Olympic gold medalist Ryan Lochte is currently undergoing surgery to have his appendix removed.
Lochte posted on his Instagram account at 3:09 Eastern Time on Saturday a photo of himself in a hospital bed, wearing a mask, with a caption that said “Appendicitis surgery now… Wish me luck.”
According to the Mayo Clinic, Appendicitis is “an inflammation of the appendix, a finger-shaped pouch that projects from your colon on the lower right side of your abdomen.”
The most common treatment is removal.
Between 7% and 14% of Americans will experience appendicitis in their lifetimes, though recent research has indicated that the condition can be treated with antibiotics rather than surgery.
Appendix surgery is among the most common surgeries in the United States, and modern laparoscopic techniques use very small incisions for the removal. Historically, the appendix has been viewed as not having any real function in modern humans, though there is some recent research that indicates that it protects beneficial bacteria living in the gut.
According to doctor Buck Parker, activity should be “reduced” for the first two weeks after the surgery, and can thereafter increase to “moderate” levels. Parker advises against lifting anything more than 20 pounds for about 4 weeks.
The 36-year old Lochte has won 6 gold, 3 silver, and 3 bronze medals across the 2004, 2008, 2012, and 2016 Olympics. Since the most recent Olympic Games in 2016, Lochte has served 2 suspensions: one for an infamous incident at a gas station in Rio de Janeiro, and the other for an anti-doping rules violation.
Since those 2016 Olympics, he has also gotten married to his wife Kayla Reid, and the couple have had 2 children together.
In his first big meet after his latest suspension, last summer’s US National Championships, Lochte won the US National Title in the 200 IM. His time of 1:57.76 ranked him 12th in the world last year.
Oh God, give my man Ryan a break!!
Well, if he’s as tough as Jeff Farrell was/still is, he’d swim in the Olympic Trials in 6 days. Lochte’s pretty tough, too.
Good luck to him. If it isn’t perforated he should be fine in no time however because it is abdominal surgery he can’t lift weights for a few weeks or he could get a hernia. Really difficult for someone in his position who is on a tighttimeline and cant afford to skip too much training to figure out how to get back safely.
Yikes! Best wishes for a speedy recovery!
Can’t catch a break:/