Post-Hosp Day Six Summary: Aches and Pains

I've been noticing it all week, but today my body is really aching. My shoulders and arms are sore, and there is a constant tightness across my chest that is mildly painful. Every now and then when I raise my arm, I hear a boney click. I wonder if this is all noticeable because i'm taking less painkillers. Or maybe it's due to the exercises I'm performing. My list of exercises consists of a number of arm, shoulder and leg movements, which are to be performed five times, and then the entire series of exercises repeated four times a day. Given that this exercise list is designed for men 65 and over, I have modified it so that I perform each exercise 10 times, and I repeat them five or six times a day. Given that this is probably more exercise than my arms have ever seen in my entire life, it's probably no surprise that my upper body is aching!

I'm surprised that I am relatively mobile and pain free - I wonder if this is because of my general level of fitness or because I'm so young. I've been telling everyone that there really isn't much pain, and there isn't. I'm so much tougher than those old men! But then a random sneeze hits me before I have time to put a pillow to my chest - and the PAIN is immense! My entire chest lights up in fire and I want to curl up in a ball on the floor. Ok - now I completely understand all the precautions and why the cotton wool is being wrapped around me.

I had another blood test this morning to monitor my warfarin levels. The nurse, a very nice older lady, asked me why I was on warfarin while she was inserting the needle into my vein. When I let her know, she was so surprised that she missed my vein! She was very apologetic afterwards, the poor lady.

Went for my first real walk outside with Yvette this afternoon. Mom's place is on a pretty steep hill, so we drove down to the beach, and walked along the nice flat path to the dog beach. It's so nice to be outside walking. It's hard to believe that i've only just had major heart surgery. I'm looking forward to coming down here for walks more often.