Diary of a Surgery: Recovery

Week One:

One week since my surgery and I’m doing surprisingly well. Not sure why I was expecting a difficult time in walking, rising, etc. I thought that I would come out of this surgery more like my first one when it seemed I had to teach myself to walk and stand again. Maybe it was the severity of this surgery and thinking it would place me back in the same position. I had one thought in that with all the screws installed and the rods, that I would have a lot of achiness from the bone and from my muscle forming around the rods. Neither of which is anything I have felt. Most of the pain I feel is in the surgery area that has been sewn, glued, or taped back together. In fact, yesterday, I was feeling a lot of discomfort, and it was just that we had not taken the dressing off. Dressing off and it feels so much better.

Erica, the oldest of our kids and a nurse, has arrived to make sure Jen and I are on the path to recovery with her advice and her need to perform some chores for me. She did the same for Jen in November. Today she is picking up sticks and limbs that fell during the storms the last few days. More importantly, even though Jen is also a nurse, it is just the greatest to see any of our kids with every chance available. Plus, I get to have discussions about politics and current events that Jen avoids talking to me about. I understand why, I’m adamant about my beliefs and am hard to accept other thoughts or viewpoints. But I’ve gotten better and find myself more and more opening my mind to other viewpoints. Everything is an evolution. Back on topic, it’s great to have Erica here and she is busy helping Jen around the house on my projects. I’m trying to observe from a distance, grudgingly, due to years of developed method for things like window shades.

 I’m walking with little pain and more strength. That may seem impossible after what I’ve gone through but consider the fact, I have been in pain for so long with my back and joints that a little surgery area pain is minor, and I feel great. Mostly I have to make sure I don’t damage newly installed hardware that needs time to set in and let my body absorb into being part of my structure. The next four weeks are going to be hard to keep using a walker when I already feel I could transfer to a cane. I guess I need to play by the rules and take advantage of the time off from my routine lifestyle. Reading is at the top of my list of desirable activities missed and requiring more of my time. I read more when I was working than since retiring. That seems odd to me, but I think it has to do with doing things as they come up versus work being confined to a ten hour window. My life is less structured and may be the real aspect of retirement compared to a working lifestyle. Maybe that is what I need, structure.

I’m watching from the kitchen as Jen and Erica do Buddy chores. My chores consist of mindless activity filled with infinite time to think. Might be why I chose to write as a cathartic process. We need to clear our mind of lingering issues. When I was going through my divorce, my therapist encouraged me to write and write and write some more. Don’t go back and read, but instead set it on fire in your hand and drop it into the toilet and flush your issues down the drain. Writing has become that for me, instead of burning and flushing, I now publish and move on to something else to write about. Same process, just less waste. Hopefully, this surgery will encourage me to move on to a more carefree lifestyle of enjoying our surroundings and reaping what we have sown. Sown being the projects themselves and the reaping being the using, admiring, and enjoying the end result. My 2024 is dedicated to change. Change is an obstacle often avoided. We tend to avoid it because it represents difference, we get set into our lives and become complacent. My recovery will be about healing, changing lifestyle, enjoying what is in front of me, and using what is already at our disposal or has been sidelined. Recovery and change will become synonymous. And at the end of year, I hope my resolution for the next will simply be to keep doing what I’m doing, it is working!