Lost & Found

The first few days after surgery, I couldn't do a whole lot. I mean, I walked; I moved. I was kind of in a fog. There were certain movements that would cause that twinge. Even on the days that I felt really good, there was that little voice at the back of my head asking, "Am I doing too much?" "No. I'm ok. I'm doing what the doctor said."

The first week was good. It went incredibly well. Scroll back and read about it.

On Wed of last week, I was 1 week post-op. At one week, I was allowed to start riding and running again. You can imagine. I was feeling pretty good at this point.

I rode the trainer. I ran a little bit.

We had a blizzard hit. We got more snow that anyone other than the mountains. We got over 2 feet of snow with drifts as high as 4 feet. Right after that storm, we got another storm of an additional 8 inches of snow.

I couldn't go outside for any walks for risk of falling or causing any kind of injury. (Remember: I'm only 7 days out from surgery.) Trainer rides inside. Walk/runs on the treadmill.

Day 10 was the first day that I felt 100%. I had no more twinges. There were no activities that I didn't feel comfortable doing.....with the exception of 2. I was nervous about sneezing. Granted....not an activity, but you know. The second was lifting really heavy things. I tend to err on the side of caution. I avoided sneezing, and Mr. Tea did all my heavy lifting.

It was day 10 that I started struggling.

I don't know what to do. I'm lost. I didn't realize it at the time. All I noticed is that my mood had changed. I'm always pretty happy. I was still happy, but I wasn't my normal happy.

Mr. Tea told me that I just needed to get to Wed (my follow up appt) and that everything would be better once I had the ok to start training again.

But that's 4 days away. I know what you're thinking, "It's just 4 days, Tea. BUCK UP."

It's not that easy. This isn't a matter of "bucking up".

I woke up today (day 12) and realized that I have been lost. Prior to surgery, I had worked ahead. I had done all my work for a week, so that I could take as much time as I wanted to recover. Now, I was lost. I was feeling lost because I had no structure to my life. The first week was really fun, doing what I want when I want, having off from work.

But now it was a burden. I needed structure back in my life.

This morning, I sat in front of my computer and went through my training schedule. I found Liz workouts that I could easily do. I started copying and pasting training into my schedule.

Next, I sat down and wrote out a work schedule. I need to accomplish x, y, and z today.

I did the same thing for Tuesday and Wednesday.

I opened trainingpeaks, and Liz had put in training for Thursday of this week through the end of next week. It made me smile.

Just like that. I felt like my old self again.

9 days later

Surgery update:

If you found this post because you are looking for information regarding recovery time for a triathlete after surgery, you are going to want to read my previous posts:

How surgery went
The first 24 hours
The first 48 hours

It's now been 9 days since surgery. I attribute my crazy fast recovery to several factors:
1.) My Coach had me in exceptional shape prior to surgery.
2.) My surgeon (Dr. Beckley at Alpine Surgery in Boulder) told me that because I was in great shape, that I would recover fast. In addition to this, I did exactly what he said.
3.) My nutritionist gave me pre-surgery & post-surgery advice.

All which is laid out in the previous posts.

At one week, I was able to start riding and running again. (I did this yesterday).

I rode on the trainer and did a very easy spin. I started with an easy warm up. By the end of the 35 minutes, I was in zone 2. I was upright for the first 10 minutes. (Unsure of how aero would feel). The next 5 minutes, I put my hands on the elbow pads. After that, I was aero for the remainder of the time.

Later in the day, I was really excited to see how running would feel. I ran 25 minutes on the treadmill at 2% incline. Well, I didn't run the entire time. I walked a 10 minute warm up then did intervals of :30, 1:00, 1:30, 1:00, 1:00 each separated by 2:00 of walking. I covered 1.5 miles.

Besides this, I have done a number of strength workouts (all unweighted). Depending on the workout, I will skip a day between. It really depended on what else I did that day.

The TIRED: Don't be surprised if you feel unusually tired during the day. Like clockwork, I was getting tired around 3pm. I wasn't sleepy. I was tired. I would lay down on the couch for about 30-40 minutes. I felt better after it. Pay attention to how you feel and honor those feelings. It's very normal to feel tired a week after surgery. (BTW: Yesterday, day 8, was the first day that I didn't have any of the Tired. I went through my day as normal).

ICE: For awhile, I looked like I had a softball in my abdomen. I decided that after any workouts (walking, strength training, anything) that I would ice it. Nine days later, and my bruising is going away. I'm not nearly as swollen as I was. I don't have any discomfort around the area....meaning that I can put pressure on it without pain. In an effort to be as honest as I can, I don't know if the slight swollen-ness that exists is because my period is getting ready to start. I normally get bloated and big down there. Because I have other factors that I'm dealing with, it's a little tough to call.

Incision site: The incision site doesn't even bother me anymore. It can get irritated if something rubs up against it. So, I just wear my pants lower than normal. I roll down the top of my pants, so it doesn't irritate the incision. The incision now looks more like a scab. If you've ever cut yourself, you know how it feels to have something rub up against it. It doesn't hurt. It simply gets irritated.

My follow up exam is next Wed. Based on how things are going, I have no reason to think that my doctor won't release me to start swimming again and to resume training.

At that time, I'll also post how my workouts are progressing.

+48 hours after surgery

My recovery updates are getting a little boring. After this one, my next one will be at one week post surgery (Thursday).

A couple of things to note:

1.) Every single day I'm walking further and or faster and continuing my non-weight bearing exercises.  I do unweighted squats, lunges, back lunges, side lunges. I continue with the recovery core exercises. I haven't been comfortable (more or less a mental issue) starting significant core exercises. My recovery is going so smoothly, I'm a little nervous about it. I think I'll wait until I'm at my week mark. One week, was the time frame my surgeon gave me for being active but not doing any Olympic activities.

2.) The tired. Every afternoon, I get tired around 3pm. This is not normal for me, but it IS normal for a few days after surgery. I listen to my body. I lay down, turn on the tv and relax for about 30-40 minutes. At that point, I feel normal again.

3.) My nutrition: filled with leafy greens, protein, nuts, & fruits means that I've gotten over the bloat much faster than anticipated. I'm still swollen, but the bloat is going away. I'm starting to see my stomach muscles again. Seriously, I think the Kombucha has played a HUGE role in this. I never even had it before surgery.

4.) Pain = no pain for awhile now. I have some minor soreness that feels like a bruise (which, of course, I have a beautiful rainbow colored bruise on my abdomen). I only feel the soreness when I'm inactive for awhile and then make a quick twist or something like that. In fact, I no longer roll to my side to get up from laying down. I can sit up without any discomfort.

My follow up exam is March 30th.

I'll post a one week update at the end of this week.

Unrelated to recovery. This surgery was so worth it for me. I can't tell you how happy I am that the lump is gone. It was visible through tight clothing. It was visible through my swimsuit. It was visible through my tri kit. There was always the worry in the back of my mind, "Is it getting bigger? Should I see the doctor?"  That's gone now.