Recovery Day 5

Today is my second full day home. What a difference a few days makes. Yesterday was day 4 and my first full day home. That meant a lot more moving around the house and less assistance in getting up and down. I took it pretty easy and that seemed to be the right thing to do. I was also blessed with a few visitors, which helped the time pass.

I woke up today at 8am and took my painkillers, which promptly put me back to sleep. When I woke up again at 11am, Greg, Boston (our pup) and our friend Johnny (our former roommate) were going to walk to Bloc 11 to get coffee. I figured it would be great to start the day with a short walk. I didn't think I could go the whole distance, so I decided to join them for part of the way. When we got to our first uphill, I decided to give it a try. I had only been walking on flat ground and wasn't sure how I would respond. Uphills seemed to be OK! I kept on going until we got to the downhill. This was a bit more painful, but I figured that at this point, I was halfway to the cafe, might as well keep going (as there would be treats at the end......). I made it all the way! I was tired when I got there, but I did it! Each way is about .75miles, so in total, I walked about 1.5 miles in 45 minutes. And it felt great! (and as a side note, it also helped me go to the bathroom, which I am finding out is one of the biggest challenges to this recovery......the location of the incision combined with the amount of painkillers I am on make for an unresponsive/unhappy colon.......walk, walk, walk is the take home message here......)

I feel like today is the first day of "training mode". It is May 16, and I walked 1.5 miles in 45 minutes. In 3 months, I will swim/bike/run 70.3 miles. Two days ago, this felt like a completely ridiculous goal. Today, it feels more achievable than I could have imagined.

And on another note, my dad is getting out of the hospital today. He is doing great and his (my) kidney is working well. His levels have just about normalized and he hasn't shown any signs of rejection. It hasn't even been a week and yet things seem to be on the up and up.