Fifty Plus (50+) - Tell us about your surgery!

Well, we've all lived long enough to have had a few dates with the scalpel....tell us about yours! On Monday, I had a lipoma cut out of my back under local anesthesia. Not very glamourous I admit. Other than that I had three hernias repaired at once when I was about 23 years old....come to think of it...that was pretty damn boring too...oh well....

Holy Crap! We've become the old geezers sitting in rocking chairs on the porch at family reunions.

I had a sex change operation a few years ago. I used to be Digital Gia. :D

I'm gonna pass on this one. But I had a great 25 mile ride today! Weather was glorious, a nice brisk 15-20 mph gusty wind to make it interesting, some great hills to challenge, and a blizzard forecast for tomorrow (however, I don't believe that)!pass? This is like a change up right down the heart of the plate!

Holy Crap! We've become the old geezers sitting in rocking chairs on the porch at family reunions.Yeah...whether you like it or not.

Well, got a few minutes...

Lets see???? When I was 15 I had my right kidney removed
Surgery on right foot to remove a broken off sewing needle at the age of 18 (don't ask how I did this!)
Tubaligation (tubes tied) at the age of 24
Gallblader removed around the age of 35
Abdominal Surgery to remove a large cyst from my right ovary at about the age of 37
Oh and my most recent was Gasric Bypass just this past June.

Hmmm...it might be easier to count the organs I have left :rolleyes:

ok...now top that folks!

Well, got a few minutes...

Lets see???? When I was 15 I had my right kidney removed
Surgery on right foot to remove a broken off sewing needle at the age of 18 (don't ask how I did this!)
Tubaligation (tubes tied) at the age of 24
Gallblader removed around the age of 35
Abdominal Surgery to remove a large cyst from my right ovary at about the age of 37
Oh and my most recent was Gasric Bypass just this past June.

Hmmm...it might be easier to count the organs I have left :rolleyes:


Probably to much info!

ok...now top that folks!

Sheesh, I'm a medical journal all rolled up into one "CheeseLouise"

come on...knee surgery?....gall bladder removals? let's hear it!

I had my mind removed years ago.

I had my mind removed years ago.

We already knew that :lol:

I don't mind
What's yours is mind

Once I had my whole life surgically removed by my first wife's attorney.

get my stitches out in two weeks!

Had my saddle surgically removed after my first century ride.

Sheesh! You all sound like the congregation on Sunday when I ask; "Are there any prayer concerns this morning?" Sometimes I will hear something like this: "Please pray for Tiny Jones, my third cousin's neighbor's friend, living at the South Pole research station. Tiny has a hang nail and they are runing low on Neosporin and it's winter and they are worried about resupplying because the weather is frightful and the plane's skis might freeze to the runway and flying Neosporin from Chile to the Soth Pole is dangerous and really drives up the cost of a 1 oz. tube but Tiny really needs it because it's the worse hang nail anyone has ever seen at the South Pole."

A year ago, September I had a by-pass surgery to remove an aneurysm in my right leg. I had a series of five incissions made from my upper groin to halfway down my calf. They replaced (grafted) a long section of my popliteal artery. ...damn I hate when that happens...that'll leave a scar.

I didn't need much more incentive to start riding the bike.

At ~4 tonsoles
At 6 broken leg
At 22 burst appendix
At 57 ruptured patella tendon
Enough!

Joe

1986.......Right knee scoped...recquired three small holes.
2002.......Left knee scoped....recquired only two small holes.

Currently considering lobotomy.

As I sit here getting over my last "small" arthrosc0py, keyhole surgery on Right knee to remove some cartilage and arthritis, I can at least empathise in a way.


Other ops

At 6 tonsils
at 11 appendix
at 19 maxio facial to rebuild eye socket after tandem crash, have all teeth removed and jaw wired
at 20 left kneecap removed
at 50 left wrist, arthritic spur removed

george

I've had my spirit removed by the passing of summer and the deepening of fall towards winter. It was painful, and I'm still trying to recover. Physical therapy seems to help, but requires great effort on my part. I've been told that it will be five to six months before I completely recover. And, that this is likely to happen again.

Sheesh! You all sound like the congregation on Sunday when I ask; "Are there any prayer concerns this morning?" Sometimes I will hear something like this: "Please pray for Tiny Jones, my third cousin's neighbor's friend, living at the South Pole research station. Tiny has a hang nail and they are runing low on Neosporin and it's winter and they are worried about resupplying because the weather is frightful and the plane's skis might freeze to the runway and flying Neosporin from Chile to the Soth Pole is dangerous and really drives up the cost of a 1 oz. tube but Tiny really needs it because it's the worse hang nail anyone has ever seen at the South Pole."

:lol: :roflmao: :roflmao: :roflmao: :lol:

YES !

Since my favorite wife works in a hospital, I hear all the anatomical horror stories I need. Like Dnvr, I'll stay away from this thread...

mine was a rotor cuff surgery completed in May 2003. Of course bike related. I hated the post surgery therapy.

It would take a short story to tell all of mine. I have 31 surgical procedures. I will list the most notable:

7 amputations

many bypasses on both legs

Kidney/pancreas transplant

2 surgeries right knee (surgeon refused to rebuild knee)

quad bypass heart

two vetrectomies

surgery to install peritoneal catheter that almost killed me. (too long and too gross to tell)

fistula in left arm

lump removed from left chest

tonsils/adenoids removed

two cataract surgeries (one went bad)

I joke with close friends about being the half million dollar man!!:D

My first surgery ever (we're not counting wart removal, right?) was two weeks ago. Appendix out with a laparoscope at midnight, walking by 8am, discharged by 4pm and riding my bike (a little) four days later. I hear it used to be a little more involved than it is now... glad I waited.

Most of the time I was in the hospital there was someone else I felt sorry for.

Feeling sorry for other people, not falling for the why me syndrone, and being there for my daughter helped me keep a positive attitude.

Well I "passed" on this one and the wife said that I smelled to bad and I had to leave the office. So since you cannot take back passed gas, my only and last surgery was when I was 7 or so and had a T&A, throat so sore for a week and thats it. I have been blessed with physical health.

Forgettting about the ones that happened years ago but Rugby put me in for a fair bit of Stitching and resetting when I was playing-Then 7 years ago -Triple bypass and 5 years ago Radical Prostatectomy. Neither of which affect me now but The one that still does was the one that happened 35 years ago. Shattered Kneecap and major rebuild to get it sorted. Still twinges if I don't get out and exercise it on the bike

I had my mind removed years ago.

In the '50s I got an amateur surgeons license, mail-order of course.
I'll gladly help all (or any!) 50+ers and only charge for parts.

And yes, DG, I do implants too. I haven't seen any minds available
lately with a WC format. East Coast format is easier to find. If
a need develops.....


On another note, anyone here a Gene Sheppard fan from the '60s??
770 AM from NYC?? I'm not recalling the call letters now. I'm
thinking in particular of his mail-order taxidermist skit.

This thread reminds me of my sister and my recent conversations............ we only manage to talk about health problems these days........LOL.

I had a bone in my left second toe trimmed many years ago, and that is the only surgery I've ever had (still have my tonsils, even). Unfortunately, I have umbilical hernia surgery scheduled for February. Considering all I'm reading in this thread, though, that surgery isn't sounding so bad, now.

Okay, I'll just mention the emergency ones. 5 years ago after cardiac arrest (schocked back to life), I had emergency cardiac bypass surgery (no heart muscle damage). Then last year I had a perforated colon - from diverticulitis gone bad. So I had a colostomy for 3 months then another surgery to reverse. Feel great now. :) :)

I had my tonsils out at 5, they gave me ice cream.

age 4 -- Tonsils

age 19 -- screw and 2 pins to reassemble right wrist. (Motorcycle accident, sheer stupidity)

age 24 -- removed screw and pins.

Various cyst removals and a vasectomy. Can't remember dates.

ok...now top that folks!

Age 11 Appendectomy
Age 12 Hernia repair
Age 26 Right knee, cartilage repair (softball injury)
Age 34 Right knee, cartilage repair (racquetball)
Age 38 Right knee, cartilage repair-orthoscopic (caught a boot heel climbing a barbed wire fence)
Age 41 Left knee, cartilage repair-orthoscopic (no idea)
Age 42 Right knee, cartilage repair - (softball perhaps?)
Age 48 Right knee reconstruction and ACL transplant (no idea..."but you must have felt it")
Age 54 Right shoulder rotator cuff repair ("endo" on a mountain bike)
Age 54 Repair the repair, loose bone anchor screws, torn cuff, cut muscles, 08/2006 (still recovering)

Oh yeah, when I was 16 I almost lost two fingers, but the doc sewed them back together and they worked alright in a couple of years. I also have had numerous stitches on my head and arms, caused by various acts of stupidity, but I didn't think they counted.

Tonsils out at about 8, nothing else. Let me tell you about a surgery I was billed for in May. I had a bike accident and fractured my shoulder, in the emergency dept at hospital in Austin Tx. a doctor came to me and said he had a patient that was critical and he would get back to me. I never saw him again, a nurses aid came and wrapped my upper arm to my chest and put my forearm in a sling.
When I got the doctors bill he had billed me for surgery, his bill, $1,010. I figure the only thing he did was look at the xray and decided I only needed my shoulder to be immobilized. I can't imagine what he would have billed me had I actually needed surgery!
His bill was separate from emergency room charges.

Tonsils at 5
Heart Cath at 39
Lithotripsy at 44

Several upper endoscopies with dilation
two colonoscopies-lots of polyps removed

In 1993 I noriced a lump in my left jaw. At first they thought it was TMJ but it turned out to be cancer. I had surgery to remove the lump, but in the process also removed part of my jawbone. As a result, my face is not perfectly symetrical and my face is permantly without feeling on my left side. Six weeks of radiation and I'm cancer-free (knock on wood) ever since.

I have this Fall Surgery theme going.

Last November I had my collar bone surgically repaired. I broke it 2 years earlier falling off my road bike .

Right now off the bike. I just had surgery for colon cancer. Everything is OK but I'm off riding for the next month or so.

OK so since we are all over 50... have you all had a colonoscopy? I am now the "poster child" and urging all my friends to go in as soon as they turn 50. I waited but if I went in when I doctor told me too, the mass most likely would have been removed routinely as a polyp and not grown into a cancer. The surgery sucked. The colonoscopy was no big deal. People get your exams!!!! :mad:

I have one scheduled for early next month.

I have one scheduled for early next month.

Me too. I am scheduled for a Nissen Fundoplication on Nov 7. I didn't ask how long I would be off of the bike, but suspect it will be a couple weeks at least.

In the past I have had:
Tonsilectomy as a kid
Two hernias repaired, one inguinal and one umbilical
Shoulder repair (AC joint impingement)

I am probably due to have another inguinal hernia repaired (other side from the last one). I have been putting this one off, but am thinking of having it done soon before my insurance changes. Jan 1st I will have to start paying %10 of most procedures and tests up to a $2000 per person deductable, so there is some motivation to try to get things done before the change in insurance.

Pete

June '05 had a plate and a few screws installed in my left wrist after breaking it really bad in a cycling accident. I was doing about 25mph on the streets of NYC when a car made a uturn directly in front of me. My only time under the knife.

I have this Fall Surgery theme going.

Last November I had my collar bone surgically repaired. I broke it 2 years earlier falling off my road bike .

Right now off the bike. I just had surgery for colon cancer. Everything is OK but I'm off riding for the next month or so.

OK so since we are all over 50... have you all had a colonoscopy? I am now the "poster child" and urging all my friends to go in as soon as they turn 50. I waited but if I went in when I doctor told me too, the mass most likely would have been removed routinely as a polyp and not grown into a cancer. The surgery sucked. The colonoscopy was no big deal. People get your exams!!!! :mad:
The colonoscopy it's self is a breeze. It's the prep that makes it so distastefull to me. I'm one of the lucky ones that found the Pre-cancerous polyps ..... get one every 3 to 5 years people.

After years of letting my heath go down hill, including a heart attack, colon cancer, high blood pressure, diabetes, and morbid obesity, I took my daughters advice,(O.R. nurse), and looked into gastric bypass surgery. After surgery, I got back into biking for my exersise program.

Two years later, I'm down 130 Lbs, diabetes is gone, high blood pressure problems gone, along with a lot of other problems. Rode the Katy Trail across Missouri this summer, (had one day of problems with de-hydration, my fault, still learning how to live with my reduced stomach and modified intestines). Did the Kansas City MS-150, Ozark Mountain 50 mile ride for diabetes, and hope to accumulate 3,000 miles before the end of the year, (about 300 miles to go). Life is GREAT again at 54!!!!

Don

Tonsils at 4.
Cataracts with lens implant at 52.
That's about it.

Tonsils at six - nothing since (KOW!)
Caruso

Broken right leg (19)
Torn labrum right shoulder (37)
Bi-lateral sympathectomy (42)
Right side sympathectomy (42)
Double hernia surgery (45)

Double hernia surgery (completed six days ago) was done laporoscopically. Of the above, this one's the worst so far. DOn't know if it's the age, the procedure or a combination... but man!!! Recovery has been brutal so far. Not what I expected and there's no complications.

Hope to be riding again by Christmas.

T&A when I was 5 years old.

"sliding hernia repair" when I was about 45??

Microvascular decompression ("MVD") of the trigeminal nerve (next to the brain) 11/18/2002.

Pulmonary vein isolation ablation ("PVIA") August, 2005.

Only broken bone was a broken toe when I was showing off to my young son showing him how one could (or in my case, couldn't) stand on one's hands.:o

Tonsilectomy at age 5
L4-5 laminectomy (left side due to ruptured disc) at age 32
Laproscopic surgery on medial horn cartilage tear, left knee, age 43
L4-5 bilateral laminectomy, bone spur R&R, scar tissue R&R at age 45
colonoscopy and removal of five polyps, age 50 (also upper GI scope same day, three ulcers)
appendectomy (three weeks after the colonosocopy - coincidence? I don't think so)
Laproscopic surgery on medial and lateral cartilage tears, right knee, age 53 (that was this February)

The back surgeries were hard to come back from and I consider myself very fortunate indeed to be able to do the things I can, which is basically everything. I will add that I truly believe my health was headed downhill fairly fast until I got on the bike.

Tonsils, age 10 or so.
Repair of broken ankle (skiing injury), age 26
Heart catheterization, age 60
Colonoscopy, age 60
Hernia, age 60
TURP, age 60
Cataract, age 62
Hernia, age 65
Cataract, age 65
May end up having surgery to repair torn ACL and fractured tibia (biking injury)

I got along pretty well for a long time, but things have really been happening since I turned 60! Oh well, at least Medicare helps pay for it, now.