I’m glad I got a hernia.

For 33 years I took my health and fitness for granted. Until about two months ago, when I rolled down into a core extension exercise and it felt like someone had lit my pelvis on fire.

“Nope,” I said.

I hadn’t felt anything like that before, but assumed I had just pulled one of the myriad muscles tangled up down in that region. So I waited a few days and sure enough, it didn’t go away.

A week passed but the pain didn’t, so I decided to have a doctor look at it. He touched the area and said, “Oh yah, I can feel it!” Over the entire duration of the hernia, I never once felt it. There was no bulge or hole. I have no idea what he felt, lol. But he did.

This led to another doctor who scheduled the surgery and it was scheduled for a month out. I moped and complained about the entire thing—how I couldn’t lift very much, and I couldn’t run and my actions were all very limited because of this little thing.

For those who don’t know—like me, until two months ago—a hernia is a little tear in the abdominal wall. If it’s big enough, your intestines may push through in a little bulge. One girl who I mentioned the surgery to said, “I hope your hernia removal goes well!” I laughed because it’s not removed so much as patched with a mesh net. Again, I would have said the same thing three months ago. So now you know!

Anyway, I griped and bemoaned my situation. I saw fit dudes running on Pinterest, Instagram and YouTube and burned with envy. Were they doing anything extraordinary? No, they were going for runs—something I’ve done for decades.

All of a sudden, I realized how much I adored running, how much I took it for granted when I could do it. But now that life was over and I was an elderly man, crippled by a hernia, I would never feel the sweet concrete beneath the soles of my shoes.

Was it a month of dramatic complaint? Yes, of course. Have we met?

But it really made me realize just how much I had always taken for granted, particularly in the area of fitness and activity and all.

I began grilling myself, How could I ever skip the gym or stay inside for a run while perfectly healthy?? Why would I ever have done that?

This whole post can be summed up in the old adage, “You don’t know what you have till it’s gone.”

And fortunately for me, this hernia was a very temporary and un-serious setback for two months. But it became two months of being reminded just how great a healthy, pain-free body is. Two months of wanting to move and run fast and push myself and sweat.

So the day after Christmas, bright and early, my mom drove me to the hospital and they knocked me out and patched me up. Recovery was simple, and now ten days later, I’m mostly pain free and back to normal, just with two more bellybuttons.

I still can’t work out at max capacity (I’m only allowed to walk and bike), but I have never been so excited to hit the gym hard and push myself and sweat and go till failure. I can’t wait to pound the streets with my running shoes and feel the euphoria of exhaustion that descends like a blessing afterward.

Would I have this gratitude and drive if it weren’t for the hernia? Most likely not. I probably would have been pacing through the same stale cycles as before. Before I had the longing to get after it.

So I’m grateful for that little tear in my abdominal wall, reminding me just how good I have it and how hard I should push it.

New year, new me, new abdominal wall.

e

The post I’m glad I got a hernia. appeared first on ethan renoe.

 •  0 comments  •  flag
Share on Twitter
Published on January 05, 2025 13:52
No comments have been added yet.