I am back! Missing a few body parts but still here! LOL!!! I want to talk about perspective. Going in to this surgery, I heard many people talk about how hard it was to recover from, how painful it was, and how it changed them. I am not doubting this is true. They have a different perspective than me.
To date, I have had:
• 8 trigger finger releases
• Carpal tunnel releases on both sides
• Cubital tunnel (elbow nerve) releases on both sides
• An ankle tendon repair
• A right forearm tendon bundle repair
• A lumbar laminectomy
• A disc replacement surgery in my neck
• A lumbar and a cervical spine fusion
• An appendectomy, gallbladder removal, exploratory surgery for infertility
• Nasal sinus surgery
• And now this hysterectomy
I am a pro at this. I expected a lot of pain. I expected limited mobility for weeks. I expected the life pause while I healed for however long it took. I was pleasantly surprised. Instead, I had very little pain. I was up and about within a few days. Now, two weeks later, my life is back to normal. I am driving, singing, writing again.
I know that this could have been a much different outcome. Myhre has a way of surprising us when we think we have it all down pat. There is always a curveball we did not see coming. No one knows this better than Holli. She came home from surgery on oxygen therapy. No one saw that coming.
Holli with ‘2-ton Tilly’
Holli and I decided to face this head on in our usual style. We got together for coffee and a mission to learn about oxygen with 2-ton Tilly the oxygen tank in tow. After pestering a person at the oxygen place with a million questions, we learned that we were using the wrong tanks. 2 ton Tilly was the emergency back up oxygen. We learned the little tanks she had at home could be filled by her concentrator.
But more importantly we explored what life with oxygen might look like. How do you go to the lake for grilling? Can we take Jacob to the pool safely? Can you cook while on oxygen? How do you carry the dang thing around with you when you are out and about? How do we adapt to this new normal? How can we change our perspective on this to make it as positive as we can while taking a pause to realize the enormity of what just happened?
So at 40 and 51 years old, we are shopping for pretty accessories for both our walkers. We are figuring out how to carry oxygen on those walkers. We are measuring Suzy (my little Kia Soul) to see if we can fit 2 walkers plus oxygen in it. We are doing life despite the curveball. We got this. We’ll be ok because whatever happens, we have each other to lean on.