Recovered

As of Tuesday, Apr 26, I am officially "recovered" from my surgery.

Like with most official proclamations, this one deserves the quotes. I am actually more like 90% recovered with respect to my sternum. I am lifting things less than 40 or 50 pounds with no problem, although it's hard to get family and friends to recognize that I can actually do those things. I can get out of bed or up from a chair and use my arms, probably the hardest thing to get used to after being so diligent about *not* using them.

And, of course, I don't "feel" particularly recovered. It will take another six weeks or so for my body to stop freaking out about the surgery. In particular, I have a muscle running from the right side of my neck down into my ribcage on the right side that tends to be particularly sore, for example. My left hip also has been problematic, although I'm happy to say I seem to be getting over that and am aggressively walking again. I hope to start running in a few weeks, at least for a minute at a time, once I can walk at a 15 minute mile pace for a half hour. Right now it's around a 20 minute pace, and it's for 20-25 minutes.

I'm also looking forward to more Wii Fit activity, which I plan to do along with some hand weight work over the next month or so. I will get back to calisthenics once the unruly bits are back to form.

Considering how much I was dreading the recovery, this one has been easy and I'm glad to be within spitting distance of fully functional. Last Sunday I sang a two hour choir concert plus another 90 minutes rehearsal ahead of time, all without any lunch. Tonight I will accompany the same choir at a gig, and for a few hours there it looked like I would be packing my keys and amplification to the gig as well.

About the only weird thing has been having an INR result of 4.3, which is fairly high. This is how long it takes my blood to coagulate as measured in seconds, normal is about 1 second. With two valves, they want my INR at 2.5-3.5, which is actually higher than the 2-3 numbers I was looking for with a single artificial valve. I'm even taking the same amount of Warfarin that I was before, although exercise does bring the number down. More post-surgery body freakout wackiness.

And, with that, I retire this blog for the foreseeable future.

One Month Status

I feel like a one fingered pianist. All I do is talk about how easy this recovery has been, but the truth is that it's been a really easy recovery. Before surgery, I figured I'd start seeing light at the end of the tunnel, but I feel like I'm about five feet from the end of the tunnel, and that's just because I still can't lift much for another nine days. Then it's just a matter of getting back in shape over the following six months, but that's the fun part.

There have been some issues, like how my hip has a sore tendon that's making it hard to get up to the sort of walking speed and distance I'd like to be at. My torso is kinda sore and the muscles are still adjusting to not having to hold things together as much as before. That said, I sang for two hours at a rehearsal the other night, have gone out for dinner, have gone shopping. I'm even wearing jeans and shorts and letting shower spray hit my incisions. Hands over head!

At this point, I'm not going to post any more to this blog unless there's actual news. 

Thanks as always for the good thoughts. Recovery is always easier and better when so many wonderful people are pulling for you!

Three Week Status

Hard to believe it's been three weeks already, and at the same time hard to believe only three weeks have gone by. I'm sure that if this was my first recovery I'd think things were going more slowly, but knowing this is a model recovery I'm just enjoying it more than anything else.

Yesterday I drove for the first time, just to Chipotle for lunch and then to get my regular Surgical Recovery iPad Upgrade. I walked through all of the mall, plus another mile at home that afternoon. I'm already starting training to prep for a return to running, hopefully in three more weeks, at least in a small capacity. I'm also doing some light hand weight work as my upper body seems to have borne the main brunt of lack of use, my legs are in good shape considering.

Today I have lunch with my sister Jan and will play a little Star Wars role play game with my friend Connor. Plus walking! I just can't believe how good I feel.

Did I Pass?

Today I had my first appointment with my surgeon's nurse, who gave me a once over and discussed moving forward.

In a nutshell, I am rocking it. 

I am cleared to drive next Tuesday, assuming no opiate use for 24 hour prior. That's three weeks compared with four plus weeks the first time out, and then driving was difficult to a certain extent.

My sternal restrictions will be lifted after six weeks. Compare with nine weeks last time. That means, effectively, that my sternum is healed enough that I can perform normal activities. 

This all means that by the end of April, my recovery will be more or less complete. Sooner, actually, as six weeks from my surgery date of 3/15 will be 4/26.

This recovery has been so effortless that I've taken to calling it the Slight Inconvenience. 

The lesson for us all, if you don't mind a bit of free advice, is to get in shape and eat right now. Because when you need to be in good shape is probably when you won't be, as I learned last time. 

As for the surgery itself, the big time issue was removing the scar tissue from around my aorta. There was a lot. I was also on the heart-lung machine for a somewhat longer than normal amount of time. Fortunately, neither of these issues ended up having a negative effect, and again the condition of my body played a big role in improving my odds. 

Also, I have a delightful picture of one of the two mitral valves. I may post it later, but suffice it to say that it looks like a cat midway through being shapeshifted by the alien from The Thing. I am calling it Hans. The rest of the valve they more or less just built over with the prosthesis. 

I'm also delighted to say that my lungs are in excellent shape. Getting them working again after being on the heart/lung machine is a big part of recovery, and I'm doing very well in that regard as well.

The best news of the day is that I can go down to one iron pill a day for the next couple of weeks. Yay. Those things suck.

Of course, being in good shape is not everything in recovery. The other big factor, at least for me, is knowing that so many people are thinking good thoughts on my behalf. Thank you all.

Now it's time for first lunch.