Over a Week

As I write this it is just a little bit more than a week since I have come home from the hospital following my surgery. I talked yesterday about the (lack of) patience I have been practicing and the other day about the labor-intensiveness of life post-op. I guess what is most interesting is how this is so different today from the way these same surgeries were handled even just a few decades ago.

Bed rest! Don't get in a car for a month. Lie down, don't just sit down. Full disability for 6 weeks- i.e. DO NOTHING!

That was the way it was explained to my wife and myself when SHE had a similar surgery back in the early part of 1980. Just about 32 years ago shouldn't sound like the dark ages of modern medical care, but it does. From the length of stay in the hospital (my 4 nights was that long only because of some extra time under anesthesia) to get up and move ASAP and just about all in-between, things are different today.

Of course what hasn't changed is the fact that the body does take time to heal. That's why I find myself needing to take a nap even several times a day. I find myself getting up after a full night's sleep and then.... zap.... back to sleep in the chair two hours or so later. That's why after an hour out of the apartment doing some walking and sure enough.... zap.... back to the chair for some zombie-land time.

But I can't (and shouldn't) complain. It has been smooth with frustration only the result of the normal, everyday fact that in spite of my opinions, I am only human (and a 63-year old human at that.