My Sports Hernia- Part III

When I woke up in the recovery room back in April, Dr. Busconi was there.  He told me that I probably wouldn't remember the conversation....but I did.  I asked him how things went.  He said "great".  They found a "hole" (tear) in the muscle (not just a thinning of the muscle which can also be the case) right away.  The procedure was relatively quick.  My immediate response was "awesome", does this mean I'll recover quicker!  A short time later, Jenn drove me home.  Having surgery in the pelvis/groin region makes sitting in a car difficult.  I immediately set up camp on the couch in our lower level family room, right next to the garage.  Jenn made sure I was comfortable.  A bit later, I felt good enough to walk the stairs to the kitchen to eat something.  But, as soon as I made it up and sat down, the "good feeling" went away.  As I made my way to the stairs to go retreat to the couch, the light faded away...next thing I knew I was on the floor....blacked out.  I was fine...but it freaked Jenn out nonetheless.  Fortunately I was not on the stairs at the time, or it could have been ugly.  Mind you, I was on some heavy painkillers.  I spent the next few days recovering on the couch.  I was only on the painkillers for about 1.5 days (I have no idea how people become addicted to Oxycondon....it's awful).  By day 3 I was fairly mobile.  We had friends staying with us for the marathon...and I really had no choice but to get around a bit.  I even made it down to the hills in Newton to watch the race w/my teammates from the Boston Triathlon Team. 

The recovery protocol from my surgery is 2 months of nothing....no lifting of any kind for about 6 weeks or so, since the repaired area is so affected by it.  This is almost unavoidable.  I mean seriously, I'm not even supposed to lift groceries.  I tried to follow my recovery protocol....but I definitely went beyond what I should have been doing....several times.  In retrospect, I'm glad I waited to have this surgery (rather than have it in the winter).  With Jenn traveling so much, I would have been screwed with all the snow we had.  Anyway, I will say that in some ways, it was nice to have a forced break from training.  I mean, I wasn't allowed to do anything.  It was liberating...not feeling guilty for not riding, running and swimming.  But, at the same time, it made me want to do it more....ignited the fire....which had dimmed a bit.  After 2 months of relatively nothing....I was to begin PT.  So, I set up an appointment with Alex of Marathon Physical Therapy....a friend of mine....but who also has an office within throwing distance of mine.  I never thought I'd be so excited to start physical therapy!  (to be continued)