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October 2, 2007

My Journey With Endometriosis (Part 7): Three Weeks Following Surgery

I returned to work last week feeling confident that I was up to the task. All I had left was a little bit of soreness like a bruised sensation below my navel in the area that is traditionally referred to as the hara.

I limited my work schedule to three hours of billable massage per day with lots of time in between sessions to rest, exercise, or do paperwork. My first massage was at 8 o'clock in the morning. Immediately, I could tell that I was still weak. I was overcome with a sensation not unlike a low blood sugar episode where I needed to sit down. Luckily I was able to do this with comment like "oh, I can tell we need to spend more time here. Let me pull up a chair." My clients never knew the difference and if they did, they never let on that they noticed a difference.

I will say how surprised I was by that. It is amazing, I suspect like any exercise program, that once you leave it for a while, you loose your stamina quickly. I also noticed any kind of sit-up type exercise was still beyond my ability--I simply don't have my strength back. Considering the fact that I've had a breach to the fascia and muscles of the abdomen, this is not an activity I would rush to accomplish.

By Thursday of that week, I felt much stronger and it was a good thing, too. It turned out I had scheduled five hours of billable massage with plenty of time between clients because it is one of my long days (8am to 7 pm). However, by Friday afternoon, I was plenty tired and grateful for the weekend.

By Monday of this week I had no palpable soreness in my abdomen. However, I had a client that needed deep leg work. I had bent the leg and propped the knee on my belly to stabilize it and noticed I could feel a very mild deep bruised sensation. I though "huh, I need to move that over," and shifted the knee so it rested next to my ASIS and was able to finish my work.

On September 17, 2007 I began blogging about my experience with endometriosis.I shared information about what endometriosis is, its symptoms, treatment options and my personal experience with the disease.

tags: massage massagetherapy wellness massage therapy bodywork health endometriosis

Posted by linda at October 2, 2007 7:39 AM