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.