One of the things about being a rule-follower, a girly-swat and apparently a good patient, is that thus far, my recovery from surgery is progressing really well. My wound is healing beautifully, I have no pain to speak of (just an odd niggle if I twist or move a bit too quickly) and although I get tired very quickly in the evenings, my energy levels are improving day by day.
According to what I refer to as the "How to Get Better" leaflet, I am to take a daily walk, rain or shine, and aim to increase the time/distance steadily over a period of four to six weeks. So, I began the first day I was home with doing five laps of my kitchen table (roughly 40m, or so I calculated), soon progressing to 10, 15 and then 30 laps. Once I'd got that far, it was time to venture outdoors for a ten minute stroll, accompanied by a friend, just to be on the safe side. A couple more days and I was doing that little circuit alone and starting to add on little bits to increase the duration/distance.
By two weeks I had achieved my personal goal, being able to walk to a nearby cafe, sit down for an hour with a cup of tea and chat to a friend, and then walk home again.
Yesterday I had two shorter walks but together they totalled almost 2.5 miles, with another tea and chat stop in the second one.
This morning I braved a longer, single walk - the target according to "How to get Better" being 30 - 45 minutes. I had slightly underestimated the distance, and the walk ended up as 50 minutes and 2.25 miles. It was fine, but I was quite glad when I got home to sit down with a cup of tea and the "pink jammie" doughnut I bought at the bakers I passed on my way home. After all, I need to keep up my energy reserves!!
Recuperation is a funny old thing, seeming to demand far more energy than activity levels suggest. But it's also really important to do properly, in a girly-swat, rule-follower kind of way. For which reason, once I've had my lunch it will be nap time before I spend the rest of the day doing nothing more taxing than colouring, stroking cats and watching TV.