“On a Mish” #329 That’s Unfortunate. Christchurch. Canterbury. Aotearoa / New Zealand. 20.5.2022. 2020 Broken. 2021 Improving. 2022 Deteriorating. After my hip injury I slowly improved to a point where I began to go further and further into the mountains. After a 13 month recovery I went back to work and everything seemed to be falling back into place. However, around February 2022 I noticed that I seemed to be suffering more and more at the end of each day. At first I took it all in my stride (limp) but after a while I was really starting to get fed up with it…
It really didn’t seem to make sense, as I had put in a lot of rehab physio work along with a totally revamped diet. This included giving up alcohol, because I really wanted to get back to normal and get back into and on top of the mountains. Irony can be a cruel mistress sometimes and the next series of events proved this well. A slip on the wharf after a day guiding at the glow worm caves in Te Anau put me on the sideline and forced me to visit the doctor. At first I just wanted some pain relief and for a while I did think about sinking back a full glass of whiskey (for the pain), but managed to control myself and just stuck with the pain killers. I had some annual leave lined up so I hoped that the pain would just go away but it increased a lot over a short amount of time, so I really needed to head back to the doctor.
After a brief look over I was referred for an ultrasound scan on my hip and it was during the scan that things got interesting. I had never heard of a hernia until I was told I had one (large), plus possibly more hernias in my lower abdomen. This instantly explained why I stopped improving and was deteriorating. Hernias are reasonably common and in many situations people can carry on living their lives. My situation is a little bit different. I have irreducible hernias, and after heading back to the doctor to hear the results I was immediately put on the waiting list to see a surgeon. Well that’s unfortunate! One of the most common causes for hernias is years of hard labor and stress taking it toll on the body. In my situation it is due to more than two and half years of compromised muscles and nerves causing constant pain and stress. So the irony I guess is the fact that without the slip on the wharf I may have just stubbornly put up with the pain for who knows how long. But now I know the source. So once again I find myself in a very familiar situation, in pain and unable to be in the environments I crave and doing the job I love. Luckily I have had experience when it comes to dealing with a rather unfortunate situation, and at least this time around it seems like the problem can be solved? No matter what happens I know I will find a way to get into the outdoors, because it is gonna take a lot more than a couple of hernias to stop this guy going ‘On a Mish’…
