Training after a Hysterectomy

I'm asking this question for a friend.

How many ladies here have trained after having a hysterectomy? What were your experiences about the intensity of breakfalls you can do after the surgery and how long did it take to get back to a level of training that you did before?

You can PM me a response, and I will forward it on my friend or you can respond here if you want.

Thanks,

As a glorified bump...

I hope there is someone who has the experience to address this issue. The woman I mentioned is real, but finds this issue too personal to post her name publicly, and I don't really think this is a controversial topic worthy of the "Anonymous" forum. Also this questions has already been posed to the women on the Women In Aikdio bulletin, boards but she's still seeking additional responses.

Given that, she is worried whether she can return to intense training (i.e. hard breakfalls) after having a hysterectomy, and if so, how long should she expect this recovery to take. Her personal doctor doesn't really understand the nature of aikido, so she thought of asking for words from other women for encouragement and advice.

Maybe an aikido practitioner who is also a medical professional might be able to point her in a direction where she can seek further information.

Thank you for your attention...

Hi, Anna Marie. Well, I started training as soon after my abdominal hysterectomy as I was cleared to do so, but since I took me a couple of yrs to breakfall, that in and of itself won't help her...

It was during my recovery that I started looking for a m.a. to start. So...let's see...I had surgery Oct 31 1995 and I started training mid January 1996 (for comparison sake, IIRC I was cleared to drive a car mid December). When I started training, again, I was a newbie, but what I recall specific to the postop stuff was, anything bending back was done very slowly and gingerly because of how it stretched the abd wall and fascia. In retrospect, were I doing forward rolls I'd have only done low and small ones for probably the first couple of weeks and not progressed to a breakfall until I was comfortable with full big rolls. Again, though, this is not direct experience.

If your friend would like to contact me directly please give her sfcolor@yahoo.com for ANY questions aikido-related or not.

Thanks a lot Janet I will forward your response to her.