Two steps forward; One step backward
I’m sure everyone has experienced the phenomenon of seeing a child you hadn’t seen in a while and being amazed at how much they had changed since the last time you saw them. Now if the child is yours, you likely do not see the huge difference, because you see them every day; while they ARE changing, the changes are so small that they don’t show up day to day. Heather, my surgeon’s physician’s assistant, told me not to look at changes from one day to the next, but to instead focus on the changes that occur from week to the next.
Last Friday, my mother and I went to dinner at Susan and Jack’s (friends of my Mom) house. I was sore most of the time; had little appetite; and really wasn’t up to much talking. Today, Susan and Jack came over to the house for dinner. Immediately, both Susan and Jack commented on how much better I was moving and looking since last week, and that I had (something) of an appetite. As my improvement from day to day has been minimal, I did not notice how much I had improved.
As for the title of this post, it would be nice if recovery was strictly a linear forward progression. Unfortunately, I have had some setbacks which, I believe, are is in part, self-inflicted. For example, the other day I forgot to take my pain medication when it was time. When I went to stand up, my stomach hurt pretty badly. Today I had a little more appetite than in previous days; however, instead of exercising some good judgment and keeping my portions generally small, I attempted to eat more than I had in the last couple of days. As a result, my stomach is making “not good” noises. I’ll be better tomorrow and hopefully I will remember to ration my meal sizes.
One last thing, someone suggested that I ask the loyal Merle-o-maniacs out there to consider voting for me in the “Blogger’s Choice Awards.” I have been amazed at how many people have been coming to this site (as I apparently average right around 200 visits / day). Looking at the various categories, it would seem that I.N.D.Y. might best fit into the category of health blogs. So (in an example of shameless self-promotion), if you are so inclined, go to http://www.bloggerschoiceawards.com/main and type in URL of this blog (e.g., www.merlehamburger.net) under the category for best health blogs.
Thanks!
Merle