Joining the Hernia Club

[Meadbh]

Al, one obvious risk factor you have for hernia is playing the trombone. (Blow hard, really hard, and see what happens!!!).

What you have is an "inguinal" or groin hernia. Abdominal contents (intestines) are slipping / being blown through a weak spot in the peritoneum, the same track that your testis followed down to your scrotum when you were a boy. This also explains why this is much less common in women.

Boy + Blowing Hard = Inguinal Hernia!

Men with chronic lung disease who cough a lot, or those who move furniture for a living, or play the trombone, are repeatedly increasing their intraabdominal pressure. Since this tract is narrow, once in a while the errant intestine will (a) get stuck or (b) get twisted and lose its blood supply. (b) is a major emergency, and it's the reason you need to get this thing fixed.

More info at:
The Valley Hospital

Here is a link to the Cochrane review comparing open versus laparoscopic repair:
Laparoscopic techniques versus open techniques for...[Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2003] - PubMed Result
REVIEWER'S CONCLUSIONS: The use of mesh during laparoscopic hernia repair is associated with a relative reduction in the risk of hernia recurrence of around 30-50%. However, there is no apparent difference in recurrence between laparoscopic and open mesh methods of hernia repair. The data suggests less persisting pain and numbness following laparoscopic repair. Return to usual activities is faster. However, operation times are longer and there appears to be a higher risk of serious complication rate in respect of visceral (especially bladder) and vascular injuries.

The "outie" or "umbilical hernia" is equally common in both genders and is very unlikely to lead to complications. Surgery for this hernia is your choice, or not.

Good luck!

[TromboneAl]

Well, it's a double hernia, which is great news. I'm getting them both fixed laparoscopically next Tuesday (July 3), and should be good to go for my surfing safari Aug 10. The surgeon seems good, and has done a lot of them.

I've restricted my activities since discovering this, and it sure has demonstrated to me how important good health is for a happy retirement.

[Ed_The_Gypsy]

Quote:

...or play the trombone...

I think I see the problem.

[FinanceDude]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rich_in_Tampa Can't speak directly to your DH's outie, but if I had an umbilical hernia that wasn't causing me trouble, I'd let it follow me to my grave. Of course you'd need to be sure that's what it was (there are other things that can seem the same), report any changes etc.

I have the same thing, but am not overweight. I saw a surgeon, but he said as long as it doesn't bother me, I can leave it alone or have it done. There is only a VERY slight risk of an umbilical hernia becoming strangulated, according to him.

I thanked him, and didn't do anything.........

[Dreamer]

Good luck on your surgery tomorrow, Al. Hope all goes well and you are enjoying your surfing trip in August!

[Bigritchie]

I laughed when I saw Al and hernia. Just cannot get Weird Al's "Living With a Hernia" out of my mind now hehe.

Good luck with the Surgery Al!

[2soon2tell]

My BIL just had the inguinal hernia day surgery. He will have to take it easy for a couple of weeks. I told him he would have to give up the lap dances in those gentlemen's clubs for a while as well. He laughed.

2soon

[Martha]

Well Al, how did it go?

[T-Al]

I'm posting for TromboneAl. Thanks, he says it went very well. In a lot of pain yesterday, but it's rapidly getting better. He's on two Vicodins right now, and says that it's good to have something happen to make sure one doesn't take one's good health for granted.

Also this: He's been banned from the forum, and it's pretty depressing for him to be cut off from his Internet buddies, especially now since he can't be out surfing and chopping firewood. Perhaps some pressure could be exerted to get him back on -- all he did was post a poll (twice) about how the forum members think the forum should be run. Thanks. He can be reached at AlJazzGuy@gmail.com.

[Martha]

Quote:

Originally Posted by T-Al I'm posting for TromboneAl. Thanks, he says it went very well. In a lot of pain yesterday, but it's rapidly getting better. He's on two Vicodins right now, and says that it's good to have something happen to make sure one doesn't take one's good health for granted. Also this: He's been banned from the forum, and it's pretty depressing for him to be cut off from his Internet buddies, especially now since he can't be out surfing and chopping firewood. Perhaps some pressure could be exerted to get him back on -- all he did was post a poll (twice) about how the forum members think the forum should be run. Thanks. He can be reached at AlJazzGuy@gmail.com.

Hey Al, you aren't banned. We still love you. I'm glad to hear the surgery went fine. Really though, you can't get on as TromboneAl?

[T-Al]

No he can't. He gets "Server too busy" error messages on his machine, but if he hides his IP address through an anonymizer, he can view the forum, but if he tries to post anything, he gets a message saying he's not allowed to post.

[Janet H]

Would you please let Al know that it's being looked into? And tell him to feel better soon

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Many "anonymizers" prohibit pass through posting to boards because of past abuses by miscreants. I'll bet thats what you're seeing.

I got a few 'server too busys' from time to time over the past week.

[Bigritchie]

Al check this out to cheer you up!

Weird Al Yankovic - Living With A Hernia

[Andy R]

I just reset the web server (went to a movie). The server has been running pretty heavy since I had to squeeze some more sites onto it in order to be able to bring down the other servers to send to the new data center. The other servers that were sent down will be online this weekend and i can move off the trouble site right away.

[dumpster56]

Quote:

Originally Posted by T-Al I'm posting for TromboneAl. Thanks, he says it went very well. In a lot of pain yesterday, but it's rapidly getting better. He's on two Vicodins right now, and says that it's good to have something happen to make sure one doesn't take one's good health for granted. Also this: He's been banned from the forum, and it's pretty depressing for him to be cut off from his Internet buddies, especially now since he can't be out surfing and chopping firewood. Perhaps some pressure could be exerted to get him back on -- all he did was post a poll (twice) about how the forum members think the forum should be run. Thanks. He can be reached at AlJazzGuy@gmail.com.

On 2 Vicodins must have had to really do some manipulating him inside even with the laproscopic procedure. It will get better every day. Good luck TAL.

[TromboneAl]

OK, I'm back. Some things are funny/fishy about what happened concerning the forum.

Yesterday, when I tried to get on, Firefox would simply say "Waiting for early-retirement.org...", or there'd be a long delay followed by nothing, I'd get a 404 error, or I'd get the server busy message.

I'd try again every few hours, with the same result. Just figured the forum was down.

Then, one time when I tried, I was able to get through, but with long delays. I could see from the times of the different posts, that other people weren't having problems. Also, there weren't any posts talking about problems getting on.

So, I tried using an anonymizer, and I got on immediately, no delays. I tried posting, and could not. That's when I concluded (taken together with the fact that hours before I had twice posted a poll about how the forum should be run that was deleted by the administrator), that I had been banned.

Guess I was wrong, but was it just a coincidence that I could get on easily if I masked my IP address or tried from another computer?

In any case, I may have a solution to problems like this, which I hope to unveil today.

Now if I can only get my digestive system to stop being on strike from the surgery!

[Rich_by_the_Bay]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TromboneAl Then, one time when I tried, I was able to get through, but with long delays. I could see from the times of the different posts, that other people weren't having problems. Also, there weren't any posts talking about problems getting on. So, I tried using an anonymizer, and I got on immediately, no delays. I tried posting, and could not. That's when I concluded (taken together with the fact that hours before I had twice posted a poll about how the forum should be run that was deleted by the administrator), that I had been banned. Guess I was wrong, but was it just a coincidence that I could get on easily if I masked my IP address or tried from another computer? Now if I can only get my digestive system to stop being on strike from the surgery!

Al,

Glad your surgery is over and done with. Best wishes for a fast recovery.

I'm no computer expert, but FWIW I have occasionally had seemingly random problem signing on here and another vBulletin board I occasionally visit and have confirmed that others did not. While I can't explain why, I'm pretty sure it wasn't a conspiracy .

I checked the Ban list when this first arose, and at no time did I see your name on it. If it had been, I would have been among the first to react on your behalf.

Anyhow, get well and don't play the trombone this week.

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Al - did you try IE instead of firefox when you had the problem? I've seen a few cases where firefox got into some kind of snit and I had to restart it...same approximate symptoms.

I'm not about to spend any time digging into which apps use which protocols, but perhaps you were having an intermittent router problem somewhere in your area, the anonymizer had a better 'path' to the server and was using TCP instead of UDP for the session between you and the anonymizer.

[dumpster56]

Firefox has had some issues the past few weeks. i am getting popups some programs will not work. I am using opera or IE and waiting to see if Firefox can get itself together.

getting the GI tract to work again. Milk Of Magnesia. Just take a big @ss dose and wait. It will erupt and you will feel better.