When can you start lifting after surgery?

Hi,
This is mainly for Diana with the lawn to mow on her own. I'm in the same boat and have had to get a lawn service to do something I've been doing on my own for 20 years!!

I'm about 7 weeks post op and know that mowing the lawn is not a good thing. I think the stress on your incisions (internal or external or both) will be aggravated by the pull start on your mower. Mine is miserable to crank!! Plus just the pusihng and pulling something that heavy will probably overwork your tummy muscles.

You really need to be extra gentle and cautious with yourself for many months after this surgery. I keep reading it takes a year sometimes to heal completely.

I really can't afford this extra expense either but what I did was settle for them to come twice a month -- all they do is mow, edge with weedwacker, and sweep the curb. They just do the front yard.

My back yard I do myself because I have a great little push mower, nothing to crank, you just roll it over the grass. It does a great job! Well, it's good enough for the back yard which is tiny.

If you really can't see your way clear for a lawn service, then consider getting a little push mower. They are lightweight, don't have to be started, don't take gas.

I haven't had any problems pushing that little mower in the backyard since my hysterectomy. Yesterday I even moved onto trimming back some hedges. Had a few little twinges but things are OK today.

It's hard when you're on your own and have to take care of heavy work by yourself. Just don't overdo and consider alternatives. Maybe a herd of Goats??!!

Alrunes - Thank you so much for your response. It is difficult when you have always done things for yourself. I like the goat idea...my neighbors might not be too thrilled, but I consider their 3 unruly children similar to a herd of buffalo when they romp and stomp through my manicured lawn and flower beds. Life can be tough!

Diana

I am in the same situation. Where do you find a push mower and about how much do they cost? kathie

my surgeon told me six months--- he said that should be enough to insure that i won't get a hernia. but i had very extensive surgery.

You guys are really scaring me with the lifting and hernias. I have been struggling to find a way to minimize the lifting of my soon to be 13 year old son for 6 weeks, I know there is no way I can get help for months. He is 73 pounds and dead weight...his wheelchair weighs about as much as him and that often needs lifting too. Looks like I have something to discuss with my surgeon during my pre-op next week.

please know that it totally depends on your surgery. i had a bowel resection and tummy tuck as well as appendectomy with my tummy tuck. very, very extensive surgery.

Dawn P

DEFINATELY talk to your dr. about lifting and your son's situation. I had a TAH/BSO with no complications. I thought I was being good. My heart goes out to you. You have to take of yourself or you won't be able to care for your son. You only have one chance to heal right.

There's a site called ourkids (It's a dot-org) that has lots of parents of special needs kids on a mailing list. When my son was DX with autism we joined their email list and were active participants for a long time. Our son is doing extremely well and I didn't have enough time to read, so I am no longer an active participant, but I can't say enough good stuff for how helpful that list was to us. Any issue concerning being a parent of a child with a disability is okay to bring up there and it is a safe, supportive environment. There's no flaming and lots and lots of help available--whatever you are dealing with, some other parent has dealt with and found ways to get around the problem. They may well have ideas about how to get around lifting so much. 73 pounds is going to be out of the question for awhile, absolutely. Randy, who runs the list, has a son who has severe CP and needs everything done for him, and his second son is autistic.

Every time I've given a website URL it's been snipped from the thread so I am not going to try it with ourkids, but if you mail me privately I'll send you a link. They have a digest option for their mail list so you don't have to get each email separately.