I am released

Had my one month (technically 5 week) visit with my surgeon yesterday & I am officially released back into the wild.  yippee!!!  I can return to the gym.  I can have a bubble bath.  I can ditch the compression garment. I can wear any bra I like.  so relieved.

Sweating & soaking are my two favorite was to de-stress and, oh, how I have missed them since May 1.  I was ridiculously excited last night to once again pack up my gym bag & leave it next to my purse by the front door.  I even remembered to grab it this morning.  :)  His advice is to start slow so no kickboxing or weights right out of the gate.  I'm going to Zumba tonight - I am sooooo ready to shake my groove thing & get my sweat on!!!

The doc also checked out the area on my right upper back where I was afraid I had ripped open the incisions.  Nope!  It was just a staple & a suture that were trying to get expelled.  The nurse pulled them out & they are already starting to look better.  phew!   After 5 weeks, most of my swelling has gone down - you can even see my port again! - although the area right along the low body lift incision is still pretty numb.

With the lack of exercise, stress & crappy eating, my weight has crept up.  no surprise. I weighed myself this morning for the first time in a long time to assess the damage.  150.4lbs.  After surgery, I'm guessing that my ideal weight is now 143-145lbs.  Feels good to have a new goal (again).

As for the rest of the craziness in my life.....
 - my daughter goes in for a swallow study tomorrow.  If it the test goes reasonably well, then she should able to ditch the NG feeding tube.  I admit that I always hated the idea of the feeding tube, fought against it in the first place and am anxious for it to be gone.  I did a lot of negotiating with the docs before they ordered the feeding tube around what it takes for her to get off it.  Docs are always quick to prescribe some new thing but they never seem to think through how to end that thing.  sigh.  Keep your fingers crossed!

- Hubs is still the same.  Father-in-law originally planned to stay for just a few days but ended up staying another week to help out.  FIL is a great guy but his visit is going on two weeks.  (another reason I'm thrilled to be going back to the gym).  Hubs has a CT scan scheduled for Thursday.  Hoping that this definitely shows where the problem is so we can address it aggressively.  I'm out of patience.  Keep your fingers crossed!

cheers,
chloe