At Four Weeks

My surgery was exactly four weeks ago. At this time of the day, I was sleeping in intensive care and did not wake up until about 7:00 that evening. Three weeks ago I left the hospital. I've come a long ways since then.

From early walks of just 7 minutes, I've built up to between 1 and 2 hours of walking each day. Today I walked a 5K in the morning and in the late afternoon. My morning time was 50 minutes, 8 seconds, and my afternoon time was 52 minutes, 39 seconds. I'm not sure why the afternoon was slower. Perhaps I was tired because I did not take a nap today. On most days, I take a 1 to 2 hour nap, usually around mid-day. Three weeks ago I would not have predicted that I could do two 3+ mile walks at something close to a 17 minutes per mile pace so soon.

My scar continues to heal. It's about 8.5 inches long. A scab covers less than one inch of it. The remainder is a reddish color. On the incentive spirometer breathing device, I'm can easily hit the 2500 ML level. According to my discharge papers, the goal is 2900, so I need to work a little harder with that.

My need for medication continues to fall. I take 1 Vicodin on most nights. Some nights I don't need it at all.

I'm looking forward to the six week mark. At that point I can the stationary bike to my workout and I can drive if I'm off the pain medication. I have a follow-up appointment at Stanford with Dr. DCM on the 21st of December. Hopefully he will be as pleased with my progress as I am.