Today is 10 weeks since my surgery. I'm almost back at work full time - close to 40 hours, but not quite. I've been taking it easy and not pushing it any more than I have to. I'm lucky enough with work to be in a position I can do that.
I'm back to the 20 minutes a day (6 or 7 days per week) on my elliptical machine that I was doing prior to surgery. It seems to feel a little harder than before, but an extra cup of coffee first sometimes helps!
I saw my surgeon at 8 weeks. He viewed an x-ray and said everything looks and sounds great. He said my heart has gotten smaller (can he tell that from an x-ray?!). My BP was good. I follow up with my cardio at 3 months and don't need an echo until a year.
My arm/hand issues I have as a result of the stroke I had after surgery are getting better, but my hand is not back to 100% on the typing yet. It sure beats the total loss of my right arm and hand that I started with. I will try to never again take things for granted such as being able to feed and dress myself and now finally the improvements I have made with such seemingly trivial things as putting on make-up, curling my hair, and putting on jewelry (those necklace clasps are killers!). About the only things left are the typing and adding machine and I'm optimistic about a 100% return since I'm working on those daily.
I have an appointment with a neurologist next week. I probably should have gone sooner, but by the time I made my appointment it was several weeks waiting. Hopefully, he can tell me if there is something else I need to be doing to ensure a full recovery.
I really appreciate the support and encouragement I've gotten from the people on this forum. It certainly has made the whole process much more tolerable to be able to get the support and information offered here.
I'm back to the 20 minutes a day (6 or 7 days per week) on my elliptical machine that I was doing prior to surgery. It seems to feel a little harder than before, but an extra cup of coffee first sometimes helps!
I saw my surgeon at 8 weeks. He viewed an x-ray and said everything looks and sounds great. He said my heart has gotten smaller (can he tell that from an x-ray?!). My BP was good. I follow up with my cardio at 3 months and don't need an echo until a year.
My arm/hand issues I have as a result of the stroke I had after surgery are getting better, but my hand is not back to 100% on the typing yet. It sure beats the total loss of my right arm and hand that I started with. I will try to never again take things for granted such as being able to feed and dress myself and now finally the improvements I have made with such seemingly trivial things as putting on make-up, curling my hair, and putting on jewelry (those necklace clasps are killers!). About the only things left are the typing and adding machine and I'm optimistic about a 100% return since I'm working on those daily.
I have an appointment with a neurologist next week. I probably should have gone sooner, but by the time I made my appointment it was several weeks waiting. Hopefully, he can tell me if there is something else I need to be doing to ensure a full recovery.
I really appreciate the support and encouragement I've gotten from the people on this forum. It certainly has made the whole process much more tolerable to be able to get the support and information offered here.
So glad all is going so well!!
