Day 8 - Adjusting a little day by day

Brad woke up this morning a little stiff. See, these are the reasons it is so important to continue on in the mobility exercises, stretches, and movement, because even though, at the time it is easier to give in and relax (especially when some friends and visitors are insisting you "stay there and relax" while they do your running around), but by the next morning it is only the patient who suffers, well okay, not just the patient, but the coach/cheerleader to. What's even more difficult, is trying to explain to everyone that although they are trying to help by doing his bidding, they are actually hurting more than helping, without being unappreciative. This balance is just a difficult as the exercise/mobility balance.

So, because he woke up stiff, we started our regimen early to stretch out those muscles that had stiffened up through the later course of yesterday and last night. He felt much better after we finished those exercises, and he has since continued more puttering and walking, and doing things than he did yesterday.

Last night we had a bit of a scare, not really, but a little bit. One of the things they tell you to watch for when you are leaving the hospital is "seepage" and there was a little drainage right at the very bottom of his left leg incision. Figured we'd play it safe and contacted the nurses line just to double check. Thankfully with no odour, a clear straw color, and because it wasn't excessive by any means, we were able to hold off on a trip to the doc until we can make an appointment with our family doctor. Being that the incisions are very deep it's important that if you have any question at all, that you ask and find out, because an infection can be very serious no matter which incision it may be in, so it's imparative to be proactive. He and I both feel much better about it.

For those that may not know we have three wonderful little boys, and what we have found is that it's important to advocate for those little guys, especially at their ages (10 and 11 for the older two) because while everyone is trying to give us a hand (inlaws and family and friends) we tend to just push forward and forget to check in with the troops.

Our boys are trying very hard to be strong, and have a stiff upper lip, but, as we found out today, those emotions are just lying there lurking, and can come out at the oddest moment. At their age they are quite capable of eavesdropping and understanding just how serious the situation was/is, and if you don't take that time to talk it out and allow them to vent you end up with a 10 year old crying because his dog won't bring his ball back, or because he dropped something that didn't break. Sebastien faced some of these frustrations today. I feel horrible because I missed the signs bustling about trying to get all of us moving forward. So Brad did the best thing he could, he took his son and sat down, talked about everything, then made goofy faces until he smiled. These small moments are so important, it helps keep everyone positive which is a huge aide in the rehabilitation process.

Brad's spirits are up today, he's smiling bunches and this afternoon will be having his first at home shower. We're both a little nervous about a shower, thankfully our's is a gentle shower, one of those fancy "rain" showers, but if we don't take the leap now, we'll all be overcome by the not so popular "eau de Daddy" parfume he will be sporting around!

Big lessons learned today! As well we have added a countdown timer on the right of the blog, that is counting down the time until the 8 week mark after surgery. 8 Weeks represents the time he will be able to pick up our littlest, sweep, drive etc. We've opted for the 8 week mark because then we can be sure that, barring any unforeseen circumstances, his sternum should be healed.