He was a dreamer, a thinker, a speculative philosopher… or, as his wife would have it, an idiot. ~ Douglas Adams

Rev Kane’s Wild Ride: 42 Days!

As I went into surgery I had some particular milestones in mind, particularly associated with numbers of weeks. So, Week 1, survive and one I hadn’t envisioned, have a bowel movement. Weeks 2-3, the first two weeks home, try to find ways to be as comfortable as possible, understand and accept help from others. Weeks 4-6, get into a healing routine, enough sleep, eating well, walking and accept but reduce the amount of help I needed. Week 6, start to drive. Weeks 6-8 is about the time most people’s breast bone has fully fused back together, not completely healed but fused together, so I picked the end of Week 7 and the holy number of 42 to really celebrate the first major milestone on my way to normality.

Week 1 was about survival and getting out of the hospital and I left on day 6. The first two weeks at home were far more comfortable than expected, especially after I got the head adjustable bed frame and was able to start sleeping in my own bed again. Weeks 4-6 have been exactly as expected, it’s become pretty routine, get up, do my vital signs, record them for the doctor, eat, take my meds, go for a walk, do some social media, eat, go for a walk, nap or listen to a podcast. Eat dinner, go for a walk, take my meds, shower, make my bed, watch some TV, go to bed. Other than expanding the distance of my walk each day, it’s been pretty much groundhog day for the last few weeks, you know, minus a couple of visitors and doctor’s visits.

Week 7 has been about starting to getting back to feeling close to normal. Week 8 will be much the same, and after Week 8 we change gears from recover to preparation and training. After Week 8 I’ll get a little more adventurous, my cardiologist has cleared me to travel after Week 8. There are already signs of this, I took my last dose of a heart medicine today, one I should have finished a couple of weeks ago but had to slow the dose because it was liquefying my intestines if I took both doses each day. I have five weeks left to be on my blood thinners and hopefully at that point I go off of that drug as well as the drug I take to protect my stomach from the impacts of the blood thinners.

One of the things that I read a lot about but hadn’t really experienced during this recovery are the emotional impacts. There was a lot about people being more emotional and often becoming depressed after the surgery. I was a little emotional in Week 2, but honestly, I feel a bit colder instead of more emotional. I’ve also been in really good spirits, the last two days have been the exception. My mood took a gnarly dive yesterday and I’m trying to fight my way out of that. I think a bit part of it, is the realization of how long the limitations on me will extend. While I can travel after week 8, I can’t really wear a weighted backpack, so no real hiking options. I can swim or soak in a hot tub or hot spring, so resorts and beaches are off the table. Honestly it really only leaves me casinos, eating and shows and I’m not really excited about Reno, Tahoe or Vegas right now. So I think a big part of my tanking mood is that I’ll have four pretty open weeks and I really have nothing all that exciting I can do. Don’t get me wrong, I’m enjoying my quiet, mostly stress free life right now but I kind of wanted to do something fun. I’m working on it. One other small piece of information that has bummed me out, I’ve always wanted to jump out of a plane. I had hoped to celebrate a year post surgery by jumping out of a plane, unfortunately it’s really not recommended without previous experience and a ton of cardiac rehab training focused on jumping. A little good news however, I can scuba dive, so I may have to get certified and start diving.

The big gear change in Weeks 8-12 is to push my legs and do a lot of walking. I’m currently walking 4 miles a day most days. I’ll push that up to 6 miles a day as we progress, I’m already picking up my walking speed and doing more hills. I also start my cardiac rehab program right after the Fourth of July and that will also add some things into the mix I’m sure. I will also be starting to apply for jobs very selectively. I’m stuck in a bit of a quandary between leaving my incredible health care before my six month recovery mark and not being physically able enough to do a move without a lot of help and getting the hell out of a truly awful job. So some heavy shit on my shoulders right now as my job sucks and every little conversation I have about work makes me less interested in returning to that place.

But today we celebrate, there was pizza, a big Coke and a tiny bowl of ice cream with chocolate sauce and they were magnificent. This is my first pizza in seven weeks, outside of my three months living in Oaxaca, this is probably the longest I’ve ever gone without a pizza.

This week I even bought myself a present I’m sporting below in the image and my hair is perfect!

So all I can say tonight friends, is do the best you can to have a happy day and I’ll do the same. One last thing, happy sixth birthday to The Tiny Boss, my littlest niece. ~ Rev Kane