THR Heal first, then exercise, then dance!

[An54]

@Layla , It's a kind of bandage with a plastic seal, so showers are okay. I don't know why the bandage is 'honeycombed' in that pattern, but I will see if I can find out. Maybe with the open pattern, it's easier to see if the incision is acting up...(?) Of course the indentations on my skin disappeared. That shot was taken moments after the bandage was removed.

 

[An54]

OPSITE Post-Op Visible

 

[Quiltmom]

@An54 , @Layla, that's what mine looked like also.

 

[Layla]

Interesting. First time I've seen one. Looks like the openings could be for drainage if it occurs? Got that idea from the link.
Call me crazy but I have a horrible aversion to clusters of holes. I'd struggle with that bandage, I wouldn't be able to look. I'll make myself scarce now that I've shared my silly phobia
Hope you're both having a good day!
@An54

 

[An54]

Layla, my brother is like that too. It is a recognized condition and quirk among the wonders of human variation. It can probably be traced back to evolutionary processes... and is now a kind of latent ancient memory in your genetic memory banks, if that make any sense at all.

 

[Layla]

It does have a name. Probably named by some neurotic person with the same aversion. My sisters are bothered also, to one degree or another. The one who's bothered to a lesser degree than the other two of us likes to text us horrid nasty pictures of holes. The type that make me gag and want to throw my phone away.
Ok....sharing no more secrets. I'm done. I'm losing credibility by the second.
Hope you have a nice evening. I'm off to dinner and a nice glass of Vino on a restaurant deck with hubs.
Long overdue. It's a beautiful evening....finally. The extreme heat has left the building

It's been nice having this exchange with you all because of a wound dressing.
@An54

 

[Josephine]

@Layla there are heaps of them in the scar thread if you scroll through.

 

[Layla]

Nuh uh! Me no likey, Jo.
I'll take your word for it and make a mental note that those bandages
really do exist. You learn something new every day.

 

[An54]

I took my first walk outside yesterday. I live in a condo building. My friend and I walked down to a restaurant that is less than half a block away. I expected it to be a cake-walk, but it was ten times harder & slower-going than I thought it would be. I used a walker. Although some are on crutches at this point (or even a stick!) I felt more secure with the walker, especially if I was going to drink at dinner. After we had dinner, we actually took a taxi back home. It was hilarious and we were laughing about it--having the taxi driver load up my walker into the trunk, and I side myself into the back seat lengthwise, carefully rotating around, to maintain the right hip/leg angle, then driving a few hundred feet, just two buildings along, then letting us out again....this for a gal (me) who has hiked the West Coast Trail three times. This whole experience is humbling and eye-opening. Luckily we live in a populated area, with several restaurants on the waterfront, so there are taxis coming and going at this time of day. But that was a lesson for me to ease into it.

 

[Layla]

A girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do.
Wonder if the taxi driver was laughing also
This experience is humbling and gives you a grateful heart full of appreciation in
all we took for granted before our hip began failing us. We're blessed!
In the not so distant past, before THR, it may have been life in a wheelchair. Sobering thought.
I hope you have a wonderful week @An54

 

[dogchick]

@An54 I did the same thing yesterday. We went to a store, and I thought it would be a piece of cake to go in there and walk the store, and back out to the car. Maybe if I had used my crutch instead of the shopping cart, it would have been easier. The shopping cart was a big non-support for me, so like you said, it was 10 times harder than I thought it would be.

 

[Mojo333]

Keep on keeping on.
You are doing great.
All with a tremendous payoff.
Hope today is a good day!

 

[An54]

a small point of interest:
Yesterday I sat in my sitting room bay window for about ten minutes, and let direct rays of sunlight fall upon my incision, thinking --what better healing for a wound than sunlight? However I did some research through Google hoping to confirm my idea, and learned that the sunlight 'therapy' is exactly what you shouldn't do. The healing tissue is extremely vulnerable to sunlight, and such exposure can result in hyper-pigmentation, among other things.

https://www.quora.com/Is-sunbathing-good-for-healing-surgical-wounds

http://www.laroche-posay.com/article/Scars-in-the-sun-What-are-the-risks/a27822.aspx

 

[An54]

I do believe that I have entered the Super-Irritable phase of recovery.

I live on the sitting room sofa, surrounded by pillows and ice-packs and medications and devices such as reachers and grabbers and scratchers, plus magazines, newspapers and books as well as all the flotsam and jetsam that washes up around the bedside of the convalescent. My irritability has been rising, and I find polite conversations with well-meaning visitors to be a big drain on my energy. However it's rude to suggest to people that they put a stopper in their cake-hole, and leave the room immediately.... to just leave me alone... except of course when I need a glass of water, or food and drink, or want ice-pack, or someone to open and close curtains, etc..

I don't think that I am by nature an easy-going, amiable person. I may present myself as such, but deep down inside I am critical, judgmental, tire of mindless chitchat after a certain point, and don't suffer *fools gladly, to use a hackneyed phrase. (* "fools" defined as such by my own biases of course).

What comes after the Irritable Phase? I hope it's not the Snappish one. I'd settle for the Resignation phase.

 

[Quiltmom]

And a good day to you too @An54 . I know exactly what you mean, son and grown grandchildren dropped by yesterday. I love them dearly and they brought dinner. BUT I really didn't feel like meaningless chit chat. And the kids don't understand the hip precautions. The complaints about the toilet riser... Happy when they arrived..happier when they left. Maybe I'll be more patient next week. I guess some of it is frustration.... I truly can say it's not pain. Yeah just irritable!

 

[Layla]

That's some good stuff @An54
Might be the funniest of the day. Definitely in the running.
The best - "put a stopper in their cakehole"

I'm sorry you're feeling bored and frustrated. Sadly it seems to go with the territory.
I bet you'll be surprised at how much better you'll feel in another weeks time.
Wishing you heaps of patience. The days will get brighter.
Hugs

 

[Mojo333]

I have seen some who have no one to irritate them with idle chatter...which is a sadder state honestly.
I am much the same...especially when recovering.
Just let me do this without having to be "up" to social niceties ...never liked frivolous "so, how are you?" types of conversations.
Be nice...they just want you to know they care.

 

[Layla]

Hi
Hope today is a better day for you @An54
Although, in all honesty, I'll miss your comic relief.
You had some good material there, I'm sure without even trying.
Recovery gets old quickly but it gets better quickly also.
To sunnier days. I hope today is a good one!

 

[dogchick]

I agree with the feeling of irritation with visitors in the first couple of weeks especially. I had enough I had to concentrate on without having to "be nice" or "entertain" visitors. Before my surgery, I asked Dogdude to tell our friends to please call before they come over, not knowing how I would be feeling, plus having the dog who gets very excited when company comes over, at least for the first 10 minutes, and then people not listening when I tell them what to do with her so she will stop annoying them.....it was all too much for me. LOL! I did enjoy seeing my friends, especially the ones that understand dogs, but it was a drain. I haven't had a ton of visitors, but that's ok, I prefer it that way. I don't have that need to be social like others might though. I like to be social sometimes, (on my own terms, I guess) but most of the time, I enjoy my alone time. Bet you couldn't guess by my rambling posts that I was not a super social person.

 

[An54]

A bit off-topic, but if anyone likes old jazz ( ‘20s through ‘’40s) check out online streaming retro Cladrite Radio

https://cladriteradio.com/

Even the commercials are genuine , dating from the Jazz Age days, and so amusing to hear.

I turn on the music, and those leg exercises become irresistible as my feet and legs start beating time to the music . Well, there is the occasional odd slow ballad, but most of the songs are danceable.