Tag Archives: recovery

More baby steps

Photographic evidence of my short outing today

I got out this morning, for the first time since coming home from the hospital last Tuesday. One week in this house will definitely give you cabin fever!

I rode around with Zack while he ran some errands. I even went in a couple of shops with him (when we could park close!). We were only gone for about an hour and a half, and I spent the majority of that time in the car. It felt good to be out.

But I. am. tired.

Now I’m back home, resting up so I can stop by for a quick visit this evening for a dear friend’s birthday. Amazing how much motivation birthday cake can provide, isn’t it?

Speaking of the little things: what I’m thankful for post-surgery

  1. My giant Turvis tumbler that my mom gave me for Christmas – helps a lot when I need to drink lots of water
  2. Aeropostale warmup pants that I bought for $10 (@70nok) back in Virginia – comfy, stretchy pants are a must right now
  3. Good food – Zack has really done a fantastic job of keeping me well-fed and well-hydrated
  4. And not just food. Zack has been fantastic with everything – I haven’t had to lift a finger or worry about the things I normally take care of
  5. No nausea – this is huge. The last time I had surgery, I dealt with bad nausea afterwards. But none at all this time!
  6. Emails, SMS, texts, iMessages, Facebook messages, visits, gifts, and phone calls from family and friends – it means so much!
  7. Two helpful sons – packing their own lunches for school (yeah, that might continue long term!), walking to the bus in the snow each morning so Zack can stay with me, and looking for other ways to help around the house
  8. Good books – lots of good reading material to keep me busy
  9. NetFlix – sometimes you just need to watch old movies and TV shows
  10. Baby steps – Thursday was definitely my worst day this week. But each day I’m seeing small improvements. I’m now able to sit up from a laying down position (that is by far the most difficult task), stand up almost totally straight, walk around for more than 2 minutes at a time, shower, and stay awake all day!

 

There’s no place like home!

Lunch before leaving the hospital – don’t I look thrilled?

Monday night was a long night. I think I had been so in and out all day Monday that I just wasn’t very sleepy when night came. Add to that the elements of being in the hospital with a lot of activity around, and two other people in the room, and it just made for a long night.

I got up Tuesday morning and made my way down the hall to the patient cafeteria. This was quite different from my experiences in American hospitals! The nurse will gladly bring food to your room when you aren’t up to moving around, but I was encouraged to try and start walking a bit so I could be discharged. So I had a bite to eat and then went back to my room, exhausted but happy with the progress.

Zack dropped the boys off at school and then came to the hospital. We sat around a bit, and then I had a meeting and exam with the doctor, who said I could go home after lunch. I managed to get myself dressed while Zack went downstairs and fill my prescriptions, and then he accompanied to the cafeteria.

Around 13.00/1:00 PM Tuesday afternoon I was released and we made our way home. Again, exhausting is the best word that comes to mind. Everything is exhausting right now. But I slept much better last night, and I feel a bit more energetic today. I’m trying to get up and move every hour or so, and each time it gets a little better. I just keep reminding myself that this will take a while!