Archive for the ‘Blog’ Category

Nine days ago I had surgery on my fascia, my intestines, and then an attempt to correct my previous scar from my appendix surgery I had in 2004. It’s been a rough week, but each and every day I am getting healthier, stronger, more agile. I’m sore of course and I still have stitches and steri strips over those. The past two or three days I have been off pain killers altogether, taking the occasional Advil if needed. I have to wear this compression garment for the next 3-5 weeks, pretty much 24/7. It’s like three pieces of lightweight cotton with velco attached to the ends. You wrap one of them around you, somewhat tight.. then fasten. Then the second one goes lower than the first, aaand fasten. The last one, across the top and again, fasten. This keeps my torso tight.

Because my fascia was redone, my organs have been squished up into my frame where they are supposed to be, but where they have not been for the past eight years. As such, you can well imagine they’re bruised and pissed off as well. My digestive track is a mess at the moment but I am sure it’ll work itself out. The issue with my organs being pushed up.. it pushes up my diaphragm which in turn compresses my lungs. Get ready to learn how to breath differently.

So yes, it’s been trying at times, it’s been frustrating at times and yeah, sometimes I seriously just wanted to call it. I was done. Tired, frustrated, fuck. I can’t sneeze right now, or cough for fear I’ll blow my stitches. I semi grumble when I need to cough, hoping it’ll work itself out. So far, so good.

I don’t mean to come as if I am bitching here, I try to blog what is going on in my world and well, this healing mumbo jumbo is my world right now. So be it. Bryci has been taking care of me, getting me things when i ask but being a typical guy at times, I don’t always ask, I try and do myself anyway. She’s put up with my moods, my frustrations, my aches and pains and she’s been supportive and amazing the entire time. She truly is an Angel.

I am slowly getting back to my computer, my attention span is that of a mouse at the moment. How often have you seen me go this long between blogs? I love writing and I just sit here and stare blankly at my screen when i try to do something. Sleep, hydrate, food. Repeat.

I’m on the road back and I’m getting better, but I’m not there yet. I will return to normal blogging and normal updates with work as soon as I can.

Any of you that have gone through surgeries, you know what I mean… it’s not that bad, but there are times… the dull aching pains that don’t stop.. you just want to punch something. On the upside, I am able to walk more now. I’m trying to exercise my core a little through walking more. Slowly, patiently, getting there.

have a kick ass weekend everyone!

Long post – grab a coffee

Some of you may have noticed that I have been out of things lately. I’ve been a little preoccupied I guess. Not sure where to start so I’ll back up.. the year was 2004. I had moved back to Canada from the United States. I was in a dark place, life sucked. I was living with my then friend Clint in his basement suite in Edmonton, Alberta. It sucked balls, but it was a place to sleep. I had previously been in a longer relationship, and she was caught cheating on me. Not something I’d wish on anyone. Anytime you put four years into a relationship… only to have something like this happen, yeah, suck factor x 100.

Anyway, I was feeling sorry for myself (if I am being honest) and I wasn’t eating, I wasn’t sleeping very well. I was a mess. Loosing weight like crazy, I had given up. I was being a pussy, to be blunt. I understand sometimes in life we get kicked in the nards, but at some point you have to pick up the pieces, rebuild and move on. I knew this, but I hadn’t gotten to the that part yet. Like I said, I was feeling sorry for myself.

So fast forward about four months.. my appendix burst. I had no idea, I was rushed into surgery and according to the doc that operated on me, I was somewhere between the 40-50 minutes from death. Shock hadn’t set in yet, but it was close. The doc was in such a rush to fix me, they didn’t worry about the mechanics. My Fascia was mutilated.

Fascia is a seamless web of connective tissue that covers, connects, and holds the muscles, organs, and skeletal structures in our body. Fascia envelopes every structure in the body, each nerve, bone, muscle, organ pf the body is surrounded by fascia. Muscle and Fascia are united forming the myofascia system. Fascia forms an integrated web that unifies the body, connecting all body parts together. Fascia covers about half of the muscles attachment of the body, thus muscle tone has direct connection with the tightness of fascia.

the white area, is your fascia

So to top this off, when they closed me up, they didn’t stitch me up. No stitches because I had a day nurse coming over twice a day to scoop out poison. See the white/cream colored guck in my cut? That’s poison. That is why I wasn’t stitched up.

So fast forward to the last three months..

I had been incredibly frustrated because I have muscle tone, I can gain muscle mass fairly easy actually but my tummy? Fuck no.. for the past five years I have had this pot belly. I don’t drink much (rare that i do) I don’t eat major shit food and like I said, the rest of my body is toned when i work out… so it was truly confusing how my body would respond to working out an diet, nut my tummy would not.

I seriously thought I was just starting to gain a pot belly or something. I didn’t understand how cardio, eating right, nothing seemed to make a huge difference.

old ass pic (2004) below and I was sick as hell, but it shows the size of the scar I had, keeping in mind, no stitches so mother nature closed on it’s own.

So recently, I decided to go talk to a doc and see what my options were. He took one look and he knew what was up. See, your Fascia holds your shit in place. If it’s ruptured, torn etc.. it doesn’t. So gravity kicks in and oh look, your body is now sitting differently. My Doc took one look and he knew I had a hernia going on, in addition to the fascia that needed repairing.

Oh great, this is going to cost a fortune. Faaaack.

Wait, what do you mean it’s FREE because the government screwed up the first time? They were saving my life.. I was/am appreciative of that. i wasn’t asking for a free ride.

Nope, not how it works James, Govt of Alberta screwed up so yes, it’s free to have this fixed.

My scar was 1.5 inches thick, running from my belly button to where pubes start. It wasn’t flat on the surface either because of the three layers to your skin, the middle one and top one didn’t close right, they folded in on the third layer. So, not only do I have this monster scar, it’s like a leaves trough for fuck’s sake. lol

So let’s refresh shall we?

I had this bum scar on my stomach. I had weight in my belly region because my fascia hadn’t been corrected properly. In short, I had an ass on my stomach. yaaaaaaay. No amount of working out was changing things, I’d lose a few pounds but because the muscle fibre had been compromised, my body wasn’t able to tighten up in the front. Loss cause basically.

So Doc tells me, he can fix this, he’d cut me open where my scar is, reducing the scar. He’d be able to climb in there and tighten the fascia as well so it’d be two birds with one stone. Then, side note.. he tells me I also have a hernia going on.

A WHAT?

A HERNIA?

He goes.. well, yeah, did you think you were just overweight in one region on your body? (yes, yes I did)

So he tells me when he is in there, he’ll fix that as well.

Sigh.

So I had a month to go. I was supposed to go into surgery Feb 2. They called me last week, they had a cancelation so they could fit me in right away.

This is where fear sets in. I had a new date, but anytime you’re going to have an operation on your core, trust me when I say… ouch.

So this brings us to today…

On Wednesday of this week, I went under the knife for four hours. I’ve got stitches internally with my fascia, and stitches externally with my stomach. Sore doesn’t begin to cover it. I’m on pain killers but jesus. I can barely get into bed and I am exhausted. Getting down that far hurts. I was chilling with Bryci today (she’s taking great care of me btw) and I drank some water…went down the wrong hole. Coughing started and fuck my life, I was in so much pain. Great times.

As i type this, i am experiencing head nods, moments of sleeping in my chair etc. Good times.

Forgive the typos, I be on meds yo

have a kick ass weekend!