The Next Mountain to Climb

Yesterday, Jim and I once again spent the day at Stanford for scans and post-op appointments. It was a good day with great outcomes.  Based on the ultrasounds they ran, the vascular surgeon told us that my rebuilt artery and vein looked "perfect,” meaning that all blood flow and blood pressure is behaving as hoped and there’s no evidence of blood clots. He told me that I can begin adding more extensive activities and exercise back into my life! He said I can start lifting more weight as long as it doesn’t cause pain or discomfort to my incision area. He told us the incision site reaches the strongest it will ever be by 6 weeks which will be this Friday. The one caution he gave is that I should still do core exercises like sit ups “without resistance" for a while. One of my friends found the humor in that with a quick “we don’t like sit-ups anyway!” 😂.  There are still medical considerations, of course. Per the vascular surgeon, I will remain on blood thinners and an aspirin ...

Tomorrow will be five weeks since my surgery. I am doing really well. We had great news from Stanford. The tumor was removed and all the margins were clean. I’ll have several scans next week, but we are hopeful that the results will show no more evidence of disease.  In regard to the incision’s healing, there are still places that are sensitive and a tad painful, but considering the size and scope of it and the surgery, I think that’s to be expected. Every day it feels a little better. Progress! I do still get tired each day, my energy level has been improving. I’ve been taking short walks since the day after surgery, but this morning, I took the longest yet. Jim and I walked a little over two miles!! That might not sound like much, but it really was exciting for me! We wouldn’t have won any speed races, but that’s ok! Being able to sustain that distance, and not have to crash into a nap is definitely a win at this point. My goal is to be back up to an easy six miles by the end of ...