I popped back to life over the weekend and getting back to the state of wanting to participate in every day things. Friday and Saturday last, I pretty much slept most of day (and night) but following that the grey has cleared.
The picture left is King Theoden under a spell in Lord of the Rings and I have always loved the imagery of Gandalf enticing him out of his spell. I think a lot of us at times can get covered in a greyness, my issue was major surgery but often it's other life issues that affect us. My Galdalf on Saturday was Kat who enticed me from bed with a half a glass of Guinness and an offer to sit on our deck and admire a particularly beautiful evening. Recovery has been progressive and not as dramatic as King Theoden, although I feel in my mind it was a significant weekend. I had my first major outing yesterday and went to church, which was a bit daunting but I'm pleased to have done it. We had a fun full day following with friends and family at home and I was comparatively very active. Another first was last night I slept through night without need of additional painkillers.
Physically I am able to do a lot more, twist in the torso, easily getting up and down, arms above my head and stable walking, including on uneven surfaces. Healing is going very well, with a lot of stiffness in spine gone, the wound healing well and swelling reduced. A problem I have now is I cant do what I would like to do. No strength and although improving the length of activity still very short. I still need to be horizontal for most of day or else pain kicks in, but fantastic having mind engaged. I can foresee and looking forward to physio and exercise in a couple of weeks time and in no time I will be boundin around like normal.
Click HERE to put a smile on your face and to learn more about boundin and recovery from setbacks. (To Kat, friends and family, thanks for being my Jackalope)
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| Bottom of the garden |
Been doing a few small local outings this week and finding it good to get structure in day and more confidence in getting back out in public. Going to an art exhibition for a short while tonight which will be interesting and a challenge. The weather has been beautiful here and it's been lovely resting but admiring the still harbour and the new spring growth and flowers. Seems to be lots of food in harbour as heaps of birds hanging around. Still frustrated with my inability to do stuff and that activity is limited to a few hours per day. Enjoying some good books and finding iPad is great for keeping in touch with peoples.
ReplyDeleteHey Gary, keep up it, remember slow and steady wins the race! Back from the Sage conference and many of the partners and Sage staff (too many names to mention everyone) asked to pass onto you loads of positive thoughts and best wishes! Everyone missed "party" Gary and are looking forward to seeing you again at the next conference! Kim
ReplyDeleteKim, thanks for the update from conference and great to see that we won heaps of awards. I will be back with force. It is progressing although so slow, my heads in a good space although back doesn't allow me to do much at all.
ReplyDeleteI have decided the term taking it day by day is dysfunctional when dealing with long term recovery. On a day to day basis you can be so up and down it is very hard to measure progress. Kat pointed out in weekend how much I had progressed between last weekend and the markable improvement. So I am now taking it week by week. I was hoping to do physio pool this week but I am just not up to it, instead getting into to GP and a referral to specialist to get timetable and programme on physical recuperation.
ReplyDeleteDay by day refers to not letting things overwhelm us and our ability to cope.
ReplyDeleteProgress in any endevour is always measured in longer time frames. Think of anything significant you have acheived. Only in rare cases is this the result of a single event, usually it is the combination of much sustained effort over time where each day was much like the last. So the pain meds are day by day, the golf swing is a life time of practice.
Good points BDT and well written, you have convinced me that "Day to Day" is critically important. I've been getting frustrated and frumpy as I get perky and slightly active and what follows is pain and the need for completely inactive days,
ReplyDeleteI was reminded about the metaphor of the flywheel that you introduced me to some years back. It is a metaphor that has always appealed because it scales so well. As I am sure I don't need to tell you amoung other things it teaches us that with applied effort progress speeds up and becomes easier as time goes by. Thought it was worth a reminder.
ReplyDeleteFor the observant ones our trip to see our sarcoma specialist on Monday has been postponed. The pathology reports are not ready. We are also pleased as physically I'm currently would have really struggled to manage the trip up and back in a day. New date is the 8th and by then I should be fine. Sitting out on balcony and reading a good book on a stunning Peninsula day this morning.
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