As you may (or may not) know, today was my first day back to work in three weeks.
Three long weeks.
Two of those weeks I had a five-pound limit on what I could lift. If you think that doesn’t sound like that big of a deal, do something for me. Lift a full gallon jug of milk. No big deal, right? That’s eight pounds. Slightly more that half of that gallon was all I could lift for two weeks.
Week 3, after clearance from the doc, that went up to 10 pounds. So, gallon and a quarter.
My laptop bag right now is probably slightly over that.
I had to get a small laundry basket so that I wouldn’t overdo it when I was cleared for activity again. Because you know, a load of laundry can easily hit 25 pounds and I won’t be cleared for that until sometime next week in all likelihood.
Some of you might think that having three week off work is fantastic. And I would be inclined to agree. Normally it would be enjoyable. But when it’s post-op recovery and range of motion and weight limits in effect, it flat out sucks.
But here’s the good news about it.
My neck is fixed.
The pain I have now (albeit it minimal by comparison) is POST-OP pain….not CHRONIC pain.
BIG DIFFERENCE.
Did I overdo it this weekend with the laundry and the hair cutting and the what not? Yeah. Probably. But that’s why I saved a few percs. 🙂
I did have at least one person ask how my vacation was. And, although I didn’t quite snap at them, I probably came close. Nope…didn’t get any bowling or fishing in. I’ll have to wait until I have some more vacation time built up and try those. Should be a breeze with my new robot neck.
I was there nine hours. It was a full day. I worked through lunch (quite a bit of email to wade through).
But in all, a good day. I only thought seriously about taking a nap once through out the day. I’m sure as my stamina builds, each day will be easier and I’ll be back up to 10 hour days in no time. It’s only funny because it’s true.
I don’t know that I’ll link to this particular post or not from Facebook. I gave people the link. They can see if there are any hidden nuggets (hint: there are).
And with that, I’m off to get a tasty beverage.
Have a great evening my friends.
-AT
Todd Skaggs Writes 