Three weeks ago I would have been typing this from a hospital bed, pumped full of painkillers and oblivious of what was to come, existing in a weird daze, both aware and unaware, occasionally looking out the window to my left and noting the sky changing colour.

Today, 21 days later, I am feeling mostly normal.

Mostly.

The area of surgery is still sore, but every day now it feels…tighter. This is both good, because it means it’s healing, but also in a way bad because at certain points it’s made sleeping somewhat uncomfortable again.

The Big Stitch–the incision where the surgical instruments would have gone in–is starting to become noticeably less puffy, though it still feels weird. I could look up what it is I’m feeling (folded muscle, fat, etc.) on the internet, but those kinds of searches always seem to lead to a page saying IT’S PROBABLY BLACK DEATH. Plus, I see the surgeon in six days, I’ll just ask him then.

No cat again, instead this photo I took by the hospital lane way this afternoon:

Last night was an anomaly, my sleep was bad, due to stress, but not related to the surgery! And I think the watch made it sound worse than it was.

Regardless, yesterday was a slothful, stressful day and potato chips and pie were involved. The pie was yummy, though.

Today, I went for a long walk in pleasant late spring weather and as I type this mid-afternoon, I’m around 13.3 km total, which is already more than I’ve walked any day since going under the knife. And the more I walked, the less I felt the little aches and soreness from the surgery and incisions.

I begin to entertain the idea that I actually could try running in a week. We’ll see.

I also successfully stopped two sneezes by plugging my nose. Sneezing probably still hurts, so I’ll keep doing this.

In all, today is probably the first day that has a real whiff of normality to it. Things still aren’t normal, but it’s starting to feel tangible, possible. Yay for that.

No cat today. Instead, here’s a wild hydrant I saw on my walk:

Three things:

• Another decent night of sleep, per my Garmin Forerunner 265. More importantly, I felt I slept well.
• My HRV status has, for the first time since surgery, moved from Low/Unbalanced to Balanced. Woo. Wondering what HRV is? Check here.
• By default my Forerunner is set to 150 “intensity minutes” per week, which is a macho way of saying “enough effort to count as some kind of exercise”. During a typical week, I will triple this goal. Since surgery, it has mostly been at zero, but not this week. As of today, Wednesday, I have 24 intensity minutes (from walking briskly)!
• I successfully had a nap yesterday. Yes, this counts as recovery because until now I haven’t really been able to comfortably nap. And I realize this is now four things.

To celebrate my intensity minutes, here is an intense cat:

Also, dreaded sneezes.

Last night the itchiness/numbness eased enough that I had a relatively normal sleep again after the one-night hiccup. Hooray for that.

The reason for the change, at least in my trying-to-be-logical mind, is: healing! The surgery area is reaching a point where everything is starting to stitch back together, and this is making the area feel tight. Not in a painful way or anything, but it feels different, less surgery-y and more like sore muscles?

Dreaded sneezes: Sneezing still lights up the whole area like an atomic bomb and I hate sneezing. I sneezed once today, that was enough. I should add the discomfort from the sneeze fades after a few seconds. The knowledge that a sneeze is imminent is, in a way, worse than the actual sneeze itself.

I have an appointment now with my surgeon for a follow-up on June 18th, just one day short of four weeks post-surgery and when I may potentially be on the cusp of full recovery.

In that spirit, here is an energetic cat, plus a potato:

And yes, I plan on doing daily updates post-surgery until I feel what passes for “normal.” I’m actually hoping this will be soon!

But it will not be today.

Three things:

• I had my post-surgery CT scan today. I showed up early, the got me in early, and I was done before my actual appointment time. Nice! The process was pretty much the same as the other CT scans I’ve had. The IV went in on the first try, always a nice bonus. Hopefully everything in my chest looks OK and the scan doesn’t reveal an incubating alien or something.
• My sleep score went from 76 to 43 last night. Yoinks! I think this was related to the itchiness/new sensation (not to be confused with the INXS song) in my chest/surgery area. Basically I kept flipping the covers on and off, because when they were on, I was cozy, but the fabric also felt weird and slightly uncomfortable against my chest. Maybe it’ll go better tonight.
• I am probably back to about 95% of my usual walking pace. There was something else that feels mostly normal now, but it’s so normal I can’t remember it.

No cat today, but enjoy my right arm, post-CT scan:

Good news: My Garmin watch gave me a decent sleep score last night (76/100) and all stats were rated fair or better. More importantly, I felt I slept better.

Not as good news but also not bad news, really: Today I started feeling off and at first it was hard to determine why. Fatigued from yesterday’s birding? Maybe? But as the day went on, I realized that it’s probably just my body continuing to heal and the unexpected consequences of it. After the surgery, an area of my chest has been numb, due likely to some never damage, but in the past few days the healing has progressed to where some of these areas are starting to get more sensation back. Combine this with moving almost completely off all pain relief, and I am suddenly feeling more pain again. Over the next few days I’ll moderately increase the Tylenol, mostly to help with sleep.

Today’s cat is fabulous.

Not the itch to do things I can’t quite do yet (like running), but an actual physical itch. Specifically, my chest is starting to get itchy. At first, I thought it might be the chest hair growing back on the left side that was shaved, but the itchiness of that already came and went–though it could be back. I don’t shave my chest often enough to know how this goes.

Rather, this just seems to be the chest generally feeling itchy and I think it’s a sign of recovery, actually, with sensation returning in areas that were numb following the surgery. It also seems to kick in more when I’m moving about.

Today, I went birding and didn’t feel particularly limited, except when holding my camera up for an extended period with the telephoto lens. Then I’d get a little tired. Overall, it was fine.

I also had more improved sleep last night after a bit of a tactical error–I hadn’t taken into account the removal of the sutures leading to some temporary discomfort in bed, so it was back to DRUGS for one more night (one Extra-Strength Tylenol, plus the heated beanbag).

In all, a good evening and day as I officially pass the halfway mark of the shorter full recovery window (four weeks)¹The longer one is six weeks. I like to think I’m not going to require six weeks..

…a body that’s 100% suture-free!

The procedure was mostly straightforward. I doffed my shirt and sat on the table in the doctor’s exam room, where a nurse would perform the actual suture removal. There were two sutures, one of which was green and quite long, so super conspicuous. That one was removed without issue.

The second one was a bit more complicated because after two weeks, my body had healed so efficiently it had started to cover over the suture, subsuming it like the Borg. In this case, resistance was only fleeting. Noting that she could not “dig around” she called in my doctor, and he finished the job by indeed digging around (no pain, just a little tugging) and got the second suture out. The other sutures, which were dissolvable, were both confirmed already out, so I am now suture-free, and all three incisions were declared to be healing normally.

I was advised to apply a little Vaseline to the chest tube area to help the healing and to not scrub any incision site for at least another week.

My sleep score last night was 70/100, the highest since surgery, so woo for that. I felt I slept pretty adequately. I hope the sleep continues to improve and get back to normal.

I am ready for normal again.

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:

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.