Monday, September 27, 2010

I Now Confidently Believe In The Pretrib Rupture


Wait just a minute! Before I get into the main content of this post I must take a moment to bring you up to date on an important anniversary. Jonathan turned 18 years old on Sunday and we took the opportunity to visit McGrath's Fish House. In attendance with him were his grandparents on his mother's side and his mother and myself. I, of course was behind the camera. The party was a bit of a bust as the unlimited shrimp that most of us ordered was pretty lousy. I think they were underdone. It was an "all you can eat" selection and believe me, one plate was all you could eat. It was probably a bit of an anomalie as I believe that McGrath's is a reputable restaurant but not that particular day I am sorry to say. However, the time spent with family, and Jonathan in particular, was memorable we will all remember it with favor.

With that important preamble, I must spill my guts with this important update.


Up until recently, I thought that it would never happen to me. However, a couple of weeks ago I had to go to a doctor and renew my medical card, which is a requirement for my commercial driver's license. After the familiar "cough" test, I was informed that I have a double hernia and that the left side is far worse than the right. Time and experience has rendered me a skeptic so I responded that no doctor, including the one to whom I was presently speaking, had ever told me that I had a hernia let alone two. He was unabashed, allowed me the full two year medical card, but reaffirmed that, in fact I had a couple of hernias.

Ok. Whatever! I decided to take that bit of information to my primary doctor and low and behold, he confirmed an obvious left inguinal hernia and a suggested hernia on the right. Oh great! Now what?

My next stop was a general surgeon who seemed to delight in the fact that in fact there was a couple of hernias and I was going under the knife. The date is still tentative but I will apparently be off work for at least two weeks and up to 6 weeks. What the (insert your favorite interjection)!

Ok. Deep breaths! I am not going to be off work for 6 weeks. I mean, who can afford that? I searched the internet and assuming that at least some of what one finds there is accurate, I will be off some where between one and four weeks. I am suspecting between two and four weeks. We can easily sustain a hiatus of three weeks and with some minor discomfort, can go a little over four weeks. I am kind of looking forward to a few weeks off work but am also ready to take on a challenge of being back to normal, with full recovery, in about three weeks. We'll see. The surgery is not scheduled yet. We are waiting to see which agency, worker's comp or my health insurance, is going to choose to take the financial responsibility.

I've been watching some of these surgeries on youtube. Here is a link to one similar to what I will enjoy that is fairly benign. Enjoy!

1 comment:

  1. Hmm. Based on your blog title and picture I was assuming that you simply ate too much at Mcgrath's thus causing the rupture. After reading it I realized this was not the case!
    Anyway I wish you a speedy recovery after the surgery. You might want to talk to Mark about his experience with a hernia operation. Seems I remember him saying it took quite a while to recover. Take care.

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