Recover from Surgery

I had my final check up and have been cleared!

I have one as a formality for next week to check on one of the side-effects, and then the next one in a few months!

I got my last check up next week tuesday. Everything is healing well.

I had my first job interview today - which is different from how it usually goes, cause I tend to approach clients for work, not the other way around.

I will also get my keys to a new apartment next week, which is completely absolutely terrifying. It’s good that I can finally move out into somewhere affordable after literally ten years. The city is so pricey, that I could never afford to move out until this year, and its terrifying. I now have to figure out new filing systems, furniture, where my books and figurines go… But its good. I think. I think once I’m done being terrified it’ll feel good.

It’s getting to the point where I feel healthy again. Now we just gotta figure out what caused the problem in the first place so I don’t need surgery again 10-15 years from now.

It has been over three weeks. Recovery is going really well. All things considered.

So, in the past two weeks, I have done a LOT, have been more active than I have in months leading up to it because … dramatic drumroll

I signed for a new apartment. I got the financing, I got the subsidy so I can afford it, I got a job offer. As a result however, I am now so tired, that I can barely keep my eyes opened. Two weeks of operating at 130-150% of what I can handle has come crashing down on me yesterday, and I am miserable. Not in a sick way, just in a way that I am tired in my head, but not my body, and I hate that sensation.

I’m still struggling with regularly taking medications and doing the post-surgical care properly, which sucks. BUT, last Thursday driving home, I got a full breath of air through my nose, for the first time in like 15 years. I’m not sure I’ll forget that moment and the absolute ELATION that came with it. It’s really weird, cause I bet that’s normal for a lot of people, but for me, not being able to breathe through my nose was the norm. So drawing a full set of lungs worth of air for the first time was … memorable to the point of almost crying. It is not going to be over within a month as I’d hoped. It will likely take six weeks due to how poorly I am taking care of (remembering) to care for myself.

It’s been two weeks, time for an update.

First off: The surgery seems to have gone well, the four hours on the table weren’t for nothing. It achieved everything it should, we’re now in the monitoring stage. The next step is figuring out what caused the problem to begin with, which simply was impossible before the surgery.

Second off: Oh my god is it hard to sit still.

The first day after surgery was miserable. I couldn’t sleep for longer than 15 minutes, because I would wake up unable to breathe in roughly that interval. Consistently, all night. The second day was slightly less rough, but it took like a full week after surgery for improvement to be noticeable in the ‘quality of life’.

From that point, we’ve had almost a week. I found out on Monday, that I had been given poor post-op care instructions, which … was infuriating to say the least. That probably made recovery 3 days slower, if not more. I now have the correct instructions and am doing my best to remember them since most of the issues I was having have already receded and I am incredibly bad at keeping instructions in mind the SECOND I feel even remotely better.

That’s the good, now for the bad (ish): If all goes well, I am moving at the end of the month. I have had to fill out so much paperwork wihle recovering, that I completely depleted reserves. I barely have energy to cook, go shopping, or do anything productive outside of: Paperwork, recovery, mandated relaxation. So I’m hoping I’ll be able to work on my condition a bit (which rapidly got worse during/after surgery) next week.