Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: I'm Off To Hernia Surgery Today-Warning Graphic Photos

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Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 05-03-2005, 02:07 PM:

I’m off to have hernia surgery done today. Lifting all these DP-70 over the years has finally caught up with me and both my boys feel like they’re hanging a lot lower than they should be, plus the bad abdominal bulge that is painful when I cough. I’m actually looking foreword to this as I have never had surgery before… should be quite interesting. Finally….I will be able to get back to hiking and photography once again and shed some pounds at the same time. I will post photos if I can get them taken and if Brad will allow.

Mark

Posted by Floyd Justin Newton (Member # 1316) on 05-03-2005, 03:19 PM:

Good luck.... very minor operation. You'll be up in a day and
you will feel a lot BETTER!! [Smile]

Posted by Jeremy Fuentes (Member # 2135) on 05-03-2005, 03:30 PM:

Good Luck Mark [thumbsup]

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 05-03-2005, 03:31 PM:

I've been through hernia surgery 2x. The first time was very smooth, the second one I had a pretty bad reaction to "something" and spent the next morning puking my guts out. But I'm OK now!

Even so, I have to admit I sort of enjoyed being able to just lie around for a while. So hopefully you'll enjoy that part of it too. Good luck Mark!

Posted by Bill Gabel (Member # 1105) on 05-03-2005, 03:36 PM:

GOOD LUCK MARK [thumbsup]

Posted by John Pytlak (Member # 331) on 05-03-2005, 03:49 PM:

Good luck! Get well soon. [thumbsup]

Posted by Richard Fowler (Member # 893) on 05-03-2005, 04:15 PM:

Good luck Mark......catch up on your tech reading [Smile]

No matter how short the hospital stay it always seems to last forever [Frown]

I had a former cinema owner who had two hernia procedures...not by picking us heavy cast pieces but too many afternoon "lunch" breaks with his mistress...she was a weighty bod to handle [Big Grin]

Posted by Don Furr (Member # 1469) on 05-03-2005, 05:17 PM:

Hope eveything works out great Mark. God, I hope Gordy doesn't wind up in the hosptial.....I wouldn't have anyone to answer my "dumb" mag questions [Wink]

Get well soon [beer]

Don

Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 05-03-2005, 05:37 PM:

I hope all goes well and you're back up and at it by tomorrow. (By the way, that'll teach ya for messing around with those DP70s! [Razz]

)

Posted by Phil Hill (Member # 371) on 05-03-2005, 06:21 PM:

Hey Mark, at least it's not some unnecessary surgery. Think of it as a face "lift" ... only lower. [Razz]

Get some rest and get well soon!

Posted by Dominic Espinosa (Member # 2122) on 05-03-2005, 06:35 PM:

Good luck, and whatever you do, if the nurse turns on the TV make sure it's not on one of those plastic surgery shows, that stuff's nasty.

Posted by Per Hauberg (Member # 529) on 05-03-2005, 07:49 PM:

Be back soon - and well !
And then stop trying to convince the kind chairman of these forums, that the DP70 is not only the greatest, but also the greatest mobile cine projector !

p

Posted by Bruce McGee (Member # 131) on 05-03-2005, 07:50 PM:

Good luck, Mark! I had the same surgery waay back in 1965. Only problem was that they kept you in bed for a solid week until your boys were healed. I will never forget the pain the FIRST time I tried to get out of the bed. Now-days, its a simple surgery. You can lift my Holmes anytime.

I won't lift my RCA CTC-10C on a good day.

Posted by Phil Hill (Member # 371) on 05-03-2005, 07:57 PM:

How about a TK-42, Bruce? I ***KNOW*** Mark knows about those! [Wink]

Posted by Jason M Miller (Member # 2597) on 05-03-2005, 09:10 PM:

Good luck, my prayers are with you....I am sure everything will go GREAT [thumbsup]

Posted by Mark Lensenmayer (Member # 134) on 05-03-2005, 09:57 PM:

I had that surgery a few years ago. Out-patient basis...I walked out of the hospital and had some pizza when I got home. Dr. said to stay home 5 days. Some pain, but the pills took care of that.

Good luck, and may the knife stay VERY steady!!!

Posted by Mark J. Marshall (Member # 1409) on 05-03-2005, 10:15 PM:

Good luck and best wishes for a speedy recovery! Hope to see you back here soon.

Posted by William Hooper (Member # 71) on 05-04-2005, 12:14 AM:

Wow, & he's doing it for the boys. Go Mark!

Posted by Paul Mayer (Member # 355) on 05-04-2005, 12:23 AM:

Was it the DP-70s or the Ampex 2000s??? [Big Grin]

Not that it matters now. Be well, get well Mark! [thumbsup]

Posted by Jeff Stricker (Member # 224) on 05-04-2005, 06:43 AM:

Get well, Mark! Our thoughts are with you. [Smile]

Posted by Bruce McGee (Member # 131) on 05-04-2005, 07:51 AM:

Phil, I'm sure Mark is dreaming of celluloid highways, and rose colored lenses today.

I'm sure he's hoisting TK-47's with one hand today. [Smile]

I remember those things. Oh agony, agony...

At least, his boys will be happier. Who here wants to offer to go and inspect them? ('Nuff said.)

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 05-04-2005, 09:01 AM:

Hi All, Thanks for all the kind thoughts! Mine was done as outpatient but I did not have them go with the Mesh type screen that many have placed inside to hold the intestines in place. When I first saw my surgeon he mentioned of a stusy that was done 2 years ago. Should one need Kidney or Prostate or to re-do the hernia surgery the mesh seriously complicates that as the blood vessels and body fat also grow into it. This makes surgery on an older person more difficult and there can be complications. Since I turn 50 this year I went the old method where they stitch the muscles back together. He claims this method has no more pain than the orthoscopic mesh method and I definately believe him on that. I purposely let the pain med wear off and here I am sitting typing this with just some dull pain senssation and that mainly comming from the muscles. At any rate this is the prefered way to go... The prefered way used to be with the mesh. Total time was 90 min and all I remember was laying down on the O.R. table, the nurse placing a warmed blanket on top of me. The Anestetist then placed the needle in a vein in top of my left hand.... I didn't feel that either... he was pretty damed good at it. Next thing I remember is that I was waking up in recovery. No. pain what so ever as he also gave me a local down below on both sides. Clearly I've had shots at the doctors office inmy ass that were more painful than anything I've experienced with this surgery so far. I did con the anestetist into taking some photos with my Nikon.

Mark

Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 05-04-2005, 09:08 AM:

Glad to hear you are doing ok. While you're resting up, take a good look at Kinoton's current line of projectors. [Smile]

Posted by Paul Konen (Member # 41) on 05-04-2005, 09:58 AM:

Mark, hope you doing well.

Nice surgical team, giving you the finger while your were out. [Big Grin]

Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 05-04-2005, 12:33 PM:

My father had hernia surgery when he was 78. It was an outpatient thing. I drove him to and from the hospital. He was up and walking around as soon as he got home. In fact he was driving me nuts because he refused to sit down! He's a tough old bird and it didn't seem to phase him, no complications afterward either.

Posted by Peter Kerchinsky (Member # 1098) on 05-04-2005, 01:06 PM:

Good luck Mark.
Hope to hear back from you soon.

Posted by Rachel Gilardi (Member # 1016) on 05-04-2005, 01:08 PM:

Hope you're feeling better Mark!

Posted by Stephen Furley (Member # 1277) on 05-04-2005, 02:00 PM:

All the best Mark, hope you're feeling better.

quote: Mark Gulbrandsen
I did con the anestetist into taking some photos with my Nikon.

Are you being serious about that? Did they really take your camera into an operating theatre, or did they take the pictures through an observation window, or something. I wouldn't have thought that they'd allow anything that hadn't been sterilised or scrubbed-up in there.

I don't want to know anything about knives or needles, unless they're used for cutting bread, or sewing buttons on a shirt.

I could never have any sort of surgical operation done, I just couldn't stand the thought of it. When I was very young, I can just remember it, I was in hospital for a couple of days. I don't know what the problem was, but I was circumcised (for medical not religious reasons) as part of the procedure. I wasn't old enought then to understand what was going on, but now there's no way I'm going under the knife, at least while I'm still alive.

Just about 27 years ago, it was just before my 21st birthday, and I'm now coming up to by 48th in just over a week, I had some dental work done. I'd had various fillings done before, I've always had problem teeth, my first ones were the same, but I used to insist on having them done without the usual injection in the gum, as I just couldn't stand having that done. The work this time was an extraction for which they gave me an injection in the arm to put me out, and then gas to keep me under. I don't know exactly what happened, but I reacted very badly to the gas, and when I came round I've never felt so ill in my life; I honestly thought I was going to die. Most of the patients had to sit in the waiting room for about thirty minutes after coming round, and were then fit to go home. I was there for several hours before I could even stand up, and I collapsed several times during the couple of miles or so walk home, which took several more hours. It took several days for me to recover completely. I swore that I would never go to a dentist again, and I never have. I had really bad toothache on and off for years, but I put up with it, I've removed odd broken bits of tooth from gums myself, and I think that all of the nerves have died off now, though I did have a bit of pain last week, for the first time in a couple of years or so.

Anything inside bodies I just don't want to know about, though I did once go to a post-mortum, and I must admit that by far the worst part of it was waiting outside the door to go in. What I actually saw during the procedure was not as bad as the expectation of it.

Anyway, brave boy [Smile]

hope you have a speedy recovery.

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 05-04-2005, 02:42 PM:

Hi Stephen,
Yea, I asked the anestatist and he agreed to take em withmy Nikon digital. He is also a bit of a photography buff himself so it was no problem. I doubted that they would do it too but he was glad to do it. He probably doesn't have alot to do while the surgeon is busy. I made it a long way through life so far without any surgert so I can't complain about at all.. After many years of scuba diving and hauling around either heavy electrionic or projection equipment I think I did pretty good. Today surgery is alot easier to go through than it was when you were a small boy. Not only did they give me a general but after I was out they also gave me a locals in each surgical areas. The original plan was just to give me a local at each incision site but I asked him to just put me out. He agreed with that and said it would also be alot easier for the surgeon. BTW, these locals lasted quite a while. The discomfort level is a bit more this afternoon than it was this morning but its not real painful... just a sort of dull pain. That should diminish in another day or two. When I went in I was more fascinated by all the equipment and was not nervous very much. I wouod LOVE to get one of those lights thay have over then operating table to place over my workbench!

Mark

Posted by Phil Hill (Member # 371) on 05-04-2005, 04:25 PM:

OH! Anesthetist...the guy who administers the legal "feel good" and knockout drugs. I thought you said "atheist." [Razz]

Glad all went well, Mark! [thumbsup]

quote: Mark
I wouod LOVE to get one of those lights thay have over then operating table to place over my workbench!

I got one of those articulated dentist lights off of eBay a couple of years ago... works great for the bench.

Posted by Gordon McLeod (Member # 33) on 05-04-2005, 04:34 PM:

best for a speedy recovery

Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 05-04-2005, 05:37 PM:

Take good care, Mark! Glad to hear it went okay and you're doing fine.

Just wait a couple more days, though... [Razz]

Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 05-04-2005, 07:25 PM:

...yea, and it was great to talk to you and bend your ear some. Do get rid of those hiccups->tell Anne to fix you some hot soup. I'll find some time to come down to SLC and visit with you on goodie stuff.

thx-monte

Posted by Kurt Zupin (Member # 2751) on 05-04-2005, 09:02 PM:

Glad to see your doing good and up and moving, remember no [sex]

for 72 hours [Wink]

lol...

Posted by Dave Williams (Member # 299) on 05-04-2005, 09:22 PM:

Good to see you doing well Mark,

Surgury is getting easier to deal with as we advance as a species, but still sucks a big one...

Best to you..

Ciao

Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 05-04-2005, 11:36 PM:

quote: Dave Williams
Ciao

Ummm, I thought we were not allowed to force signatures in our posts? [Eek!]

Posted by William Hooper (Member # 71) on 05-05-2005, 12:07 AM:

quote: Stephen Furley
hope you have a speedy recovery.

How do we know this is really Mark Gulbrandsen? How do we know that when he went to the hospital they didn't kill him, dispose of the body, & give an alien plastic surgery to resemble him & take his place; or maybe transplant Hitler's brain into Mark's body?

Posted by Carl Martin (Member # 1146) on 05-05-2005, 04:22 AM:

so the mesh method is not recommended any more? dang, that's what i had done 7 years or so ago. oh well, i'm still young, more or less. actually, i still have a numb spot in that "area" from nerve damage during the operation. everything functions, though.

coming out of general anaesthesia was horrible. i was in an unfamiliar room, and was very cold. but if i shivered, it really hurt. eventually, someone noticed me and gave me a hot blanket. if i had to do it over, i'd go local.

carl

Posted by Dave Williams (Member # 299) on 05-05-2005, 06:36 PM:

quote: Tim Reed
Ummm, I thought we were not allowed to force signatures in our posts?

This is not a forced signature. This is a salutation, like good day, or good evening, or the like...

In fact, I say this same thing everywhere to everyone, it is part of my family line and my heritage.

It is not a quote, a signature, a meaning of life, just a simple word that calmly and quitely extends my greetings to you and my wish for you to have a happy and long life...

Ciao

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 05-05-2005, 06:48 PM:

quote: William Hooper
How do we know this is really Mark Gulbrandsen?

It's impossible to tell. In fact, Mark is really just another one of Joe's many aliases, like Phil Hill, Brad Miller and Jennifer Pan.

Posted by Per Hauberg (Member # 529) on 05-05-2005, 07:46 PM:

Ask him to carry a DP70 upon an errection.
Only the real Mark will want to try ! [eyes]

Posted by John Walsh (Member # 168) on 05-07-2005, 09:48 AM:

Get better soon Mark! No lifting!

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 05-07-2005, 03:05 PM:

Ohhhhhhhhh John, You're makin me laugh to hard....pleeeeze [uhoh]

......I promise to put that on some T-Shirts and wear them to work. I will also be installing some overhead winches before the next batch of DP's go through the shop.

Recovery has not been too easy. Turns out that I had a reaction to the pin killers and that reaction as odd as it was was in the form of the hickups. Well, neither is a good thing after surgery of any kind.... not being able to take pain killers or having the hickups...... having the hickups forces ones stomach to fill with air and the result was [puke]

which is also not very pleasant without pain killers. Careful, very slow moving around was necessary as the kickups lasted almost 2 days. They actually have medicine now for hickups and thats what it took to stop em. Anyway today is a better day and the surgical pain is diminishing to the point that I am up and around for a half hour now and then checking in to make sure all of you are behaving well. I have to admit that I am feeling a bit more like this photo just before I went in.......

When the doc's went out to talk to my girlfriend after the surgery they oddly mentioned that both hernias were the soze of an overly large film projector.... hummmmmmmmmm.........
Thanks all!!

Mark

Posted by Dave Williams (Member # 299) on 05-18-2005, 11:57 PM:

Mark,

I am hoping that you are doing much much better. I just got back from my honeymoon with my new bride, thats number three now, think I will stick with this one....

When you are up and around, we would love to have you and your girlfriend over for whatever, and maybe you can fix my big screen tv. There's a six pack in it for ya.

Ciao

Posted by Adam Martin (Member # 641) on 05-19-2005, 01:00 AM:

quote: Dave Williams
maybe you can fix my big screen tv. There's a six pack in it

Take the six pack out of the TV and put it in the fridge. That should fix things right up.

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 05-19-2005, 07:12 PM:

Hi Dave,
Am doing pretty good now with more improvement every day. Have been back to work since a week after the surgery. Am up in Jackson Hole this week(no complaints from this person!) doing alot of sound upgrades, so perhaps next week. What kinda big screen is it?

Mark

Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 05-19-2005, 10:58 PM:

My stepdad just had virtually the same surgery as you, Mark. As he was getting ready for his operation I was keeping an eye out on yours. I figured if yours turned out OK that his would too. And, as things turned out, everything's okay.

One thing, though... He had some strange postsurgical bruising.
Have you noticed anything like that? (This bruising is such that, if you did have any, you WOULD notice it! [Eek!]

)

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 05-21-2005, 09:28 PM:

Well, I lucked out on the brusing but I still have some swelling under the incisions accompanied by some pain that cannot be controled even with 800 mg of Ibuprofen. This occurs by about 3 pm in the day and is worse on some days than others. So after that time I take it easy if at all possible. Things really started to improve on a daily basis 2-1/2 weeks after the surgery. My incisions have healed up pretty well so far with no complications at all, have had no black and blue at all. I can now pea like a running fire hydrant again [thumbsup]

!

I installed two SRD sound systems and moved a DTS6 and processor to another theatre in Jackson Hole, WY this past week but had help from the good folks there in lifting anything heavy.... over about 15 pounds This was a good recovery job to get back into the swing of things.

When I got back home today I had received the doctors bills. Not so bad really... about a grand for the left side and 1100.00 for the right side which was the larger of the two hernias. The anestatist's bill was abother 640.00. I have 80/20 insurance and a 500.00 deductable and the insurance(Intermountain Health) paid all but about 640.00 of everything... and that includes the 500 deductable! So things are not so bad there.

Hope your dad gets back in the swing soon and starts feeling better!!

Mark

Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 05-21-2005, 10:40 PM:

Thanks, Mark. The way I look at it, your case is like the proverbial canary in the mine shaft. If you get through it all right, he will too.

So, I'm doubly glad to hear that your recovery is going well. [Smile]

Posted by Dave Williams (Member # 299) on 05-22-2005, 10:44 AM:

It's an Hitachi Ultravision model 5OUX7B, manufactured 1991.

Yeah, its old, doesn't have hdtv (can't afford one just yet, plus I may go a different route anyway), but it USED to do the job.

Right now I can't even get to it, it is buried behind the pool table, which really pisses me off because I NEED to play pool or I will die. It's a rare medical condition known as Imaykadastuffupaditis.

I am HOPING and PRAYING that I can get to at least the pool table by next saturday for memorial day weekend, so I can chill with a beer, a game of pool, and a soak in the hot tub for a few days.

By then I should have the tv out from the corner.

The problem with it is, apparently, that it has a red dot on the image, and sometimes wont even power up the image.

any ideas?

ciao

Posted by Will Kutler (Member # 770) on 05-22-2005, 12:34 PM:

Hi Mark

Hope all's well and a SPEEDY RECOVERY!

K.