It’s hard to believe it’s been almost two weeks since I had my surgery. The time has–no, wait, it really is hard to believe, but not because the time has flown by, since it actually feels like it’s slowed down, where each day is an entire adventure unto itself, like I was eight years old again (but without the bouncy, elastic eight-year-old body).
Still, there have been tangible signs of progress and for these I am glad:
Sign #1: I adjusted my side of the bed so that the Head was at 35 (of 100). This allowed me to sleep on my back and my right side, while still providing a bit more elevation than usual. And I actually slept! The best part, possibly but not definitely related to the bed, was that my chest no longer had that horrible gravelly feeling each time I woke up and had to breathe in and breathe out, as one does. In other words, my lungs were no longer requiring a cough every hour to keep clear. They are starting to keep clear unaided!
Sign #2: SPIRO-BALL success. I’ve been using the spiro-ball daily, watching my lung capacity improve from 1,000 ml, then to 2,000 and the other day to 3,000. This morning, I got the ball all the way to the top at 4,000 ml. Not for long, but it got there. Woo.
Sign #3: After walking around Lafarge Lake this afternoon (photo below), my watch gave me a Recovery Time Delayed advisory–something it normally only does after a run. But I’ll take it, because it means I’m being active and healthy and stuff.
Sign #4: Another day free of pain relievers.
The 10 pound lifting limit still makes buying groceries a challenge, though. Food is heavy, man.
Lafarge Lake, this afternoon:
Lafarge Lake, looking to the north.
And here is a cat that I met on the sidewalk a few years back. She would plop in front of me until I gave her sufficient skritches.
You shall not pass (without providing a belly rub).
My site here runs on WordPress, but I started it back in 2005 when WP was at version 1.2 (it just hit version 7.0 a few weeks ago). To say it was a simpler system then would be correct.
Reading through PoT’s post, I found myself nodding in agreement and considering myself lucky that my site has pretty much been in maintenance mode for years now (backend-wise–I still churn out nonsense regularly), running the same theme (GeneratePress) and a handful of plugins. Things generally just work.
Except recently, I had a plugin update go haywire for the first time in ages. This led me to disabling all plugins until I (relatively quickly) found the rogue one. But instead of re-enabling all the plugins I’d been using, I only re-enabled the ones I considered essential, even if they were fairly frivolous 1Like Modern Footnotes, which allows me to place pop-up style notes to offer witty little bits as I see fit.. It made me think again about my failed search for a WordPress alternative. My needs seem simple on the surface:
A space to write, with the usual formatting options
A space to post photos, including galleries
Something that doesn’t require a lot of coding, as I’m not a programmer (I can handle some CSS and the like)
But I am also a bit of a weirdo, as I like having more precise control over the text and photos than most blogging platforms allow. WP, as awful as it is, gives me that flexibility, and I’ve grown familiar with it and accustomed to its general awfulness. But now I wonder if I should again renew my search?
If anyone happens to read this and has a suggestion, hit me up on Mastodon, email me or otherwise reach out as outlined here.
Last night I removed the bandages covering my two incisions after getting the OK from my doctor. They still have the “dissolving” sutures in place, but maybe they will more readily move on to suture heaven now that they are unencumbered.
Today I have not taken any Tylenol for the first time since release from the hospital on May 23. So far, things are OK, though the incision and surgery areas are both…sensitive? If I sit still, it’s fine, if I move, it becomes more noticeable. Not enough to reach for the Tylenol, just enough to note.
I slept a wee bit better last night and my chest did not feel as congested by morning. I’m still probably 5 or 6 days away from something passing for a normal sleep if this rate of improvement continues.
Anyway, I am recovering, but I think I’m hitting that point where you just want the recovery part to be done, not ongoing. I will consult my inner Zen to centre myself and accept that I must be patient.
Fedora did not last long. It was fine. I may try it again.
So I got wacky and installed CachyOS with GNOME. It’s the #1 distro on DistroWatch because it’s fast and modern and such.
The install was easy. The software manager looks a little rudimentary, but it works.
I’ll probably switch again, even if just the Desktop Environment (DE) to KDE Plasma, because GNOME just doesn’t appeal to me. I think it’s because it spreads its UI elements all over the place, which is fine on an old 19″ monitor but maybe not so much on a widescreen 32″ one. And yes, I could just try installing Plasma onto the current CachyOS by reciting the proper incantations, but I’m fine with just wiping and starting over.
I am beginning to get a good feel for what I want in a Linux distro by constantly switching, though.
Things I like in a Linux distro:
Hassle-free installer and support for dual boot setups
FUNNY NOTE: After writing this post, I recalled I'd seen this blogging question challenge last year and couldn't remember if I'd answered the questions back then. It turns out I did, so I have now answered the questions twice, which makes me a bit of a dope, but also provides an interesting comparison between what I wrote on January 26, 2025 and today, June 3, 2026.
It's worth reading the older version, some of the answers are more fleshed out than in this post. But read both and enjoy the blogginess of it all!
What platform are you using to manage your blog and why did you choose it?
Have you blogged on other platforms before?
How do you write your posts? For example, in a local editing tool, or in a panel/dashboard that’s part of your blog?
When do you feel most inspired to write?
Do you publish immediately after writing, or do you let it simmer a bit as a draft?
What’s your favourite post on your blog?
Any future plans for your blog? Maybe a redesign, a move to another platform, or adding a new feature?
Answers:
Why did you start blogging in the first place?
I like to write and I’ve always enjoyed journaling and noodling around writing my thoughts down. When blogs started to become a thing, I was just technically capable enough to slap together a blog of my own in February 2005.
What platform are you using to manage your blog and why did you choose it?
I am using WordPress and creolened.com has been using WP for over 21 years now. When the WP CEO started getting, er, a bit eccentric a few years ago, I started looking at alternative platforms, but none had all the things I wanted. And 20 years of inertia is hard to fight. In 2005 WordPress struck me as having the right balance of features and ease of use that worked for me. Admittedly, I didn’t really try anything else, because WP clicked pretty quickly.
Have you blogged on other platforms before?
I have dabbled and experimented with the following:
Ghost
Posthaven
Bear
Pika
Write.as
Probably more I’m forgetting
The only ones that survive today are Write.as as a free account and Pika, which I subbed to for a year, then never really used (not a reflection on the platform).
How do you write your posts? For example, in a local editing tool, or in a panel/dashboard that’s part of your blog?
I used the built-in editor in WordPress. And yes, I use blocks, I’ve tried fighting them before, but for the most part have adapted to them. But I have also used other programs to write and save blog posts before posting them here, with Obsidian, iA Writer and Ulysses (Mac) being the most common. If there’s a program that lets me export to WP, I’ll usually try it at least once, but most of the time I’m typing in the built-in editor.
When do you feel most inspired to write?
It varies, but it tends to be on the extremes, either early morning or late evening, probably because of the quiet (sometimes in the morning because I’m feeling zesty).
Do you publish immediately after writing, or do you let it simmer a bit as a draft?
Drafts are where posts go to die. I rarely come back to a draft, so I write “live” and post immediately. This is also reflected in that most of my posts are not planned, just whatever flits through my mind at the moment.
My viewpoint tends to be a bit jaded, but ultimately hopeful and a bit sarcastic. I realize it may not work for everyone.
Any future plans for your blog? Maybe a redesign, a move to another platform, or adding a new feature?
My blog is pretty much done as far as features and whatnot. I’ve actually been trying to prune back the number of plugins I use, though it’s hard to resist some 1Like these pop-up footnotes, for example. I do occasionally tweak the layout and design of the blog and assorted elements and will continue to do so. I need a new logo as of writing this (June 2026) but haven’t had anything really speak to me yet.
Last night I dreamed that I was jogging along this lovely mountain trail. The sky was clear, but it wasn’t hot out. I had views that were nice, but not vertigo-inducing, of a bluff above, of alpine forest and a wide, flat valley below, where a lush savannah lay. Above the trail were a series of boulders that seemed to be shaped, possibly human-made. I remember clambering up to see what it was all about and recall water, so maybe some kind of reservoir? The dream was being a tease on this part.
In the savannah, I saw a hippo. Why a hippo, only my brain can say, and it ain’t talking. The hippo was the size of a house. There was also a house-sized chicken, though its proximity to the giant hippo was unclear. There might have been more chickens.
The bluff above made me think of the one in The Lion King, arching up to the sky, except instead of anthropomorphic lions capering about, there was a herd of giraffe gathering. I could see several of them hunkering down in a way that suggested they were getting ready to leap off the bluff, not like lemmings to their doom, but because they could fly. Of course.
Sneezing is neither fun nor exciting. But I did it twice today, and it was a sign of my improving recovery from the surgery. I’d sneezed previously, but they were tiny kitten sneezes. Today, they were more normal sneezes, meaning my body did not try to shut them down because it could handle them.
Sneezing is remarkably violent on your body, given what it is. The second one especially lit up my surgery area, albeit briefly, and I recovered quickly. Nothing got pulled or stretched in horrible ways.
I slept last night without the beanbag and had no neck pain, hooray. I also was able to sleep on my right side, which felt more comfortable, and I believe this let me fall asleep faster.
Despite these things, my watch claimed my sleep was worse than the night before, but I am unconvinced. I’m not just going with my gut here, but as many other organs as possible, and they’re telling me my sleep was OK. Not great, but OK.
I took a nap in the afternoon and felt kind of blah afterward. This is normal and a reminder why I generally do not nap. If I need to rest, I’m better just laying down and closing my eyes without snoozing.
My overall energy level and movement continue to improve. I am eager for Friday to get the suture removed and finally stop worrying about accidentally yoinking it out somehow.
Last night I proactively set up in bed with the heated beanbag wrapped around the base of my neck acting as a kind of warm brace. And it worked! My neck was not sore at all the entire night. Did my sleep score improve? Yes! Was it good? No!
It was 57/100, which still counts as Poor (Fair starts at 60), but only two stats were poor and Deep sleep was actually rated Excellent.
The downsides of this sleep technique:
It still took me multiple hours to fall asleep. This is even weirder when you consider how much less sleep I’ve gotten over the past week. I should be feeling more tired than I am and, barring pain, should conk out quicker. But whenever I normally go to sleep, I always start on my right side, which currently is not workable without issues, so maybe the on-back position is just not conducive to me nodding off.
With the pseudo-neck brace in place, I really don’t move during bedtime. By the time my alarm went off this morning, just breathing in and out was uncomfortable due to stuff accumulating in my lungs and not getting shifted around by my usual night twitchings and shiftings. This can be fixed by coughing just enough to bring me wide awake.
I’m going to try without the beanbag tonight and see if the neck reacts poorly. If it does, I’ll pop in the ol’ bag right away and deal with it [insert meme here]. But being able to sleep in a normal(ish) position without pain or aids or whatever, would be dandy.
The other item of note today was my lower back getting sore. You may recall I have not had surgery on my lower back. I think it’s just because today I was moving, bending and stretching more like I normally would and my lower back was all, “Whoa, let’s not get crazy here, 10 days is not four weeks!” So I’ve spent the evening lifting nothing heavier than a glass of water.
Rooting through my cat GIFs, I find this one speaks to me tonight.
Last night was bad. I went to bed without taking any pain medication, which would be fine at this point, except for Cursed Neck™. Any time I lay on my back (the only way I can really sleep right now) the lower left part of my neck starts to hurt like [long string of expletives here]. This happened last night and for multiple hours I just laid there, hoping that maybe my body would exhaust itself and shutdown or something.
Instead, I took a Tylenol and a Hydromorphone pill (the opioid that came with the sheet warning of ADDICTION and DEATH) and had Jeff warm up the old neck beanbag thing, which is basically a long cloth tube full of beans that can get toasted up in the microwave. I wore this around the back of my neck, helping to relieve the pain, while also serving as a makeshift brace that elevated the neck.
It was getting close to 3 a.m. but it worked, and I actually slept decently for the next six or so hours. I’ll be using the beanbag again tonight, but at regular bedtime.
Meanwhile, I broke my admittedly short new 10,000-step streak yesterday, because I felt worn out. Today, I wanted to get some actual exercise and walked to Burnaby Lake and back. It went fine! The only time I felt myself straining was coming up from Lower to Upper Hume Park, which I did in one go. I was a little winded at the top.
I have 15,411 steps as I type this, the most since the surgery, so woo for that.
Here’s hoping the next week is all about improvements and feeling peppier.
A few photos from my walk, this time using the built-in WP gallery:
May was a funny month and I do not mean it had me in stitches.
Wait, it literally had me in stitches, because on May 22 I had surgery (a VATS Thymectomy) that left me with sutures holding together two small incisions on the left side of my chest, along with another to close up the place where a chest tube was inserted.
This surgery drastically altered my course for the rest of the month, for a couple of reasons:
A few days of very little activity at all, due to the surgery and immediate post-recovery
Generally lower levels of activity after that for the remainder of the month
No running at all post-surgery (I have missed five runs so far), with resumption not expected for at least 2–3 weeks
I have eaten regularly and normally, though–and healthier, too!
The overall effects have been:
Slightly lower muscle mass, though the dropoff has been small enough to be insignificant statistically
Dramatic weight loss. I went from a high of 172.1 pounds to a low of 166.1 pounds in about a week before having my first increase in weight of o.9 pounds to end the month
Body fat percentage has jumped, going from a low of 25.1% to the current 26.8%. I am simply not burning fat.
Still, my weight is down, my diet is decent and running will resume in time, so hopefully I keep things on track.
Stats:
January 1, 2026: 169.4 pounds
Current: 167.0 pounds Year to date: Down 2.4 pounds
May 1: 168.7 pounds May 31: 167.0 pounds (down 1.7 pounds)
Body fat: May 1: 25.6% May 31: 26.8% (up 1.2%)
Skeletal muscle mass: May 1: 29.8 kg May 31: 29.6 kg (down 0.2 kg)
Hopefully these notes keep getting shorter. But for now, a list:
Sleep continues to be an issue, but there is some progress:
I can sleep with the bed in its normal setting (it’s adjustable).
I’ve learned that sleeping on my good side is a bad idea because it makes my left shoulder hurt like crazy (which is extra ironic, since the good side is my right).
The Garmin watch is still having trouble figuring things out. It said I got no REM sleep last night, despite multiple dreams. But I’m still not sleeping great, regardless.
Energy level has flagged a bit the past few days, probably due to erratic sleep.
The incisions and tube wound seem to be healing up normally.
I’m a lot more flexible and mobile.
I’d like a nice bubble bath.
I re-read my take-home instructions, and it says I can’t carry more than 10 pounds for four weeks. By then I’ll have the muscle tone of an emaciated chipmunk.
Speaking of muscle, I seem to be shedding it, my weight has dropped about six pounds since leaving the hospital.
On balance, mostly good. I’d really like to have a decent night’s sleep again, though.
I believe I’m still recovering but the dramatic pace of the first few days, where I could see clear, tangible improvements every day, is now giving way to more subtle signs of getting better.
Also, one of those involuntary body reactions I’d been fearing happened today: a sneeze.
But it didn’t go the way I expected. What I expected was a huge, typical sneeze and attendant pain as my chest expanded uncomfortably and suddenly against the surgery area. Instead, the sneeze got up to that point, then sort of defused itself, and instead I just made a tiny kitten-like sneeze. This happened twice, and it was kittens both times.
A week later I am feeling more of the general soreness and achiness, possibly a combination of reduced pain medication and sensation returning at least partially to some of the numbed area (yes, I have numbness in my chest a week later. I’ve been advised via handout that this could end up being permanent).
On the plus side, there are times when I’m sitting and reading and can almost forget I had the surgery. It doesn’t last long, but I feel it is happening more often now.
Next Friday the suture in the chest comes out and the following Monday I have a follow-up CT scan of my chest area, to make sure things look OK. Sometime in around then I will likely get the results of the pathology report on the li’l mass itself. Hopefully it turns out to be nothing more than an inert lump.
