Surgery date set!!!

[SatoriFound]

That's the spirit! My first reaction to the suggestion to walk was "I don't think I can do that." In the end it was a good walk all right.


Yep, the full suit of attachments (*). I remember it took 2 nurses to carry the jugs, roll the pole and control my unsteady walk. The neck thing was removed later on, right before moving out of ICU.

(*) I felt like an octopus with all these lines/tentacles. But they gradually get removed. Something goes every day.

He doesn't seem nearly as motivated today. He seems like he's feeling depressed. *sigh*

 

[V__]

He doesn't seem nearly as motivated today. He seems like he's feeling depressed. *sigh*

I hope that, as things get better day by day, the mood will lift. The surgery is a big "shake", and physique is really down after it. But the blood tests (and chest X-ray results) should be gradually getting better. The stamina should be improving, the range of motion increasing, etc. At first it's almost daily improvements. They slow down in a few weeks, when the body gets closer to normal level of fitness. But it does take a few weeks, give or take.

It's useful to work on the prescribed exercises (walking, spirometer breathing) in a steady way at the level of exertion available now, without forcing or overdoing them.

 

[Chuck C]

I felt like an octopus with all these lines/tentacles. But they gradually get removed. Something goes every day.

That is exactly how I felt. And, like you, I enjoyed getting stuff removed gradually. At first I felt like a one man band going down the hall, with tubes, pumps and two full IV trees. Then-from two drainage tubes and pumps, down to one. Then no drainage tubes. Then just one IV tree, until finally, in the step down unit, no IV tree. There was something really cool about getting increasing freedom and mobility every day.

Take each little improvement as a victory, on the path to full recovery.

 

[V__]

And, like you, I enjoyed getting stuff removed gradually.

Well, I was a bit ambivalent about it. Having fewer attachments is nice. But they were my tentacles!

There was something really cool about getting increasing freedom and mobility every day.

Yes. I also took an inspiration from seeing an older patient strolling in the corridor on her walk. Without any attachments. During times when I was still basically shuffling for a walk. It seemed like a good example of where one can get in a few days