backpacking after abdominal surgery

Hi Kate,

Congratulations on the new baby! Enoy the time you have with your family, and (in my opinion) listen to your body and don't push too hard too soon.

In May 2006 I had an abdominal hysterectomy. I remember the one piece of advice I really took to heart was "you only have ONE chance to recover right", so I did take things on the slow side for a while. I did do neighborhood walks starting a few days after returning home, starting with once slowly down and back up my street and gradually increasing within my comfort zone. I didn't do much other than that for the first 8 weeks. The last thing you want to do is anything that will re-injure things or compromise healing – and remember that the whole support of your bladder, pelvic floor, etc., are involved in the surgery. I just didn't think it was worth risking problems in those areas for the rest of my life, just to get back to hiking a little sooner. It's a little hard to remember now, but I think I was back to weekend backpacking by the end of the summer.

Hope this helps.

Please forgive if this sounds condescending. I don't mean it that way. It just sounds like maybe you should go easy on yourself. There's enough pressure on new parents from the world as it is. Unless you are a sponsored athlete of some kind, then why worry about getting out on a trail? Your obvious passion for hiking will still be there after you've had time to recover properly. Muscle tone and lung capacity can be regained; I'm sure many long-distance hikers don't maintain the same level of trail-fitness between hikes.

You won't do yourself any good to push hard in the short term and suffer in the long term (I mean "suffer" like needing additional surgery, not the simple suffering of being uncomfortable on a hike). Also, your child doesn't gain anything from being on a trail that he or she can't also gain from just being outside anywhere, like on a walk in your neighborhood. Finally, there will be additional surprises that come up with a baby. The months that follow will not be exactly like the first month, but have new ups and downs.

None of that answers your actual questions, just my reaction to your post.

You should go easy on yourself.

Good luck!

One thing you mentioned.. flat surfaces.

Even if the doctor cleared you for walking flats or for lifting a weight, you better stay away from any serious hills. That would put a huge extra load on your body, and you don't need that.

Another idea. Friends of mine started taking their daughter to the mountains when she was only three months old. One parent could handle the daughter as an infant, and the other parent could handle more of the static load. By the time the daughter was over two, she had grown to more of a problem. The daughter could walk, but only if it was easy and not steep uphill, so she had to be carried uphill despite her increasing weight. So, they got old B.G. to help carry. I carried ten pounds of their stuff plus my own, so that made it easier for them to keep the daughter wrangled. Find your own Sherpa porter.

–B.G.–

Congratulations on your new baby! I agree that you are probably being too hard on yourself…

I had my surgery in February 2010, with a mandated 6-week recovery, during which I was told not to do anything that involved my "core" (i.e., no vacuuming, bending over, pushing a grocery cart, lifting more than 10lbs, etc.). The reason for these restrictions is so that you don't develop abdominal adhesions (internal tissue tears that bleed and form scar tissue that can turn into problems later on).

My doctor encouraged me to walk on flat ground (starting about 2 weeks after the surgery). Within a couple of days, I was walking at a fast pace for an hour a day, which I continued for the next few weeks. I went on my first hike (a moderate one) 6 weeks — to the day — after my surgery. I did not break any land speed records, but I hiked about 6.5 miles, and managed fine. I continued my daily 1-hr walks, and 4 days later, I hiked about 9 miles. For the next few weeks, I alternated walking and hiking.

I noticed that for a few months after the surgery, my stamina was affected, and I often felt tired in the afternoons (and I didn't have a baby to look after, LOL!). I didn't go backpacking for 4 months afterwards. Maybe I was being too cautious, but the idea of cinching a belt around my middle section did NOT sound attractive to me with over 100 internal stiches! YMMV. Because I started back hiking as soon as my official "recovery" period was over, I never felt that I was "missing out" on things, even though I didn't backpack. There were lots of wonderful day hikes that I was able to do.

Don't worry about losing conditioning. Your body needs to heal, and that should be your ONLY priority. You'll regain your fitness quickly once your body heals. The recovery may seem long to you right now, but the time will go quickly enough with your new responsibilities, and before you know it, you'll be back out there again, wearing one of those huge baby carriers! :^) Stay the course, and heal well.

I've had abdominal surgery, so I can sorta, maybe, imagine, not quite …. but….

"… finding out that I won't be able to hike *at all* for at least 6 weeks–"

Chump Change in the big scheme of things. Really.

If you were in great condition before you'll get there again.

Way better than dealing with adhesions (for the rest of your life) from overdoing "little things".

Relax, be happy, go slow.

Relax! It's the long term you need to think about now. Picture you, your S.O. and your kid hiking together 15 years from now. If it's one year or two years before you can carry a 25# pack plus kid stuff, it really doesn't matter. What you want to hear is your kid saying, "Mom, Dad, I just love it when we hike together! My legs may hurt and the bugs are horrible, but it's the best thing in my life! Thanks for loving me enough to take me with you!"

Between the above and the below, as well as raising the kids, etc, I've gone through (or am continuing to deal with) heart disease, cancer, brain lesions, back issues, etc. Each time, you have to refocus on the long term goals, not the short.

When we had our first baby, I saw the mountains disappearing from my life. Today, all three of my kids (not to mention their spouses and descendants) are like, "Are you going hiking? Can we come? When are we going backpacking again? Let's go to XXX next time!"

That's your goal now! Believe me, it's worth it!

Did not mean to make it sound like I'm hoping to make an epic journey into the mountains in the coming days, or even weeks. I realize it's a long road, and luckily I've got great friends and family to keep me distracted at home, so I don't get *too* bored.

I'm more just curious about the little things: dealing with car rides on bumpy Forest Service roads, when people felt good about tackling inclines for the first time, when it seemed okay to use a hipbelt again, etc.

I'm lucky in that I've got a great SO who's willing to play sherpa (right now he's in charge of holding the dog's leash so we can all take our walks around the block together). Our plan for the time being is to wait the mandatory 6 weeks and then, based on how I feel, plan some very gentle "outdoor" trips. Not so much backpacking as just getting outside somewhere picturesque, maybe spending the night in a tent, doing a little bit of walking, etc. For now, just going to the park and having a picnic feels like an adventure–my expectations of myself are pretty modest :-)

I'm an RN and a licensed massage therapist. What I know from both of my jobs is that each person's body is different. There is no single way a person recovers from any type of surgery (or injury or illness). There is no set timetable.

Remember the nature of abdominal surgery. Muscle has been cut, fascia (which holds muscle together) has been cut. It takes a while to heal. And that's ok.

Definitely take the long view espoused by previous posters. Yes, overdoing it can increase the chance of adhesions. It can also increase the chance of an abdominal hernia! Do you want to have surgery again??

Taking it easy and building up gradually is simply smart. It's not wimpy. It's listening to your brain instead of your legs.

On top of all that, you are post-partum. It takes a long while for all of your body's systems to readjust to not being pregnant.

Skip those bumpy roads in favor of pavement for now. Walk on flat surfaces free of objects at first (a simple toe-grabbing root or stone, even if they don't cause a fall, can cause you to tighten up your abdomen beyond its ability). Take the opportunity to enjoy nature in a different way for a while. Drive to new places. Explore smaller parks you never would have considered visiting before because they didn't offer enough miles of trails. Be a trail angel. Research birds, trees, plants, flowers (and you'll have answers when your little one eventually and inevitably asks "What's this?"). Clean & repair gear. Plan a future backpacking trip. Organize trip photos. Experiment with new backpacking recipes. Enjoy. :-)

Being a guy, I obviously have no first hand experience dealing with your situation. I have, however, undergone a Radical Orchiectomy about 12 years ago that left a 5 inch lower abdominal scar. I was back to work on my feet in 2 weeks, but didn't move very fast (to say the least) for another 2 weeks. Trying to think back, I think it was 6-8 weeks before hitting over 80% I'd guestimate. Hopping over driveshafts and climbing up and down ladders again didn't happen overnight. It was the dead of winter, and I'm a fair weather hiker, so that's all I have for comparisons. Some people seem to milk out every little injury, while others just deal with it and move on. And of course an active, toned body will recover and mend more easily than an unconditioned and unhealthy one. I felt I recovered pretty quickly.

I always ramble, so I'll finally get to my point lol. What I found, was that the actual recovery time to feel "good" again, wasn't long at all, but getting the scarred muscle tissue to stretch out again, enough to lie on my back in a supine position without pulling and discomfort, took much, much longer. IMO, sleeping on a mat/pad comfortably will be the longest part of your recovery (1 year+/- ?), if a females surgery is anything like a males.