I contemplate the top, be it of the hill or the fireweed
Tuesday, August 7, 2012 at 10:40AM 
I walked a little further on yesterday's walk than I have on any other day since my surgery. It wasn't really all that far - approximately one mile. Still, when as recently as one week ago today I had been reduced to a few laps up and down the hallway or around the house, it felt significant, like I had accomplished something. At the end of the estimated mile, I found myself looking at a familiar landmark, one that has appeared in this and my earlier blog many times: the hill leading to the top of Ward's Street. I felt strong. I felt like I could walk right up to the top of that hill.
Yet, I hesitated. Yes, I am improving now, but I still have a good distance to go and I know that when things have been a bit bad for me and they start to improve, I have a tendency to suddenly pus things too hard and fast. If overdoing it only leaves you a little sore, exhausted, or such, that is one thing - but if you have been through a difficult surgery process wrought with setbacks and complications, you do not want to set yourself back again. Plus, even if I reached the top of the hill in good shape, I would still have to turn around and walk all the way back - the first part downhill and walking downhill can inflict much more stress upon a recovering body than going uphill. So I stopped before I could begin to climb.
I turned around to walk the mile home without scaling the hill... but I determined I will climb it before this week ends. I believe I will wait until after Thursday, when Dr. O'Malley plans to remove the remainder of the brace that he implanted in my tummy, including the two remaining poker-chip-like buttons drawn tight into my tummy skin by the surgical thread that anchors the internal brace to them.
Improvements not withstanding, that brace and those buttons still cause me a significant amount of pain and soreness. The pain and soreness is much less in the mornings when I first get up after lying on my back in the recliner and being almost perfectly still through most of the night. Then, throughout the day, the level of the pain and soreness grows and by evening, becomes quite significant. In fact, the level of evening pain and soreness seems to be on the increase. Last night, it was pretty damned aggravating.
But the brace comes out late Thursday afternoon, so I just have a bit more than two full days ahead of me until this irritant should be gone. My hope and expectation is that I will then feel much better and will heal that much faster.
As I walked home from the bottom of the hill, I came upon this patch of fireweed. As I have noted before, local lore has it that when the blossoms reach the top of the fireweed stem, summer is over. Fall is about to begin.
Reader Comments (4)
glad you are doing better and hope those two days fly by
Keep on truckin' Bill! One of these days it will be to the top. Indeed the fireweed is to the top. It's August and even down here we can almost feel a touch of Fall in the air. It was 95 today, but the nights are getting cooler and longer. Won't belong and the snow will be blowing. Another day under our belts. You've come a long way!!!
So glad they will be "unsewing" your buttons, even though Thursday afternoon seems like a long time away. I'm hopeful the pace of your recovery will improve when you're much more comfortable. Wishing you patience until then.
Oh that darned fireweed! It is such a harbinger of fall.
You are beginning to come alive again!