June 2: In Stow at Judy’s for my rehab.

June 1: Bit better night of sleep on Tuesday eve because I’d moved back to my original couch position. But still, getting up in the morning is just the worst at this point in the rehab process. I am literally moaning and groaning in pain until my meds kick in about 20 min after I take them. Ever since I was a young man I’d always winced when thinking, reading or being told of the open heart surgery process. I mean having your sternum split in half and then the rib cage being lifted up out of the way to expose the heart. That just seemed so unbelievable. But now to actually experience it, oofa, each and every morning I’m given the harsh reminder of what I’d been through. 

The chest zipper has actually healed up quite nice, and it now looks way better than when I first took a gander at it in the mirror  the day after my surgery. I just had this picture in my mind that it would end up as this massive, thick zipper down to my bellybutton. You know, the big railroad tracks kind of scar you’d saw on some heavy-set guy at the beach when you were a kid. But I think my doc did a spectacular job in the suturing such that I’ll have a much less conspicuous scar. And as I stop and think about it, I’m speaking only from a very narrow minded vanity standpoint there. I mean the big picture is that my life has been elongated and I’ve been given a second chance in my life, so the size and degree of my chest scaring should be a mere trifle in the big picture. Yet I can’t help but to think about it from time to time. 

So today was a busy day for me, as it’s  my first post-opp doctor appt. at the Clev. Clinic since being discharged on May 21st. Judy drove me over to my house where Kim is staying with dad, then the three of us drove to Clev. to the Cardiothoracic Outpatient Clinic. Kim parked about a mile’s walk from where we needed to be so we could have an easy exit from the premises. That actually sounded good to me because I could get my walking workout in for the day between the walk there and the walk back. Got in and had some tests done first: an EKG, a chest X-ray, and a blood draw for blood testing. 

Then I was sent to the 4th floor to meet with Susan, my nurse practitioner who works in conjunction with my surgeon. Everything really looked good she told me, my X-ray, my EKG, and my blood work were all stellar. My chest, the sternum in particular, was healing really well. Now my weight, that’s a totally different story. My weight is down to 152, and I honestly feel like an emaciated stick figure of a person. And I told her during our conversation that I was just disgusted in the amount of upper body weight that I’ve lost thus far. She assured me that once I was given the green light to begin a resistance program, that it could build back to where I’d been. The nice part of this meeting was that I was given ample time to discuss about a page worth of questions that we’d written out over the past couple days prior to the visit. Susan was very good about going over each and every one of my questions. 

Now she was astounded that I was walking 3-3.5 miles, and commented that that’s where they would like to see me at 6-8 weeks into recovery, so I was way ahead of schedule there. She was concerned that I not go too fast so as to keep my RPE at or below the 4 mark. I told her that I was keeping it at the intensity level parameters I’d been given. She did tell me that if I kept walking at the proper RPE parameters I could walk as long as I wanted to, provided that I experienced no adverse signs of cardiac distress: shortness of breath, dizziness etc. I just have to keep it mellow right now. Told her that half of the walking thing for me was just to keep my sanity. I mean I just go nuts sitting all day. That little bout of cardio is kind of like my sanity saver.

So that was it. My progress, to all in the medical community is considered fantastic, though to me I feel like I’m progressing in slow motion. And I have to keep telling myself that I’m in an ultra-marathon, so just chill! Drove home to find our good friend and health care provider Karen making dad a soup and sandwich for lunch. Kim went to work while I did a bit of work upstairs at my desk. Then Judy and I said goodby to pop and Karen and came back to Stow. And again, by the time we pulled into Judy’s driveway I was just smoked. Went in, slumped onto the couch and just cat-napped for 3-4 hours while Judy went for a bike ride. Another long day for little Petey!