This is the easiest post-surgery I’ve ever been through

 

The third post-surgery day is supposed to be the worst and I got up just now feeling ZERO soreness.  If I didn’t know for a fact that I’m split from hip to hip in one place and above it in another place, I would have a hard time believing it today.

 

I walked 4000 steps yesterday during the day (on four separate occasions, 1000 steps each time).     No pain, no pulling, no soreness.

 

The fluid from my drains in lessening and getting pink. It has a little tissue in it (normal), too, but there is no odor and I have no fever.

 

I’ve only taken a total of four half doses of Tylenol, and that’s just because I was advised to.  I’m glad I had them on board yesterday when I got up and down, but today I have only the slightest negligible soreness when I stand from a sitting or slightly reclining position.  (I’m sleeping in an anti-gravity chair in my bedroom because it’s easiest to  get in and out of, and it’s comfortable as all get out. )

 

I wonder if it’s easier because I knew what to expect, or because I expected worse

 

There’s no way to tell if most of my good luck here post-surgery is that I’ve been through surgeries before and knew what to expect, or because I expected this one to be worse (possibly as “bad” as my intestinal bypass surgery was in 1977).  There’s a lot to be said in support of the mindset of patients.  I’m pretty well convinced that my attitude has something to do with how well my body is recovering post-surgery.

 

Jackie admits to experiencing glee when shooting me in the belly or butt

 

It hasn’t been my imagination!  Jackie has admitted feeling gleeful when giving me my nightly bridge therapy. I have my very own Nurse Cratchit for a sister!

 

Unlike Lisa, who recoils at the thought of giving me or anyone else a shot, Jackie gets positively animated when it’s time to shoot me.

 

Sadly for her, the bridge therapy is very likely to end after tomorrow evening.  I’ll be checked Monday morning to see if my Warfarin levels are back up to snuff. If they are, we can dispense with the shots. If they aren’t, the clinic will give me another couple doses to  continue a day or so longer and check me again.

 

Patches is shedding like crazy

 

Patches (my now slightly hypothyroid cat) is shedding like crazy.  It has been three days since I gave her a good combing and when I did it just a little while ago, I got the equivalent of another cat out of her. (OK, that’s hyperbole by a bunch, but it was an impressive amount of hair for only a three-day span between combings.)

 

She explodes into purrs and heads butts and chin rubs every time I brush her. Before she had her hyperactive thyroid treatment she would swat me if I combed her for more than about two minutes. (Possibly she was sore or too bony, and it wasn’t comfortable.)  NOW she puts up with it, happily, for as long as I want to keep doing it. I think I could do it for an hour.  She loses no enthusiasm as I minister to her these days.  As soon as my belly is healed and I can risk getting it soaked again, I’ll give her another bath and see if I can get all of the excess hair off her body.

 

Soup Therapy

 

Teryl McLane sent me some specialty soups from a famous family-owned soup company (how cool is that?!) as a get-well gift. I’m looking forward to thawing and heating it up in the next few days.

 

The soup came with a card about the company. (Their prices seem unsustainably high, so I expect to be blown away by the taste!)

 

But what a dear friend Teryl is, to think of me in this special way…  She never ceases to amaze me.

 

Amazon Music

 

I’m using Amazon Music to keep me soothed and entertained during my conscious moments while recovering here at home. I ask Alexa to serve up “soothing Native American Instrumental Music, “soothing Asian Instrumental Music,” “Instrumental Music to Heal By” (I get served meditation music when I do that) and, occasionally, soundtrack albums (Lion King, Les Mis, The Music Man, The Greatest Showman, Tom Sawyer, etc.) and am rarely disappointed. Last night I had Robert Goulet serenade me most of the night. That was very special.  I love his voice.

 

Of course, I have a special attachment to one of his most famous songs: FOR ONCE IN MY LIFE. If you’ve read DeForest Kelley Up Close and Personal, you know all about that.

 

If you haven’t, what the heck are you waiting for? People who never even watched Star Trek or knew anything about De have read and loved it, because it’s about my 30-year friendship with the Kelleys, not Trek.  The Kelleys helped raise me in a number of ways.

 

Anything else?

 

I’m trying to think of anything additional that would be even remotely interesting to you, but am not having much luck, so I guess I’ll sign off and wait ’til my brain pan fills again with something worth typing down.