Going without a vehicle?

I guess I must thank my sister and a blog I read by Mr. Money Mustache for getting this crazy idea stuck in my head.  Here's what I am thinking, once I am fully recovered from this surgery, I am going to attempt to use my bike for the majority of my transportation and park the truck.  Now I am a realist and knowing where I live and what I like to do, not having a vehicle at all won't work for me.  I do like to travel and go places that are way out of range for a bike in a reasonable time frame.

Here is what I see happening at first.  Use the bike to go to school(15 mile one way trip), going to the gym(1o mile one way trip) and anything else local that is to far to walk to.  Who knows where this will take me but I think it is well worth the try.  I did a rough estimate and on the amount of money I spend on gas every year and it is well over $3000 just for normal driving, not including trips anywhere.  Now I just have to figure out which type of bike is the best for this job, it's not going to be the tri bike, I know that for sure.

As for the recovery, things are progressing quite nice.  The incision is still open about a quarter inch or so and still leaking out fluid slowly.  The abdomen is feeling stronger and not nearly as sore as last week.  I am able to ride a bike for 45 mins, elliptical for 45 mins, no running or swimming yet.  I can't lift much yet either, you can feel the pressure on the abdomen when ever you pick anything up.  Spent an entire day on the go yesterday driving and walking around the Erie area, this was probably the best day I have had out in years.  Feeling very optimistic that things are going to be greatly improved this week as well.  I will post a few new pics if I can talk the Doc into taking the rest of the staples out tomorrow.

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.

10 days post op

Well I have made it to the 10 day mark now.  I have had remarkable recovery so far.  Since the last post I have been able to discontinue the pain pills, I am walking over a mile, riding a bike for over 40 mins, and driving.  Now with that said I have seem to have open the incision quite a bit and have had some bleeding every day since Friday when the surgeon removed half of the staples.  I am assuming it is because I am trying to do to much but I will just say the Dr did something wrong :-)  Other than the bleeding issue things are progressing well.  I am very excited about getting back to training for the summer tri season.  I have found that riding on a non tri bike at a leisurely pace is less painful that walking right now but it does put you in a more vulnerable state so it is a little risky.  Also I learned the joys of sneezing today for the first time, it is quite possibly the worst feeling I have ever had.  The only way I can put it is it felt as if my entire stomach was ripping open and I could feel each tear.
I wanted to post some updated pics to show the incision recovery but I was to busy trying to reattach my belly tonight and forgot to take the pics before all the sterri-stripps were put on, maybe next time.  I have been reading a new book called The Second Brain written by Michael D. Gershon, M.D., it is about the function of the intestine and how it is controlled by a separate nervous system than the brain/spinal cord nervous system.  I will post anything interesting I might read there, it is fairly technical reading so it might take me sometime lol.  Thats all I have for now, congrats to all the Buffalo Marathon finishers today, wish I could have been there.

Ist full day out of hospital

Well I don't know if it is possible but I think I set a PR on getting released from a hospital for abdominal  surgery.  I had surgery at 1:30PM on Thursday and was released at 11:40AM on Sunday. So that is a 70 hour 10 min time if you can beat that let me know.  I have some more post op pics and they are pretty nasty so if you get grossed out DO NOT LOOK!  As for recovery, the first day the Dr had me out of the bed sitting in a chair, day 1 I did 2 walks in the hallways and sat in a chair for 2 hours.  Day three was the same as day 2.  Day 4 was the release day, 1 walk in hallway, sat in chair for 3 hours, released so had car ride home, did 2 15 min walks outside.  Today(day 5), I am showering, taking the bandages off, and did my longest walk yet.  As for the diet, day 1 was ice chips after surgery, day 2 was  water and apple juice all day, day 3 juice in the AM and soft food for lunch and dinner(chicken rice soup, sandwich) day 4 soft foods in the AM and ate a burger and ice cream for dinner(Not a smart idea).  Day 5 taking it easy oatmeal and banana for breakfast, half a PB&J with bowl of chicken soup for lunch.   As for bowel habits, Day 1 I everything was shut down from the anesthesia still, day 2 I was having gas by the end of the day, day 3 I had gas in the AM and diarrhea in the PM, day 4 I was was having multiple loose bowel movements.  Today I am having multiple movements and quite a bit of pain, but I am assuming this is from eating the burgers and ice cream(will I ever learn).
All in all I feel I am doing great for having had major surgery less than a week ago.  I have about a 4 inch incision just below the belly button and the closed opening from the ostomy.  The Dr was able to use the old incision so I won't have any new scars for the major incision, just the scar from the opening.

Day4

Day 5

First Meal and First Gross Pic

Finally got to eat today. It's been four days. Felt much better once I ate. Brief run down of events. After surgery I was pretty much out I it all night. Had catheter removed first day as well. Second day I had my IV taken out but felt pretty bad all day. Today things are looking much better. Got to eat and found out I might get to go home tomorrow. I'll keep everyone posted and maybe get some better pics if y'all can handle it. Thanks again for all the prayers.

T Minus 1 hour

Well it's about here. Very ready to get this done. I did have to get a mini scope to check the stump to make sure there was enough to work with. All good there but that is an extremely unpleasant procedure but only last a few minutes. You don't get any meds for that one. Thank y'all for the prayers and I will continue to keep everyone updated.

Survived the flush out

All done with the flush and antibiotics and did it without throwing up. Feeling pretty good considering and very excited. Hope I'll be able to get a little sleep tonight. Did get a surprise call from the Dr saying he wants me to come in early to check the stump before the surgery. I hope all goes well with that. But 24 hours from now I should be all hooked back up. Thanks to everyone for the prayers and well wishes. God is great so I have no worries. Stay tuned for more.