Surgery update

Certain family members are sick of hearing overly-descriptive details of my surgery process, but I thought I'd post a bit of an update anyway.

I still have pain. A bit of tenderness popped up, telling me that I must have over-done it. But it made me realize just how far I've progressed: walking like normal (full speed, no shuffle), hustling if I'm late for the train, even jogging now and then. More importantly, I'm on my bicycle every day. It's so much more convenient! 15 min from work instead of 35.

But I think the bicycle is what caused the tenderness below my scar to flare up. About three weeks ago my bicycle speed progressed from the Japan-standard "Mama Speed" to my more typical "he knows how to use gears and stuff" road speed. That makes normal road bumps harder, with less time to stand and lessen the blow of big ones. Since I have long legs, my seat is high. That means my body angles over, which puts a lot of pressure on the lower abdomen. And in addition the bicycle seat ... well, no delicate way to put it, it puts quite a unique amount of pressure on the crotch region. Which is the ingronial region.

Needless to say, when it started to hurt more about two weeks ago, I notched back the speed, taking it easy again. In addition to going slow, I've been riding as upright as possible. (Wish I had an adjustable handlebar stem.) The pain and tenderness is less as a result.

When it first appeared, I feared that the repair had failed, so I tried a few gentle abdominal "pushes" to look for the movement/swelling symptom that had been there before the operation: nothing. But if the pain comes back, of course I'll go see the doctor.

In general I feel a lot better, but obviously the body is telling me "You're not 100% yet." I'd love to play soccer in Tokyo again before I leave, but looks like that might not be possible. Maybe November? .. A lot longer than the 2 months I had originally hoped for. At least I can jog slowly--better than nothing!


... I should also mention: there's also an annoying surface pain, immediately at the scar. Could be a hair growing at a bad angle--it's kind of like a splinter, where the bark is worse than the bite. It sometimes occurs when I sit down, as my clothes settle. It occurs more strongly if I wear close-fitting undershorts instead of boxers.

It goes away if I lightly sweep away hair near the scar.. but that isn't always socially acceptable behavior. "OH, no, I had surgery, you see... really."