» Surgery
By Vince on December 23, 2021
At the beginning of the year, January 8th, I had to have a small umbilical hernia fixed. No I didn’t lift a too heavy weight…it was actually a stupid movement and being hard headed.
Early November 2020, I was reinforcing my ammo shelves with ¾ inch plywood. This required taking all the ammo off the shelves, removing the shitty particleboard shelves and installing the new ones heavier duty shelves. No problem.
However on reaching the very bottom shelf, closest to the floor, I found something had rolled all the way to the wall. Instead of doing the intelligent thing and getting a broom or stick to move the thing towards me, I bent over and reached for it. It was…just…out…of reach…but I can get it…PAIN! Hard twisting PAIN!!
I tried to straighten up…but damage done. I could feel something was wrong. Once the pain slackened off, I continued (with the broom! Too little too late!) to replace the shelf and stock it with ammo cans.
I tried to work out the next day, but it wasn’t happening. The pain persisted and got worse. I couldn’t straighten up. Doctor sends me for an ultra sound. Yep Umbilical hernia. Off to see surgeon because there is no other way to fix a hernia.
Due to insurance issues, I had wait till January to have the actual surgery. It was a miserable 2 months. I couldn’t work out and had to restrict my moment drastically.
I have to say the surgery itself wasn’t too bad.
The recovery, unfortunately, was bad. In fact, it sucked.
Those first 4 days afterward…damn…the pain was constant and hard. Nothing took it away. Not ibuprofen, not Tylenol. I refused to take the heavy duty prescription pain killer because this particular one always gave me re4ally BAD dreams…and I didn’t need that after just losing my Mom and the shitty year I’d had.
Another month and I was cleared to workout. Damn, had I fallen! I had tried to limit my eating, while recovering, but being sedentary at this age has its issues.
It was hard getting back into the flow of working out. I basically had to start at the beginning again. Sadly most of the gains I had achieved were gone.
Yes, I’m now a certified personal trainer and sports nutritionist and I had to treat myself as a client. Once again due to my age, that metabolism has slowed down and the gains were slow. As always, slower than you want!
Had some complications, pain persisted. Repeated visits to the doctor showed no issues at all, except the keloid scar on the inside of my bellybutton was hard and painful. So some cream to soften it up helped to a point.
Oh well, just have to deal with it. Another pain to add to my list of daily pains.
Life goes on.
A lady I follow on Instagram, Carrie Campbell, was aiming to become a WBFF Pro (she made it too!) in the 40+ division. She posted something her husband’s trainer (husband is a power lifter, they are BOTH motivational speakers too) had said to her:
10/10/80
10% of workouts will be AWESOME!
10% of workouts will SUCK!
80% of workouts are just putting in the time!
Or to paraphrase NIKE
“Just do it!”
I had given myself 6 months to get back to where I was.
It took longer. Just 2 months short of a year to be exact.
I also tweaked my workout itself, since I now have the added knowledge of becoming a personal trainer.
I’m happy to report, I am now back to and surpassing the level I was at previously!
All it takes is will power and sticking to it.
This is actually the strongest I’ve ever been in my life and I am now 60!
BTW, I had the 10/10/80 mad into a poster for my home gym!