 |
| September 17, 2022 |
Tomorrow will be five weeks since my surgery. I am gaining strength and weight. Since coming home from the hospital I have gained five pounds, but I still need to put on eighteen more just to get back to where I was prior to becoming sick. I still have a ways to go and each day I feel stronger and my stomach wound heals more. I will estimate my return to normal life at about 85% now. I cannot do everything yet, but I can do some things now such as doing light household chores.
This Friday I return to the doctor and by Saturday I will be finished with my medications and no new ones are expected to be prescribed. I still have lots of pain pills, but I only took maybe four of those and haven't had one for weeks. I generally don't have pain even though my stomach is still partially open. Mostly, I suffer from some discomfort at time where the skin is growing back together when I sleep or bend over too far or raise my arms too high. I've yet to lift anything heavy, I don't want to risk opening my stomach back up even though that is unlikely but I have been warned about it being possible. Basically I feel pretty good, I certainly feel much better than I did when I was fighting the bacteria that was eating a whole through my body. I feel stronger, but that is relative to where I was before and I know my limitations.
 |
| Flip Burger on Howell Mill. Photo by me, September 17th, 2012. |
 |
| At Tuk Tuk Thai Food Loft on Peachtree Street. Photo by me, September 22, 2012. |
I have been out to eat twice since coming home. It was nice to be in a restaurant as I have only been around people on a few occasions except when people have visited me at home.
 |
| Photo by me, September 15, 2012. |
I tried to attend a small arts festival in Druid Hills on September 15, but I was worried about the crowd bumping into my unhealed stomach and I overestimated my energy. I sat on a bench instead.
 |
| The bandages over my stomach are so thick and poofy. They are like a stomach diaper. September 10, 2012. |
Earlier on the tenth of September I went to Piedmont Park. I must have looked like death, a woman stared at me by the lake. As someone that is accustomed to walking all over the park, it was shocking how little I managed and I mostly sat on a bench taking in some sun and air. I am amazed at how much muscle mass I lost, even in my legs.
My overall mood is bewilderment. While the physical toll is one challenge, there is the mental toll to what happened, how close I came to dying and how long this recovery will take. Life changing seems like an understatement and I still have too much to do in life.
Posts
