Oh gosh, I think I know what you've been through. I've had ovarian cysts twice removed (just like cousins!), so I've had a laparoscopy (keyhole) and a laparotomy (trapdoor?) before. And after hearing that you've had all that stuff done, I can understand why you wouldn't really want to be doing any bending! I'd recommend against it until you're cleared by your doctors, actually!
I don't know what kind of surgery you had, but after my laparoscopy I found that I recovered well in terms of feeling okay painwise, though I still felt bloated for a while after having the surgery. They said that it's normal to feel like that afterwards because during the surgery they pump the abdominal cavity with air so that it's easier to maneuver the camera and tools around (gross!) and it takes a while for everything to just settle back to normal.
As for laparotomies, I've been told that it's similar to having a Caesarean - basically the amount of abdominal muscle that they have to cut through has to just take time to knit back together and heal properly before it can go through anything strenuous again. I found that my belly just wasn't the same for months after surgery, no matter how much exercise I tried to do to lose a bit of weight and tone up - it really does take a while to recover core strength after it's been literally cut away!
Reverse sit-ups are great for protecting the spine/neck. I always do them when I don't feel that I have enough core strength to keep from straining my neck too much. Crunches and even traditional sit-ups sometimes start hurting my neck before I even feel anything in my abs.
Oh that's super that you do Nano! I'll have to think of a novel idea before agreeing to it this year. :) And I just realised I haven't friended you but I will after I post this comment! I think it's a great idea to collect your compliments and keep them somewhere you can see them. Stephen King was a little mad to start wallpapering a room with rejection letters, but I dig the notion of surrounding yourself with evidence that people do like what you write. :)
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I don't know what kind of surgery you had, but after my laparoscopy I found that I recovered well in terms of feeling okay painwise, though I still felt bloated for a while after having the surgery. They said that it's normal to feel like that afterwards because during the surgery they pump the abdominal cavity with air so that it's easier to maneuver the camera and tools around (gross!) and it takes a while for everything to just settle back to normal.
As for laparotomies, I've been told that it's similar to having a Caesarean - basically the amount of abdominal muscle that they have to cut through has to just take time to knit back together and heal properly before it can go through anything strenuous again. I found that my belly just wasn't the same for months after surgery, no matter how much exercise I tried to do to lose a bit of weight and tone up - it really does take a while to recover core strength after it's been literally cut away!
Reverse sit-ups are great for protecting the spine/neck. I always do them when I don't feel that I have enough core strength to keep from straining my neck too much. Crunches and even traditional sit-ups sometimes start hurting my neck before I even feel anything in my abs.
Oh that's super that you do Nano! I'll have to think of a novel idea before agreeing to it this year. :) And I just realised I haven't friended you but I will after I post this comment! I think it's a great idea to collect your compliments and keep them somewhere you can see them. Stephen King was a little mad to start wallpapering a room with rejection letters, but I dig the notion of surrounding yourself with evidence that people do like what you write. :)