One Week Later: Hurray for Abdominals!

My primary care docs often have told me how great my abdominal muscles are.  I attribute this to years of running: you can't really run without developing your abs.  It just kinda happens.  After running my marathon in June I probably had some awesome abdominal muscles, but after the marathon not only did I cut way back on running but decided to continue eating as if I was still training for the marathon.  Bad, bad idea for those abs.  Makes me wonder if this recovery process would have been easier had I had more discipline from June through October...but as I joked (badly) all the way through October:  "Give me more cake.  I could die on the table!"

One week post-surgery, I can sit down, get up, roll over, etc on my own, with only occasional requests to Al to help me up.  Slightly painful but not debilitating.  I also ate a full meal last night for the first time since last Tuesday, which I think is momentous.  Haven't been able to stomach anything more than liquids and small food bits for a week.  I'm also down to a single Percoset every six hours or so, which I think explains why I can eat more.  I think this is remarkable progress, but there are still several things that I just can't do without being all pathetic:

• Cough, or even clear my throat.
• Laugh, which is difficult when you live with Alan who doesn't even know when he's being funny.
• Sit in a chair for longer than 5 minutes or so (I'm reaching my max as I type this).
• Stretch.  This one is harder to deal with that you might imagine.

I know these things will all get easier, and apologies to those who have had abdominal surgery and to whom this is nothing new.  I'm home now, which is A-W-E-S-O-M-E.  My couch, my jammies, my tea, my television.  This should help my abs tremendously.  I'm going to take my first Percoset of the day and watch Ellen.