Isn't life funny...

[psolk 3,040]

Just some insight into how looking at things differently can change a situation entirely...

So as some know I had a lengthy and complicated cervical fusion back in February that left me in many respects like a stroke patient down my right arm.  Now I am no stranger to medicine unfortunately.  One hip replacement, a second hip replacement with revision and psoas tendon release on the same side, multiple lumbar fusions, a plethora of GI issues, let's just say I've seen my fair share.  

So Fusion in February and I circle August 10th on the calendar the day I have my fusion as the day I will get back in my race car.  You will never meet a goal you don't set.  I knew it was lofty and was told by numerous people I was being unrealistic.  So I worked and worked and worked and I worked through the pain and challenges and sure enough on August 9th we loaded up the car onto the trailer.  All was set for the week.  

Now refer back to the comment earlier about lots of prior medical issues, hip replacement and GI issues.  Well during the recovery from the fusion I've had what I can only describe as a gurgling through my inner hip. Literally fluid squishing around. Knowing I have a double hip replacement I dismissed it for months as potentially just fluid buildup or something in the hip.  Nothing to fuss about anyway.  Then I started getting pretty bad groin and abdominal pain as well.  

So the day before I leave I look at my wife and say "gee, my hip must really be bad, it's getting all swollen" and go about my business.  Two hours later a hernia presents itself to the world...   I mean you can't make it up if you tried..  Right in the fold of the hip joint and my parts which make me brave on the race track 😉  ...  A nice clementine size lump that had apparently been forming for months while I ignored it.

So of course my wife say that there is no way I can go to the track to which I tell her there is no way I can quit now.  Got in the car, got down to the track, my crew unloaded, I did one session, knocked it out of the park achieved my goal and got out of the car in tears.  But I did it...  

I left the track at 5:45 the next morning, drove 4 hours to the Dr, met him for the first time and my surgery is Tuesday morning.  Apparently it is an incarcerated femoral hernia, the only type that requires immediate surgery so bloodwork and pre-op testing is all being done now.

So yeah, back into surgery right at the tail end of a 5 month cervical fusion.  

So here is where perspective gets interesting.  I tried to rationalize this.  Maybe the hernia was to keep me from being an word not allowed (a tough task) and doing more damage to my neck/arm.  I know I would have kept driving if it weren't for the hernia popping up.  I also know I would have raced yesterday if I could and the car I always line up next to ended up totaled in the wall in turn 12 after a high speed off on lap 1.  Chances are I would have been the car next to them.  I also know hernia's are common, it just so happens I have an incarcerated femoral hernia which is the worst type and requires surgery right away but so many people have them and deal with them, just not at the end of another surgical recovery when you feel like you just got your legs back under you...  

So no pity party here, does it suck, yes, is it catastrophic, no, did it maybe happen for a bigger reason, who knows but I'd like to at least search for that than harp on the negative of why it happened. Surgery on Tuesday, follow the Dr's orders then right back into physio with the goal of getting back into a race car before the year is over!  I'm already looking at October for dates to circle on the calendar...

Not sure if the images will load...  

 

Edited August 14, 2022 by psolk

[birdguy 3,943]

You are a brave man Soul.  You have certainly had more than your share of bodily mishaps and always came back to your car.  I don't know if anyone has ever told you this before, but you do have, "The Right Stuff".

Noel

[psolk 3,040]

Thank you Noel!  Not brave just playing the hand I was dealt...  It's amazing what being driven to a goal can lead you to accomplish (No pun intended)   

I truly appreciate the kind words, hope this is a good day for you!

-Paul

[vgbaron 3,620]

My takeaway Paul is to always have a goal. Achieving it is great but it's the trying that keeps you going. For my age(85), I've been lucky - heart attack and lung cancer and a bleeding ulcer but so far, all the bony parts are still intact.

My motivation is that, if you stop moving at my age, people start shoveling dirt on you!  🙂 

[psolk 3,040]

23 minutes ago, vgbaron said:

My takeaway Paul is to always have a goal. Achieving it is great but it's the trying that keeps you going. For my age(85), I've been lucky - heart attack and lung cancer and a bleeding ulcer but so far, all the bony parts are still intact.

My motivation is that, if you stop moving at my age, people start shoveling dirt on you!  🙂 

You are so spot on!!!  Even if you don't hit the goal giving yourself something to keep moving towards and striving for is so critical...  It's the journey not the destination.  

 I don't know that I would call what you've been through lucky but the fact you are still here to respond to my thread is certainly lucky for all of us!!  

Great perspective!  Thank you for taking the time to respond!    

[sightseer 895]

Paul - I saw this last night but just didn't know what to say... but Im glad Noel responded as he did because you do indeed have a severe case of fortitude.

keep up strength.  Keep up Faith. (like those signs that say 'keep up speed')

[psolk 3,040]

5 hours ago, sightseer said:

Paul - I saw this last night but just didn't know what to say... but Im glad Noel responded as he did because you do indeed have a severe case of fortitude.

keep up strength.  Keep up Faith. (like those signs that say 'keep up speed')

All I can say is so9metimes I wish I felt as other see me from the outside...  

When the Dr told me I looked "good" this morning I told him with enough bondo and paint anything can look good but still be a pile of rust underneath LOL!!!

Thank you @sightseer it means a lot!  All set for 08:15 tomorrow!

[birdguy 3,943]

Some of you guys make me feel guilty.  I've never had anything seriously wrong with me.  A few years ago I was hospitalized for a few days for a pulmonary embolism that was completely cured with a month or so of medication.  And I had my gall bladder removed a year or so ago.  That's it.  I was never hospitalized for anything until I reached my 80s.

I have problem feet and a balance problem so I need to walk with a cane.  And my hands are starting to shake whenever I try to pick something up like a spoon or a fork.  And my hearing is staring to fade.  And I have glaucoma in my left eye, but it is under control.

I only see doctors for quarterly checkups.

My systolic blood pressure runs in the mid 20s to the mid 30s.  My pulse rate in the 60s.  And when the doctor has me use the breathalyzer I inhale 2 1/2 liters of air.

My brother seemed to have all the ailments.  Congestive heart failure, blood cancer, dementia, and a hernia when he died.  I often wonder why he had so much and I have so little when we both came from the same gene pool.

Outside of hiking and backpacing I was never very athletic.  He was a marathon runner.  He was also very diet conscious and I am not.  I just eat what I like.  But I do consume more than the average amount of fresh fruit.  Not so much because it's good for me but because I love apples and oranges and grapes and peaches and the like.

Noel

 

[psolk 3,040]

Quick update...  Surgery done, turned out to be a bit worse than we thought once he was in so ended up with bilateral surgery on both sides but better to do them together and only recover once.  Surgery wasn't even 24 hours ago and I'm catching up on work emails already.  

I'm swollen, sore and uncomfortable but very manageable!!!  I could be back at my desk today if I really "had to" but going to take today to rest.  Need to be really cognizant of all the mesh and stitches I need to protect inside.

Thank you for all your support!

Noel, NEVER EVER feel guilty for playing the card you were dealt!  Maybe the reason your health is better than most is you have the best ability to recount their lives and allow their memories to live on which you do so well!!  

Maybe I should try more fresh fruit! 😉  

[birdguy 3,943]

45 minutes ago, psolk said:

Maybe I should try more fresh fruit!

Every morning along with breakfast I cut up half an apple, peel a small orange or tangerine, add a dozen grapes, put it all in a bow and eat it along with whatever I am having for breakfast.  Before breakfast and after my morning cup of coffee I squeeze half a lemon into a half glass of hot water and sip it down,  I also have a half glass of vegetable juice with my breakfast,

Noel

[sightseer 895]

Great to hear that you're past the surgery now.  May I suggest just taking it easy for a while 🙂   Maybe just sir around and watch the clouds and notice the butterflies and such?

anyway - glad the surgery apparently went well.

[birdguy 3,943]

1 hour ago, sightseer said:

Great to hear that you're past the surgery now.  May I suggest just taking it easy for a while 🙂   Maybe just sir around and watch the clouds and notice the butterflies and such?

Good advice Paul.  Heed it.

Noel  

[udidwht 133]

With all that I'd be inclined to giving serious thought to giving some (or most) of heavy activities a final rest. Those types of surgeries never are 100 percent...hey you're young again have at it.

[birdguy 3,943]

2 hours ago, udidwht said:

With all that I'd be inclined to giving serious thought to giving some (or most) of heavy activities a final rest.

When the yard became too much for us and I was forbidden by the doctor who put several stiches in my head to promise never to climb up a ladder again we got a handyman.  

It's a family business.  The wife and daughter do the grass mowing and weed spraying/puling.  The husband and son do the repair work like cleaning out the rain gutters and blowing off the leaves that fall on the flat part of our roof and trimming the hedge and tree limbs that have gotten out of control and are rubbing against the roof.  They also repair roof leaks and our trellises.  The whole family comes to get the fall leaves off the ground in late November after the trees become bare.  They also take care of plumbing leaks.

Noel

 

Edited August 20, 2022 by birdguy

[psolk 3,040]

On 8/17/2022 at 11:03 AM, birdguy said:

Good advice Paul.  Heed it.

Noel  

 

On 8/20/2022 at 3:21 PM, udidwht said:

With all that I'd be inclined to giving serious thought to giving some (or most) of heavy activities a final rest. Those types of surgeries never are 100 percent...hey you're young again have at it.

The way I go about my life my wife says to me all the time "I forget how word not allowed you really are"   I listen to my body but at the same time I don't let my limitations restrict me unless there is a risk of directly making something worse by what I'm doing...  

The fact of the matter is I've got my lower back L3-S1 and neck fused C3-C7, the hip's already been replaced twice with no psoas tendon left, now the hernia's plus more concerning the internal issues with the esophagus/intestines' but if we walked past each other at a FS convention tomorrow you would never know there was anything wrong with me.  

But it's like I say to people who tell me "I look great:" 

"It's amazing what some paint and bondo can do to make something look good but the motor and chassis are still a bucket of rust!"  

So for me stopping now isn't an option because there may come a day where my body says "no more" and I want to make sure I don't look back and say "I wish I'd done that when I could..."

As surgeries go, this one has been a cake walk LOL.  I missed a day of work after the surgery but being able to work remotely I was right back at it after a day of rest and my wife and I have been walking everyday since the surgery.  Some ice packs to help the throbbing at times and the worst part is the restrictions while the stitches heal.

Sincere thank you to everyone for taking the time to respond and hope everyone is having a wonderful Sunday!