Recovery

It's been exactly one week since my last post, and what have I done in this time...not much. I have been sleeping a lot, and when I say a lot I mean it. Like I get around 10 hours every night plus a few naps totaling around 3-4 hours a day. I've been eating well, and doing my exercises whenever I'm up and awake. Even though I don't feel like I'm doing much; I really am doing a lot. I'm recovering. I saw the biggest improvement in my arm yesterday from the day before yesterday. The swelling in my arm went down a lot giving me more flexibility in my elbow. I also didn't take any Dilaudid yesterday, just some Advil. The pain I felt didn't warrant the hardcore painkillers. I did take it this morning, but laying still all night sleeping can do that. I'm improving with all of the exercises except the external rotations. Not making any progress with that one. I'm not really using the sling anymore, not even when I go to sleep. The incision looks good as well. Last thing to mention with the arm. I'm just carrying myself around better. A week ago, I was all hunched over walking because of the arm, but now I'm standing straight up. And that's without the sling too. I can let my arm hang on the side of my body with little pain. I'm writing this blog post with no issue. Oh and the hip...I have no problems walking. The only thing to mention with the hip is that my upper thigh is still numb. Kind of a weird feeling. I'm going to ask my surgeon about it tomorrow. And lastly, my upper thigh, and hip gets that hot feeling that I mentioned a few blog post back. It hasn't been too bad. Only the one time a few nights ago was bad. I woke up at 4 in the morning, and it was pretty wicked. I just took the painkiller and fell asleep in 30 minutes. It was gone in the morning. I'm excited with how things are improving for me. It's really amazing at what one week can do for recovery. So the moral of the story here folks...Listen to your body; Don't fight it! It will reward you in the end.


The only exciting thing I did all week was go to Joey's basketball game. It was a really fun time. Too bad they lost, but it was a fun game to watch. I was shocked at how much my brother improved. I better get out practicing or he'll be beating me. Just kidding! I won't be playing ball for a while. The team looked great. The coaching up there is amazing. I hope I can make it to a few more games.


Now I'm going to mention some things that I forgot to mention in my last post. Some of these might make you laugh a little.
1. My right armpit is bald. They shaved it during surgery. Yeah didn't notice this until I got back from the hospital. I was really shocked when I saw it, like those hairs won't grow back for a long time. Not sure if I should just shave the other one. Yes, I'm OCD like that. I probably will. I need to be symmetrical.

2. About a week before surgery I began to notice that my eyebrow hair was falling out like crazy. Yes, it was finally happening. The one thing that I dread for my appearance than anything. Losing my Eyebrows. Well I just found out why this was happening. The new hair was pushing the old out. I now have a fresh pair of eyebrows. The hair is really short, and in my opinion looks kind of silly.

3. This one ties in with #2. My hair is growing in like crazy. My head was really fuzzy the other day. I was like a baby again. I got that shaved as soon as I noticed it because I hated it so much. I'm also getting mustache hair. So it was pretty odd to shave again. It was the first time I shaved since starting chemo. And lastly, the hair is already growing back. I have a mustache, and my head is fuzzy again. Ugh! I'll just have to let it be.

4. This last one was from the day of surgery. If you remember I was in the recovery room for quite a while, and it took me a while to come out from the anesthesia. Well, when my parents went down to check on me I was very out of it, and really trying to communicate with them, but couldn't. My blood pressure top number was at 180! I'm usually under 120. Well, before my parents left me my mom rubbed my head for a while. In just minutes I was calmed down, and my blood pressure dropped to 150! This is amazing! I don't remember any of this happening, but when my mom and dad told me about this I was amazed. I love my parents so much.

There's my selfie for the week.
I'm shaving the mustache as soon as I finish this post

So what's the plan this week. This week is going to be pretty busy. I have appointments with my oncologist, and surgeon tomorrow. I'll get the results of my bone scan, and also get to really talk to my oncologist about the CT scan. And get the clear to start chemo on the 30th. The appointment with the surgeon is just to make sure everything is going well so far. I'm pretty nervous about the appointment with the oncologist tomorrow. I just hope everything goes well. I have physical therapy on Tuesday morning, and chemo on the 30th.