Sitting in a lawn chair on the driveway after a very slow amble around the yard on a sunny, warm, blustery day. Nancy has been picking up sticks and is running the lawn tractor over the high parts of the grass. The dogs take turns perching in my lap (just have to keep them on my legs away from my abdomen).
My first two days home have been very low key. I was able to take a shower, which felt wonderful, but I haven't had enough energy for much else other than doing a few crossword puzzles and catching up on recorded F1 races and rugby.
Healing and recovery status:
- Incisions continue to look clean with minimal pain.
- Pain is related to use of my abdominal muscles (sitting, standing, etc.) and is fairly well controlled by my standard meds.
- My core muscles in general are weakened, also effecting sitting, standing, and walking.
- I have a lot of bruising, especially on the left side from my rib cage to my knee.
- Still a lot of swelling from my abdomen down to my feet.
- My appetite is low. Still having some trouble swallowing due to the surgical breathing tube. Digestive system working but not quite back to normal.
- I get short of breath easily, so still working on respiratory exercises.
- As noted previously, I don't have much energy yet, probably due to several of the above factors. I try to get up and move around every hour or so.
- So far my diet is mostly lots of water, a protein shake every day, oatmeal, some ice cream, and other bits of protein I can pick up throughout the day.
Looks like this is going to be a gradual process. Getting my hemoglobin, iron, and fluid levels back to normal will help a lot. Then adding activity as healing allows. It's been a rough go so far, but no regrets - it needed to be done and will pay off in the long run.
My first two days home have been very low key. I was able to take a shower, which felt wonderful, but I haven't had enough energy for much else other than doing a few crossword puzzles and catching up on recorded F1 races and rugby.
Healing and recovery status:
- Incisions continue to look clean with minimal pain.
- Pain is related to use of my abdominal muscles (sitting, standing, etc.) and is fairly well controlled by my standard meds.
- My core muscles in general are weakened, also effecting sitting, standing, and walking.
- I have a lot of bruising, especially on the left side from my rib cage to my knee.
- Still a lot of swelling from my abdomen down to my feet.
- My appetite is low. Still having some trouble swallowing due to the surgical breathing tube. Digestive system working but not quite back to normal.
- I get short of breath easily, so still working on respiratory exercises.
- As noted previously, I don't have much energy yet, probably due to several of the above factors. I try to get up and move around every hour or so.
- So far my diet is mostly lots of water, a protein shake every day, oatmeal, some ice cream, and other bits of protein I can pick up throughout the day.
Looks like this is going to be a gradual process. Getting my hemoglobin, iron, and fluid levels back to normal will help a lot. Then adding activity as healing allows. It's been a rough go so far, but no regrets - it needed to be done and will pay off in the long run.
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