Post-Op

It's been almost a week now since my surgery. I feel pretty good, but for anyone who has experienced surgery, you know that it takes a little while to feel like you are truly back to normal.

The surgery began about an hour later than the originally-scheduled start time of 4:30 p.m., for whatever reason, and I ended up not getting to my hospital room until about 10 p.m. I was almost completely out of it, but I could tell that the guy they had me sharing a room with was watching Friday Night Lights--one of my favorite sports movies, but under the circumstances, I just wanted a pair of earplugs and morphine. I ended up getting both but it certainly seemed to take a while.

The next day, Wednesday, I felt a little better but not much. It was then that I noticed that I had these two drains connected to my body. Supposedly they are better than having to deal with gauze and bandages, but they made me feel nauseous the entire time I had them in. Just imagine turning your head slightly one way or the other and feeling some foreign object below your skin poking your throat. Well, that's what I was dealing with and I couldn't wait to get them removed.

The doctors and nurses thought I was doing well enough so they released me a day early, much to my surprise. As it turned out, I think it probably would have been a good idea to keep me there another day, but so far, things have worked out. Two days after my release from the hospital, Friday, I went back to the hospital to get one of the drains removed. Supposedly, when the drainage is less than 25 cc per day then they can remove the drains, but they were hesitant to remove the second drain despite the fact that it was much less than the requisite 25 cc's. Finally, however, I did get it removed on Sunday morning and since then I have been feeling much better. It's amazing how much a foreign object under the skin can hamper movement and mobility.

Yesterday, July 4th, I felt good enough that I was able to go out and enjoy the fireworks here in DC. I was very fortunate to have been invited to the south lawn of the White House and was able to bring my mom there with me. It certainly was not an exclusive event and there were probably thousands of people there, but it was very cool to be able to watch the fireworks while sitting about 200 feet away from the White House. Unfortunately, I think I may have have overdone it a bit because today I'm certainly feeling a little beaten up.

One thing that has certainly helped to pass along the time is the Tour de France that began on July 2 and has been going every day beginning at 8:30 a.m. eastern time. I don't know much about cycling, but like many people, I am a fan of Lance Armstrong and have been following his career for several years. I'm continually blown away by what he has overcome to be where he is today. It may sound silly to a lot of people, but I can honestly say that I have so much more respect for him now than before (in terms of sporting accomplishments). The mental discipline this guy must have is absolutely mind-boggling! Anyway, I would recommend that you all keep track of how he is doing this year in his final Tour. You would be interested to know that he was awarded the yellow jersey today after his team won the time trial in fine fashion. Unfortunately, the guy who had it before him was an American who crashed with only 1.5 km left in the time trial--leaving him virtually disqualified from winning the Tour. It's not like he had much of a chance anyway, but still you hate to see somebody lose because of that.

So tune in tomorrow at 8:30 a.m. on the Outdoor Life Network.