Making Mistakes - all part of the process

I thought the road to recovery was paved with good intentions. Actually it is paved with mistakes, foibles, and errors in judgement. I am on day five of my recovery and unlike many people, I feel great! Maybe a little too great. I have a current feeling of an indestructible nature. Once I am fed, rested, and ready to go I can hustle about through my day. At least for two hours. Then it is imperative that I stop, rest, eat or just gather myself. For the last while I feel like I am living on a two hour a day installment plan.

Mistake #1 - Day 2 - Still in the hospital post recovery - Up and at 'em, ready to walk and off I go. I make yet another lap of the post surgery ward - everyone is asleep or gone and it is only 2pm. I discover the day surgery ward - this is where they checked me in, then off by the surgery halls to the cardiac unit - don't wanna go in there - then down the halls towards the elevator. I meet a guy who is 400 pounds checking in to see why he is having breathing and heart problems. In the hallway they have these staircases for people to rehab by going up and down stairs, so I try them out. I am really good at going up and aside from the slight pain in my side I am pretty bad at coming down. Then it hits me, whoa every ounce of energy is gone. Okay if I am going to make it back to the ward it is going to be slow and steady. It is a good thing there are a lot of chairs along the hallway. When I get back to my bed the nurses are ticked at me because they couldn't find me. Then they found out I was on the stairs and they were really upset, so I was 'benched' and not allowed out of the area for the rest of the day.

Mistake #2 - Day 4 - Oh what a beautiful morning - Marla is asleep - I get tired of playing fetch with the dog in the backyard and it is just too much. It is just too nice to stand and toss the ball. So I grabbed the dog's leash and we were off. I live on a fairly large block so it was off for an around the block stroll. I paced myself nicely and when I got to the soccer field Precious the Pub and I have a rest and watch the Sunday Morning players. Precious doesn't like soccer players too much. I could tell when she tried to run off and pulled hard on the leash. Okay, back to slow walking. Then Marla got miffed at me because I am apparently not supposed to walk nearly a kilometer four days out of the hospital

Mistake #3 - Day 3 - Better living through Chemistry - I am sure that it wasn't the long walk, or the trip to Costco, or going too long without eating but I was feeling crappy. So I had Tylenol 3's so I thought I should take them as directed for pain. The directions were to take one with yoghurt. But I am a dummy and remembered that it used to take three T3s before they would even kick in. So I dialed it back and popped two of the pills with some water. 20 minutes later I realized what a mistake that was. I felt really good. Outstandingly good. Lovingly good. I liked everybody. I was soooo relaxed and contented. And then I was hot, in a panic and realized I think I did something really stupid. I called a WLS friend and they explained how my new system isn't designed to take in as much caffeine that there is in Tylenol 3s. I really appreciate our network of help available.

So what am I learning through these mistakes. Well first of all I have to admit that there are so many mistakes available and I am allowed to make them. Oh my god I am not perfect. But honest, I am learning too. So until the next mistake...

Wait till something like ketchup sneaks up and kicks your ass. The fun has just begun :-)

Well, atleast you are learning from them and moving forward.  But just wait...  I have had some very simple things kick my butt.  I worked hard all day and no problems, but eat one thing your body doesn't like and DOWN FOR THE COUNT!!!  So wierd.  But once you get used to it, nothing too it!

Good luck!

How do you avoid making mistakes?  You get experience.
How do you get experience?  You make mistakes!
We can only tell you about our experiences and hopefully pre-ops will pick up on a few things.  Not till you actually go through it yourself will you understand. 

Oh yeah we all have made these mistakes. I did so much homework before surgery and thought I was prepared for everything. Right down to having liquid Tylenol at the ready when I got home. Well about Day 5 I was feeling some pain and went for the liquid Tylenol. What I neglected to do was read the label and that it contains High Fructose Corn Syrup. You can imagine the result. That stuff went through me faster than sh*t through a tin horn... It wasn't pretty and needless to say I threw that stuff away and went for a good old fashioned Tylenol (just chopped up into 1/4's. Live and Learn and yes, we become stronger from our experiences. Good Luck and it sounds like you are doing great so far!! Keep up the good work!

 LOL, we all live and learn.  And even with all the reading of these posts and "thinking" we know what we are doing, we still make really silly and stupid decisions.  Hey, were MEN or so our wives would say.  What is important is that we learn from those mistakes...we hope...eventually.  : )

Just remember, what doesn't kill you only makes you stronger!

Keep up the great work and remember, another one of my favorites, this is not a sprint...it's a Marathon!