It took 3 years but I got my wife to tend to the stove!

I took myself to the the emergency room monday morning with very sharp stabbing pain in my belly button area. Ive had an umbilical hernia for about 7 months and was actually scheduled for surgery on the 28th.....my body didnt think that was good enough. After about 6 hours of rediculous pain (even on morphine) They finally got me into surgery, so here I am stuck home all week bored and very sore. But like the topic says my wife now is learning to empty the ash pan and fill the hopper. They said I cant lift more than 15 pounds for three weeks...try telling my 21 month old(27 pound) daughter that. My surgery was scheduled for a friday before so I would waste as little vacation time as possible. I dont get my time back until december and Ive allready used half of it! Oh well the coffee is better at home than at work. Im not the kind of guy to be on "light duty" so this sucks pretty bad. Jim

Glad to hear you are feeling better!! Don't let your wife know, but you could use a coffee can to scoop the coal into the hopper, and scoop the ashes out... a bit messy though.

Get well soon !!

Greg L

I share with Greg in wishing you well & a speedy recovery! I can certainly empathise with your plight in not being able to do the things you normaly take for granted. About 2 years ago I underwent rotator-cuff surgery for my left shoulder & was told not to even attempt to lift anything heavy for a period of weeks. Make a long story short......I had figured a way to lift 40lb bags of Blaschak, fill my coal hod, shake down the stove & empty the ashes by the day after surgery! (My wife was willing to help but operating the stove is not her forte'!) It's really amazing what you can do when required! (just make sure you stop if you begin hearing sounds like tearing canvass coming from any interior stitches!)

I take doctors orders well, after having some surgery to insert pins into my big toe I got the "use crutches for 4 weeks" speech... Yea right, almost killed myself on the steps. That lasted about 3 days and a week later I was riding my mountain bike around town with that big stupid boot on, in the snow yet. Probably not something I'd reccommend for surgery anywhere in the stomach area though.

I wish you well on your recovery.
I can feel your pain. Years ago I had my gall bladder removed with the old fashioned knife method and like you I was used to doing things for myself. I was released from the hospital the day before Christmas and so I had to go get a Christmas tree because I felt obligated to my small daughter. I was not suposed to drive or lift but I crawled into my 78 jeep 3/4 ton pickup and went to get a tree. I thought that I was going to die just from being bounced around. I got the tree and put it up but the day after Christmas I was back under the knife to repair the damage done from not listening to the doctor. It then took me about twice as long to get healed up so that I could return to work.

The moral of the story is listen to the doctor and don't lift anything.