I’m walking these last few days prior to my surgery on June 9th.

 

It’s rainy here, so I have to walk between showers.

 

So far, so good!

 

Both times I’ve gone out, I managed to get back just in time to avoid getting soaked.

 

This morning it misted a wee bit all the way, but not enough to soak my sweatshirt.

 

Walking Joys

 

There’s an adorable Australian shepherd on my walking route.  It has been trained to stay inside its fence (even though the fence is down in one spot), but it always runs to the fence and sits down, asking me to please please please stop by a moment and pet it. (I’m not sure if it’s a male or a female, so that’s why I’m calling it an it. I hate doing that! Animals are “whos” to me!)

 

The fence runs quite a way down the road, so it will get a pet and then run farther down the fence line and sit down again against the fence, beckoning me to “do it again.”

 

And of course, I always do.

 

I’m a pushover for critters!!!

 

I find that the more I walk, the more I like walking.  I didn’t used to like it, but I do now. Which is a good thing because it’s all I’ll be allowed to do for at least four weeks, and perhaps six, post-surgery.  I will miss biking like crazy. That’s my favorite form of exercise, far and away.

 

Favorite Forms of Exercise

 

Pickleball is my second favorite form of exercise.

 

I like swimming, too, but don’t have access to a pool without paying a small fortune, so that’s off my exercise list…  Waaahhhhh!!!!

 

 

I’m Going to Have Cabin Fever in No Time at All, Post-Surgery

 

I’m not looking forward to being house-bound for two weeks until my first follow-up appointment on June 24th.  I’ve been encouraged to walk as much as I feel able to, but they want me to walk in a bent over position until the first follow-up, and I’m not going to be traipsing the neighborhood looking like a 90-year old.  I will be walking in my back yard where no one can see me.

 

And heaven only knows if my back will take much walking, hunched over.  I just don’t know how well I’m going to be able to get around.  It’s crucial that I don’t stretch the sutured areas (there will be lots of those!) before they heal sufficiently. I expect that will take at least a week of very careful maneuvering and hunched over walking.  I hope I’m wrong, but I have to pay close attention to any stretching and be sure I don’t damage the healing tissues.

 

I need to strictly behave during the recovery/healing period

 

About a third of panniculectomies present with “complications” (few serious) mostly because (I surmise) patients try to do too much too soon and bust sutures and cause hematomas.  I want to be the perfect patient and make my surgeon proud, but I’m an impatient patient at heart. I just have to behave and tell myself to cool it for at least two weeks until I get looked at again and released to do a little more.

 

I’m not supposed to lift anything heavier than a liter bottle the first two weeks.  That’s practically nothing! I hate feeling like an invalid. When I had my intestinal bypass surgery in 1977, I was in tears not from pain or discomfort but because I felt so useless, unable to lift or do much of anything at all.   This surgery will be like that one.  I’m truly looking forward to having it all behind me…

 

How I hope/plan to cope

 

I may need to do a lot of FB video visits with friends as soon as I’m feeling up to it again, just to keep from going stir crazy.  I need to stay occupied, and tied here at home there won’t be a lot of news to report via a blog.  So, I’m going to feel very much at loose ends…  I’ll read, rest, and video chat.  Kinda like COVID days, but of far shorter duration, luckily!

 

So, get ready, Helen Schofield, Deborah Davies, Edward Smith and Lisa Twining to have a frequent virtual visitor knocking on your FB video chat option.

 

Does anyone else want to get in on a video chat or two? Let me know!