter & non scooter riders over the years. Scooting is a big ole slice of pie, but MB provides the ala mode!

I'm sorry to hear you had to have surgery, BUT... I am glad to hear that they finally properly diagnosed you, and have fixed you up!

I have never had a hernia, but I do have an illness that, in combination with an ovarian cyst, led me to have a lower abdominal laproscopy in January of 2009.

I remember the kind of pain you are speaking of. I was out of work for a week, and on light duty for another two. I remember that it was about a week and a half before I could sleep comfortably on my side, and it required me to hold a pillow there. I also remember that for most of the first week, part of the pain was actually in my shoulder blades, from air that had gotten into my abdominal cavity and risen (common with abdominal laproscopies, I've read... use a heating pad if this is happening to you, the air will slowly dissipate and leave your body naturally).

I remember that coughing, sneezing, laughing, walking, sitting... all of these were difficult and painful to do at first. All I could really do comfortably was sit or lay and watch TV or read or be on the computer, especially the first week-sometimes it made me feel better to have a pillow against my tummy (they didn't recommend the heating pad against the incisions). After the first few days, getting up and walking around felt alright as long as I didn't walk or stand for too long and didn't do much bending. Bending... stooping down and back up, or sometimes twisting, were the last kinds of pain I had and those were the motions I was cautioned against (as well as lifting and straining) going back to work (I worked at a Target at the time).

I don't know how long/bumpy/harsh your daily commute is, or that ride you are wondering about, but I do NOT recommend rushing yourself back onto your scoot- give yourself at least a week and a half or two weeks, that's the bare minimum I would have taken off the scooter. The best thing I can say is to let your pain be your guide- your incisions will probably heal more quickly than your insides take to feel totally better.

Take care of yourself, drink lots of fluids, eat lots of fruits and/or fibers with the meds they give you, and I hope you heal up well and without any trouble so you DO feel dandy for that ride!

Thank you, LunaP - that is good news! I will most surely let pain be the deciding factor here...as of now, it takes me a few minutes to stand up or sit down, in addition to making a few Don Knotts worthy faces. And I did cough twice today...and thought I was gonna keel over.
Glad to hear that scooting around won't be months and months away - thanks a bunch!!!!!

I had a similar procedure, but it was a MAJOR abdominal reconstruction since mine was both to correct a hernia and to remove more cancerous tissue. Let's just say I got unzipped in the most painful way

First this is to NOT RUSH IT!! I know. I tried to stage manage a show two weeks after my 2nd procedure to patch me up and I ended up right back in hospital with hemorrhaging. When they say it will take at least 4-6 weeks for endoscopic repair to be "functional", they mean it! Now, this won't mean you will be fully healed after this time. This is just to the point where you can move around with some degree of liberty and you will be able to resume normal function. Your abdominal muscles will need far longer to return to some state of normal. Don't lift more than 20 lbs for about 6 to 8 weeks. I'm sure you've discovered the amazing phenomenon of how many things are connected to the abs

As far as riding, I would NOT push it for at least 6 weeks. Abs are very critical to actually being able to control the bike and they're the muscles that suffer the most. You may not have any incisions like I did on that particular tissue, but the securing mesh will be affixed to that and you want to give that implant full time to heal. Also, healing time actually varies and tends to be more critical for men than women. I know I wasn't fit for work until week 4, and it took me nearly 4 MONTHS to get back to functioning shape. But, my procedure was far worse than 99% of people out there. Although the same issues about abdominal control on a bike will still plague you. It's just something to keep in mind.

I would give it at least 3 to 4 weeks before you try any kind of riding beyond a mile or two. Better to play it safe when it comes to this kind of procedure. Laproscopic surgery is probably one of the best things for this condition ever since it reduces the recovery time from a few MONTHS to a couple of weeks. It's good that you got it fixed. Many people make jokes about hernias but they don't realize that with men, it can be deadly because it is often ignored and can strangulate bloodflow down there or cause blood clots. The fun of external organs...

Let us know when you get back on the saddle! Good to know you're not letting something like this keep your spirits for riding down

Tam Tam, glad they were able to give you a proper diagnosis and fix ya up. sounds like the exact same procedure my wife had about two years ago. It was pretty bad for the first month and a half or so and she definitely wasn't on the scooter for at least the first two months for sure. Did they have to put a post in your pelvic bone to anchor the mesh? they did that with my wife and that was what took the longest to stop hurting real bad. Unfortunately, it seems the small hernia that they repaired was not the cause of my wifes pain so even though shes healed up from the surgery she still have the original pain and they have yet to figure out why. Hopefully that will not be the case for you though and you'll be back to your fully healed scooting self in a few short months

My surgery last year was a totally different kind (just messing around with my spine ) but I can offer the advice to not put any expectations on the progress of your recovery, and take it as it goes. Keep trying new things, but be prepared to bail out if you find you've gone too far too soon. For example, if you go for a ride around the block, but 2/3 of the way you start hurting: stop. I did a little too much too quickly a couple times, didn't want to admit it, and bought myself additional pain and PT in the process.

Thanx everyone for your advice & support - I'm learning all too quick the tremulous nature of this type of injury. Last night, as I sat on the couch, my distended belly pooching out, my fiance's cat decided this was the right time to assert her dominance in the house hold, and leapt from the back of the couch 3 feet away to land on my stomach then launch off again to the coffee table...and I screamed. Since then, I'm moving back like I was just off the operating table...
Well. no worries if I can't make it on the ride...I have to be able to work in 6 weeks, so I'd rather use my time to heal all the way, and not yay fun ride!! then be like boo!! stomach hurts!...
I'll scam the route ahead of time and set up somewhere and take pictures as all the scoots roll by, or shoot flaming arrows at them....or try to hand out cups of gatorade like a marathon.
But thank you everyone for your friendly words!

Tam Tam wrote:Thanx everyone for your advice & support - I'm learning all too quick the tremulous nature of this type of injury. Last night, as I sat on the couch, my distended belly pooching out, my fiance's cat decided this was the right time to assert her dominance in the house hold, and leapt from the back of the couch 3 feet away to land on my stomach then launch off again to the coffee table...and I screamed. Since then, I'm moving back like I was just off the operating table...
Well. no worries if I can't make it on the ride...I have to be able to work in 6 weeks, so I'd rather use my time to heal all the way, and not yay fun ride!! then be like boo!! stomach hurts!...
I'll scam the route ahead of time and set up somewhere and take pictures as all the scoots roll by, or shoot flaming arrows at them....or try to hand out cups of gatorade like a marathon.
But thank you everyone for your friendly words!

My mum's cat did the same thing with my leg. He's a grumpy old fart now and almost never affectionate, except with my mum and youngest sister. But out of the blue the other morning, he came inside when my dad left for work, walked into my room, purrpurrpurrpurr... jumped up on the bed and walked right onto my bad leg

Oct. 6th 2011, at work and out of the blue, umbilical hernia came popping out. With hernia's just do what your Doctor recommends, if he say's no doing something, DON'T try to do it.

As previously stated you do so much with your abdomen you really need to rest to allow it to heal. When you can finally move around, with little or no discomfort, it will seem to be the best day of your life.

And there will be other rides, don't push it, a friend's father at work died from doing to much after a hernia surgery.