Recovering

So on Thursday morning i had a quick surgical procedure. I was in the hospital at 6am, out by 10:30am. They removed an area on my back--about the size of a golfball--and things went fairly smoothly. All this to say, I figured I would be back to 100% by today.
But it is amazing how the body recovers.

I remember working on the rehab floor last summer meeting people who had double knee replacements. They were always frustrated at how slow the recovery was. However, when they would stop and reflect about how within a short couple of days they were moving around, able to walk up stairs, and other "amazing" feats, they could see the bigger picture.

It was the little things that always surprised them that would take the longest to recover. Getting in and out of a car, getting off of the toliet--these were the small things that were frustrating because they would not be able to do them for a while.

In a very very minor way I can now relate.
I have been relegated to the sofa for the past two days and told I cannot exercise for 4 weeks. I cannot put on a t-shirt without help, I cannot lift Ellie for two weeks, and I cannot but my arms above my head to sleep. I tried to walk to the mall yesterday, but that just compounded the pain. And I discovered I do not like percocet.

While I am impressed that glue and stitches (they really did use glue! to close up the incision) are able to hold me together. I get frustrated about what seems like a slow recovery. But like I tried to tell my patients, it was only two days ago.

Now imagine being my poor wife having to deal with me (the hypochondriac), Ellie (our two month old) and Savannah (a hyper-pug). Lord have mercy on her.

~PS-you should have seen my first percocet-induced posts I tried yesterday.