Due to some personal reasons I’ve decided to put an end to WhOA; I gave away most of the whistles, threw away some, and decided to keep only three low D’s — Chieftain (NR) low D, SZBE low D and Overton (Brigitte & Colin, did you send me the bent one already? please let me know…apart from financial reason I won’t be able to play a new one). One of the reasons is a health issue (ingunial hernia); I can’t play wind instruments that require high backpressure…for those of you in the know, this is because when you do you’ll be pushing a bit of guts out of a hole on a thin sheet that holds them. I’ll be operated perhaps early next year, so I can play those whistles all I want since then, but after the operation I must undergo a rehab for a hideous amount of time (this is because this is the FOURTH time I suffer this type of hernia. I remember playing saxophones (!) a month after the ope and it was, I believe, a bad mistake).
I may have to give up playing three whistles altogether. My parents bought me a flute as a present thinking I could manage it, it’s on the way, hopefully I’ll be playing it until the operation but after that…I’ll keep it for my yet unborn child.
Hence; NO MORE INSTRUMENTS!!!
Anybody got/is getting this hernia? called inguinal hernia.
Could this be God’s wrath against a prejudiced, proud, pretentious whistler?
I would die if I couldn’t make music! I’m really sorry dude! Hope everything works out okay! If you havn’t already, you should look into string instruments, or something that requires little to no breath. don’t give up!
I am so sorry you’re going through this! But, look at it this way:
This is the perfect opportunity to take up a more expensive instrument! Like mandolin (I did, and am far from regretting it) or guitar or… dare I say it?
I shouldn’t put ideas in yer head, or even impose my opinion on you. Okay, just this once. But if it were me, I’d think what’s the next instrument I would like to play, but wouldn’t “now” because of my love for whistles. For me, it would probably be mandolin.
Yes, I thought of Hoover but the problem is on something else and it’s that the way I play wind instruments. I was heavily trained to put a downward pressure when playing winds and this sort of causes my stomach to go down, making a piece poke out of the hole on the sheet holding the guts.
I had an inguinal hernia… rare for women who aren’t obese, or do heavy lifting. My repair was fairly easy, two inch incision with no complications, though the doctor did say that there was a fair chance that I would herniate on the other side. Oh joy. And you say you had four!
Maybe just a real easy breather sort of whistle? something that you breathe into rather than blow?
Even though one does not actually breathe into them, I can’t imagine UP’s would be good for someone with a hernia. Lots of abdominal effort involved in working the bags and bellows.
