Gagne to Have Surgery Tuesday; Out 6-8 Weeks


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Monday, November 2, 2009

By Tim Panaccio
CSNPhilly.com

Flyers left wing Simon Gagne finally agreed to have surgery on Tuesday – but the situation is more complicated than at first believed.

“After meeting with three doctors and a different opinion on a lot of things, we went right to the bottom [of it] to make sure we were making the right decision for myself, for the team and for the future, to go and do the surgery," Gagne said.

Two surgeries are scheduled, but it’s possible only one will be performed.

The first surgery will be to strengthen the rectus abdominis muscles to prevent groin or abdominal injuries. The second surgery will be to repair two small hernias – if the hernias are, in fact, present.

Regardless, Gagne will miss six to eight weeks, according to general manager Paul Holmgren.

Afterwar, dGagne said he will "get on a program...to make sure those types of injuries don’t happen to me anymore."

An ultrasound taken in Philadelphia showed two hernias. However, an ultrasound taken in Montreal recently did not show the two hernias. Hence the delay Gagne going under the knife.

“There have been players in all sports who have had this [rectus abdominis] procedure done before and don’t have recurrences,” Holmgren said, adding he couldn’t say for certain whether the procedure will prevent Gagne from having a recurrence.

Gagne had similar surgery after 2006-07, and it apparently didn’t prevent the latest injury.

“He had this procedure done before by a different doctor [David Mulder and Rea Brown] than Dr. [William] Meyers,” Holmgren said. “I don’t know if it will break down over time. There’s other players in other sports where it hasn’t happened. We’re going to get in and fix it.”

Gagne will have his rectus abdominis repaired on both sides. There’s no doubt about that surgery. The surgeries, if he has both, will be performed by William Meyers at Hahnemann University Hospital.

It’s the hernia surgery that is questionable.

“He will look to see laproscopically through his belly button about the two small hernias and repair those, as well,” Holmgren said. “We’re looking at six to eight weeks.”

Obviously, there is some doubt in everyone’s mind as to whether the hernias need surgical repair.

"It’s hard, it’s hard to take because surgery, you usually try and stay away from during the season," Gagne said. "The offseason is there for that. At the same time, there’s never good timing in the season to have surgery, but it’s still early in the season.

"I’ll have time to get back in shape and get my game back and feeling 100 percent when I’m skating. That’s something I wasn’t able to do right now."

This will be Gagne’s fourth surgery in four years for hip and groin problems prior to this season:

• Gagne went through 2008-09 relatively healthy until the end, when his right hip began bothering him, although the club did not announce it. He had offseason surgery (May 28) to his right hip to remove a bone spur and scar tissue.

• In 2007-08, Gagne missed 56 games because of post-concussion syndrome and wasn’t on the ice long enough to develop hip problems.

• In 2006-07, he was bothered from March until season’s end by a hip flexor and groin strain. That offseason, Gagne underwent double hernia surgery.

• In 2005-06, he had a serious groin tear and subsequent offseason surgery to repair a torn labrum in his right hip.

“He’s had repairs in both those areas before, so they’ll go through those same incisions,” Holmgren said. “Those are small incisions to reinforce the area.”

Holmgren said Meyers needs to make certain that the two small hernias that appeared on the ultrasound taken locally really do exist.

“It’s over, we finally know the end game,” Holmgren said. “We’re confident Simon will return in six to eight weeks.”

So this was the cause of the delay.

“It’s so Simon feels comfortable with what is going on,” Holmgren said. “I think deep, down, he just wanted to know, which is his right. It does seem frustrating at times, but at the end of the day, you have to trust the player, and Simon has been through a lot and he wants to make sure we got it right.”

E-mail Tim Panaccio at tpanotch@comcast.net
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