Training after major surgery

Let me start off by saying I am not a Dr. and anything I state here is from my own personal experience.  Always consult your Dr. before training especially after major surgery.  I am 13 days out of surgery now, I am feeling fairly good.  I do have some pain on my side and hip area and of course around the incision still.  I am leaking quite a bit of fluid out of the incision as well because it had not closed up completely.  Because of this I am having to go see the Dr every 2 days now to get the incision cleaned out to prevent infection.

So here is were I differ from some people, I can't stand sitting around so I took my tri bike out for my first ride since surgery.  I did a nice and easy 9 mile ride in 45 mins.  I just need to get moving again.  Now I have been walking since the day after surgery and can walk over a mile without major discomfort and I have been riding lightly since 5 days out of surgery 4-6 miles on a comfortable mountain bike.  I did not get in the aero position, kept myself upright and when you hit bumps in the road that is pretty uncomfortable.  Other than that it felt great to get back out there again.   After the ride I had some slight discomfort walking around but that went away after 5 minutes or so.  I also had some minor leakage and was able to squeeze the rest out after the ride.  That is one of those things you need to talk to your Dr about.  Mine said it is not to serious(the leakage) and he did not tell me to not exercise so this is what I told my mother how I felt about it, "I hope he doesn't think I am smart enough not to train."  Take it as you will but I am just going by how I feel and until he tells me differently I will keep on going.  I am not able to run yet and it might be sometime before that happens.  Believe it or not but I can not wait to go for a swim.  I must be feeling good because I hate swimming lol.

One thing I can say about exercise, I am recovering at least 2 times faster than the initial surgery 6.5 years ago.  I was not in shape back then, I was smoking and drinking as well.  This is enough to prove to me that not only does exercise make you feel and look better, it also seems to greatly improve your recovery from major surgeries, at least this is my experience.

I will keep the post coming as my progress continues and hopefully one will be about running pretty soon, I do miss my long runs.