One Day At A Time

Wednesday was the first day in a succession of days of slow but steady progression back to health. First they had me walk (gingerly) the halls near my room. Around 11AM they had a class for a few patients and it was quite informative about recovery, diet, future programs for us. Walking there was without any problems. The ideas sounded pretty good and this patient was beginning to feel better already.

My problem was that there was no family in Atlanta and the one friend to pick me up wasn't available. It was my ex-sister-in-law that proved to be the savior that day. You see, living alone there wasn't much food in my place. I had planned to go shopping Saturday. Taking a cab home would've worked but then the next morning it would've been necessary to go grocery shopping in order to eat. 

Thanks to my ex-sister-in-law. After riding the wheelchair down to meet her she arrived around 1PM. Not only did she pick me up and drive me home, on the way we stopped and got some groceries and filled my prescriptions. And after finally reaching that other friend Wednesday evening, it was agreed he would stop by after work. He offered to pick up the aspirin that was forgotten. Consequently, waking on Thursday, it was not necessary to leave to get those things done either. 

There was one other problem on Thursday though. It was a need to go out to get some band-aids to use on the incision. Also, my sister agreed to wire me some cash to help me along financially. After going out for the cash and band-aids, getting back and resting, and then just pulling my pants down to my knees I tried to remove the gauze put there after my shower. Suddenly, blood shot down my leg. After quickly grabbing a tissue that was used to put pressure on the wound, I could sure feel my heart beating then! After a few minutes of putting pressure on it and then calling the doctor's office, by the time someone came to the line, the band-aid was replaced and the bleeding had stopped. The nurse assured me that if the bleeding had stopped, it should be ok. Apparently it was.

Before hanging up, her advice was requested on getting blood out of white pants and after quickly soaking the pants in cold water, I laid down on my bed for two hours just like in the hospital. There was no desire to take any more chances with bleeding from the wound. Everything else seemed to progress slowly during these first few days as doing my exercises and taking my medications was religiously completed. 

Friday, found me in the barber shop for a haircut. On Saturday there was a hardness noticed around the wound. On contacting the nurse she suggested tracing around the hardness with a pen or marker and see if it got any bigger overnight. It did not and the corner was turned on Sunday. That morning the vision of an angel smiling while standing next to my bed blessed me and my morning friend had reappeared for the first time since the Friday of my attack. Monday was even better when traveling to Atlanta and back with an associate for a two hour sales call. Tuesday saw writing the draft of this story. Now each day I'm continuing to get better and look forward to the time that this is but a distant memory.

In the meantime, I quit smoking for good. There's still a need to learn more about improving my eating habits and drinking habits but an extensive lifestyle adjustment with exercise as the foundation for the rest of my life has begun with the simple routine given at the hospital. I'll take advantage of the hospital's programs to learn more and will be happy to share what ever experience there is.