Finding my limits

Yesterday was an active day: lots of errands, and walking (we joined BJ's and walked the entire store learning where everything is). Today, more of the same: brunch with Mom and Dad, then a visit to Fellowship where I just about blew everyone's mind by showing up a mere 10 days after surgery, and then a lunch date with Laurie to share all the gruesome details of the surgery. Laurie, ever observant (having been there, and also because she's a trained PA and paramedic), noticed I was getting more pale as lunch progressed. Fatigue, pure and simple. When I hit the wall, I do it fast. I was asleep in the car within minutes and napped for a good portion of the afternoon.

There's only one way to find your limits. Now I know what mine are (at least this week). Fortunately, there's little on tap for tomorrow except maybe a trip to the grocery store. And lest you think I'm going to be a total slug sprawled out on the couch drooling in the general direction of the TV, I'm keeping mentally sharp by doing crosswords, reading, and hosting online euchre tournaments and supervising and training a staff of tournament directors (I bet many of you didn't know I do that).

Speaking of lunch, the prescribed post-heart-surgery diet for an otherwise healthy person is lots of protein (and low salt). I'm not joking when I tell you that the CC official recommendations include milkshakes, floats and protein smoothies. The call for protein makes sense, as there's a lot of tissue repair going on in the body. So active weight loss is going to wait 6 weeks or so, and our blender is getting more use than it ever has. I have, however, pretty much eliminated empty calories - no baked goods, no refined sugar, very little starch, and my snacks tend to be yogurt or a banana.

The pain is subsiding more every day, giving way to a deep itch that I'm sure Jay is responsible for inducing since he suggested I might be susceptible to it when we spoke on the phone last night. Thanks, pal.

Take care,

Michael