recovery from large ventral hernia

[HornofPlenty]

I just wanted to see if anyone has been in a similar circumstance and what they were told by their surgeon. I recently had a large ventral hernia repair.
A large amount of mesh was used. I just had the follow-up with the surgeon yesterday.

We discussed a timeline for activities. I mentioned I play trumpet on a regular basis. Even though he had performed over 3500 hernia surgeries involving mesh, he had never had a trumpet player patient(or at least one that mentioned that fact to him). I did mention this fact before he operated on me. After discussing how I play trumpet and how I play normally and how I play when I play lead or in a rock band. I demonstrated my breathing while playing and how I used my lower back and ab muscles.
I explained that after a three or four hour gig my abs felt like they had been thru a workout.

He said he highly recommended not playing at all until six months had past and he would not recommend lead playing(very loud or high playing) until after a year had past and then with an ab binder or other ab support belt/binder. He said it sounded like an intense ab work-out and for athletes they do not recommend intense sit-up routines until after a year.

I am going to follow his advice, but I am just wondering if anyone has had a large ventral hernia and what kind of timeline they were given as far as their trumpet playing went. He said I would be 90% at the one year mark.
He was not sure about the length of the easing back into playing period really. He did mention that most recurrences happened within the first year or two as people start to feel better they tend to over-do it and then bad things happen.

Just seeing if anyone had a sports consultant or a surgeon who had dealt with brass players before and what they told you. Again, I understand my surgeon knows my situation best, but wondering if I overstated my case on how brutal lead playing was to the abs.

Would be interested in hearing from others that have been in the same boat as me. Also wondering how you tackled the mental aspect of finally going full bore again without thinking about what could happen.

I am also wondering if anyone changed equipment after hernia surgery. Did you go to a tighter blowing horn or mouthpiece to help improve compression without excess strain on the abs?

Thanks!

[royjohn]

HornofPlenty,

I am the guy to answer your question. I had a small umbilical hernia repaired and then, a couple of years later, they found a six inch hole in my diaphragm. This took three tries for the surgeon to get right. After that, I had two abdominal (ventral) hernia repairs in the incision. I think there were a total of eight hernia surgeries.

After the diaphragmatic hernia repairs, I did not play trumpet for a while, but I eventually figured that I could do it. Pops McLaughlin has a quote in one of his books, "if you can sneeze and cough, you can play high," and I figured I was sneezing and coughing, so why not go ahead and try trumpet. I've been playing about three years since the surgeries now without any problems. I do focus on playing with little pressure and correct technique, but I do play the D/Eb and occasionally even the picc, without any problems so far. I probably waited three months after the abdominal hernia surgeries to get started again, and I was careful at first.

I don't think there is a problem with playing easy stuff even as early as a month or so after the surgery, because you are, after all, sneezing and coughing anyway. I think you could keep in shape and even play things like long tones and other stuff that does not require pressure. I can play a high C with the trumpet held on the palm of my hand, so I don't use a lot of pressure.

It would probably be a good idea to lay off of anything strenuous in the upper register for the six months or a year that the doc recommends. If you are the kind of person who uses a lot of pressure to play up there, this might be a good time to reassess your technique and become a finesse rather than a power player.

I try to be very aware of whether there is even the hint of pain or pressure in my abdomen or diaphragm and I quit if I start to force. So far, so good. I realize there is some risk with doing this, but I am willing to chance it, with the cautions I have mentioned. Take it from me, the little abdomninal hernias are a walk in the park compared to the diaphragmatic hernias. . . you will probably never have something like that if you refrain from trying to squat 340lbs cold on a machine . . . I could never have managed 340 lbs of free weights, but the machine allowed me to try it. Bad idea. Probably where the diaphragm hernia came from, but we'll never know for sure.

Best of luck and let me know if I can answer any other questions. Just be gentle with yourself and use common sense. I do not use an abdominal belt, but you could. It is hard to breathe well with a good one on. . . I tried one.
_________________
royjohn
Trumpets: 1928 Holton Llewellyn Model, 1957 Holton 51LB, 2010 Custom C by Bill Jones, 2011 Custom D/Eb by Bill Jones
Flugels: 1975 Olds Superstar, 1970's Elkhardt, 1970's Getzen 4 valve
Cornet: 1970's Yamaha YCR-233S . . . and others . . .

[HornofPlenty]

Thanks for the reply royjohn.
I appreciate your advice and sharing your experience.
You definitely have given my spirits a lift.
I think I will have to change the way I play the trumpet. I always tended to muscle the horn instead of relying on a good balanced system. I think a tighter blowing trumpet will help me achieve this goal. I used to not get along with tighter blowing trumpets as they usually backed up on me as I tried to muscle them and just pour in way more air than the trumpet really needed. Time to become very efficient with my air!

I do think I can play some soft lower long tones in a few months as that would not be much of a strain on my abs.

I think I will work on getting my jazz chops together when I go get back to playing. After doing that for six months or so I will slowly work up my lead chops.

Glad to hear you overcame your hernia repairs!

Thanks again.

[Moderators]

Please don't feed the troll.

[HornofPlenty]

I do not understand why you are calling me a troll? Or are you calling the person who replied a troll? I still do not understand.

[Pinsel]

[HornofPlenty]

If so, then I missed it. I just got on tonight and saw a post that said please don't feed the troll. I thought they were talking about me. I never saw any other posts. Thanks for letting me know about that. They must have removed some posts that I never saw.

I think I understand what happened now Moderators. I hope and assume it was someone who posted some crazy stuff and you deleted his/her posts.
Sorry, I did not see that going on. I just checked in a few minutes ago and all I saw was my response and then yours saying please don't feed the troll.

[Mark Curry]

HornofPlenty-

I don't see Anything wrong at all with your post!

Possibly the mods got ahold of something before either of us saw it. they can be very quick!

Anyways keep on playing, our brother!

I had one repaired 10 years ago and have another smaller inguinal hernia I've been playing on for about 8 years.

When I get caught up with orders I'll get it fixed too.

mc
_________________
A mouthpiece never missed a note by itself!

[Moderators]

[HornofPlenty]

Thanks Mark!

Yes, I think the moderators removed some posts in quick fashion.
I was kind of concerned after my follow-up. My surgeon said that I had "swiss cheese" hernias. One large one and some small ones that he was not expecting. Because of that he had to put in 20 cm by 25 cm of mesh. Pretty large area! I do think I may have overstated how tough trumpet playing is on my ab muscles, but I wanted him to know it was a decent workout.

I miss playing already!

By the way, I have several of your mouthpieces and think you make some great mouthpieces.

Take care and hope you get a chance soon to get your hernia fixed.

[HornofPlenty]

Hi Moderator,

No problem. I was just confused as I didn't see the posts you deleted and thought you were talking about me.

Thanks for getting rid of the offensive posts. Glad that I did miss them being posted.

I am sorry about the misunderstanding.

Best regards,

Jeff

[Froggynut]

What did the troll say? Erectile disfunction? TH gets better each day. Honestly though, Please go ask a Doctor if you have medical concerns. This is not a free medical clinic.

[HornofPlenty]

Hey Froggy,



Just wanted to hear others experiences and gain some insight. Sorry if it sounded like I was going to run out and do whatever each person told me they did. I am sure I probably worded things poorly. I do have a doctor and surgeon(s), etc. and I am listening to them, but wanted to hear what the road back was like for others. Sorry this irritated you. I don't know what was deleted by the moderators.
I will stop posting on this thread though. It should go away now.

Have a good day.