Diastasis Recti: Surgery and Recovery Part 3

So, I have been slowly recovering for eleven months. I don't think everyone's surgeon is as thorough and intense as mine was. I also don't think others get the individual attention that I have gotten for the past year. My doctor goes above and beyond to check on recovery.
Exercise is a vital part of my life, and I lost a lot of strength. I started the road to recovery with light body weight exercise and yoga. It was amazing to me how weak I was and how inflexible I had become. The abdominal wall functions differently now, and is still not able to completely hold my weight. I can not, for instance, hang from my hands. It even took me a while to be able to leave the ground again. You don't realize how much you have to hold in the abdominals for basic movement until you lose that mobility. Balance was another issue. My back was in a rounded and stiff position for about 16 weeks before I felt like I was at least standing straight, and I still do not have much mobility hyperextending the spine past vertical. Yoga is my best friend in redeveloping this. Being able to be in plank position again was a big goal of mine. I can now hold plank for a couple of minutes, but still nothing like I used to be. It is like I inherited an all new body. My tummy is all pulled in tight and sewn together, but it lost its mobility and strength.
Today, I went back in for a follow up. You can see and feel all of the stitches that hold down the hernia repair mesh. One of them that is prominent has caused a lot of discomfort over this year, so my doctor offered to snip that one stitch out in a simple office visit. Well, it was not such an easy thing (is it ever?), and he could not get the stitch out. The local anesthesia caused the tissue around the stitch to swell too much. So, he covered that area with some of my tissue he pulled over, and then covered it with a synthetic tissue. I am again in a hunched position and hurting, but after what I have been through, this is a walk in the park. I hope this is the last process.
My doctor prescribed some tape-like medicine for the scars. It is called Cordon. I wear it over all of the scars every day, and in about 8 weeks, the scars have become flat and the redness is much reduced. He says the end result will be barely detectable scars. That's a wow, right? The scars run from hip to hip with a dip down the hip bone and straight across the lower pelvis, also a cut vertically in the lower pelvis, and a new navel.
So, in all, Diastasis friends, I would recommend this surgery to people who have a diastasis as advanced as mine was, and who have a hernia in it. Otherwise, I would recommend Julie's process (www.diastasisrehab.com), and help from a post natal trainer (like me!). It is a VERY extensive process to get the surgery, and should be elected as a last result or emergency.

Diastasis Recti: The Surgery and Recovery Part 2

The recovery at home seemed to take forever. For someone who can push through about anything, being in pain and restriction from movement was a lot to handle. I could not shower for three weeks. I sat up to sleep also for about three weeks. After that time, I thought I would eventually be able to stand up straight. That would not happen for about thirteen weeks. Because of my small size, the sutures for the mesh show through my skin. One is rather pronounced and irritates the nerves around it. That one may need to be removed.
I consider myself to be in recovery still, as things that seem simple are not. Everything is connected to the core, so everything has to be relearned as my body recuperates. Jumping was particularly difficult at first, and I still have trouble with exercises that are body weight on the upper body, like push ups and tricep dips. These exercises really pull on the stitches. The left side is recovering slower than the right and feels pulled and uncomfortable. I can feel where the mesh lays and all of the sutures around it.
After all of this, I am very glad that I got the surgery. My stomach muscles were not going to repair themselves, and this injury was greatly impacting my life. Though the recovery impacts my life, it is well worth it. I will eventually be able to do all of the things I enjoy, though maybe not to the full range of motion that I had when I was younger. At least I feel repaired and pulled together, and the problems associated with torn muscles and hernias are gone.
Because of the shock of recovery and the methods I have gone through for this recovery, I hope to come out with a new DVD or series to help others recover from surgeries or illnesses.

Diastasis Recti: The Surgery and Recovery Part 1

For all of you who have Diastasis Recti and you have come to the conclusion that it will not close through your efforts, or if you have a hernia in the diastasis and you know you will have to have surgery or live with it forever, I am writing a few articles for you. Please note that I am very honest. Some people do not want to know how it really is and would rather go in to the surgery without prior knowledge. Please know that I am not going to tiptoe around the situation.
The surgery was in June 2010. It is now almost December 2010, and I will say that the recovery is still underway, though I can do most activities that I enjoy, though everything is a process and nothing is easy. Here is how the surgery itself went for me:
Two weeks prior to surgery, I signed my life away and paid a "package" price to my plastic surgeon and the hospital. This took all day. They did blood work and I signed lots of paperwork about risks. My particular plastic surgeon works with a general surgeon on this surgery. The general surgeon removes the hernia and applies the mesh over the area to reduce risk of future herniations. On the day of the surgery, I arrived at 5 AM, and sat in an admitting room where they marked me up and took more blood. They started the IV and I fell asleep as they wheeled me down the hall.
Approximately five hours later, I woke up in the recovery room unable to take a full breath. I was terrified and shocked at first. The nurse was telling me to take a deep breath and I could not. I felt like I was hyperventalating. I could not move. I was taped to a corset-like hard shell that was holding me together. I was in terrible pain, even with lots of pain meds. I do not know how long I was in recovery. It took me a long time to relearn how to get air in to my lungs without expanding my torso, and this is how I would breathe for quite a while.
I stayed in the hospital for two nights. The first day and night, I mostly slept to escape the pain and frustration of breathing and moving. The second day, I had to get up and move more. Everything was difficult. My husband had to help me do everything, including moving my legs. I was on morphine for most of that time, until the headaches became excruciating. They moved me to another pain medicine then. The leaky drains were awkward and gross.
My husband drove me home, carefully, after the second night, and my adventure of recovering at home would begin.

Surgery: Check!

I had my diastasis recti and hernia repair done recently. I will be giving updates as my condition improves. Let me just say that this surgery is for people who struggle beyond physical therapy and work with a postnatal fitness specialist. The surgery is serious and invasive, and the recovery is really tough. More later!

Healthcare Reform: The Reviews are Yet to Come

The arguing has lessened...for now, but the long term effects of this health care reform bill hopefully will be seen soon. The good news to all of us is that the term "preexisting condition" should no longer be a lame excuse of insurance companies to deny you and your family. Also, the "doughnut hole" for all the Medicaire folks is shrinking and will disappear in a few years. The waiting may seem endless, but breaking down the "brick wall" (as an attorney friend call it) of these monstrous insurance companies is a hard and long task.
From a personal standpoint, the time that it does take to break these ridiculous conditions and terms of insurance policies can not happen too soon. I am having to jump through major hoops and beg tons of doctors to attempt to have my insurance cover a major surgery that is important to my health. Sufferers of diastasis recti, I am fighting the fight. My doctors are folding under the insurance pressure, but I will continue knocking on doors and making appointments until some doctor is unafraid to write a simple letter that states the same thing that they don't mind telling me verbally: "you need this surgery, or you will have abdominal discomfort for the rest of your life."

Diastasis Recti Part 4

So, after meeting with several surgeons, I see that I will be working with two surgeons; a general surgeon for the hernia, and a plastic surgeon for the diastasis recti repair. The disappointing news is that plastic surgery simply is not covered, even if it is a necessity. I don't get it, but I don't get the health care and insurance business on any level.

Diastasis Recti Part 3

I saw a surgeon today. He found a hernia. I had no idea. No wonder it couldn't heal. My intestines are herniated through my navel. No wonder I was so uncomfortable. I was referred to a plastic surgeon, as they are the ones who fix this problem. I am inspired!