Day 3 mobile bloging
Big thanks Mike for the Dougal update, part 5 would be great from anyone.
The big 50 days of bloging and i am feeling great. Only 50 days and i have made very good progress i think.
I am very pleased with how my fitness has improved.
Another really busy day clearing my dads house. An excellent lower back workout passing tea chests out of the loft, they were full of books or glasses so were very heavy.
Despite the busy day i managed to get a good run in. 30 minutes so around 3.5 miles. About 500 calories which is good.
Until tomorrow...
4 comments:
Part 5
Very simply Septicemia is the presence of bacteria in the blood (bacteremia) and is often associated with severe disease. Septicemia is a serious, life-threatening infection that gets worse very quickly. This was going to be fun.
I was scheduled for surgery at 4.00pm and it was going to take an hour...or so, my neurosurgeon, Carl said. Oh yes we were on first name terms by now.
Having been cut open a few days before that, I was a touch more tense, knowing what to expect and was jabbering on like a monkey in an amazon rain forest, to the nurses wheeling me to theatre. Yes Mr Macdonald, nothing to worry about Mr Macdonald, we'll have you back in the ward before you open your eyes Mr Macdonald.
3 hours later I woke up in my ward with my girl holding my hand asking if I was OK.
NO I WASN'T, I WAS IN EXTREME PAIN, felt like I hadn't had water for six months and just wanted to PUNCH someone. I felt TERRIBLE. A syringe in the upper outer quadrant of my butt nudged me back into the land of nod.
The next few days were HELL, well maybe not, but it felt like it.
I couldn't understand why I'd sailed through the first op and was struggling so much through the second.
Carl, my NS....first name terms remember, articulated it perfectly. "We had to scrub a helluva lot of infection off, flush it out and keep scrubbling and flushing until it was gone. We then had to cut some of the bone away coz we couldn't get all of the infection off it." He brought his monologue neatly to a close with...." It was a lot worse than I thought."
Now that explanation scared me so I can imagine you reading this and going "BIG OUCH".
I then had to deal with an intrvenous drip and a drain. Drip and Drain, Drip and Drain Drip and Drain until the blood cultures came back clear of infection.....three times. This took over a week, flat on my back since I coudn't move..
The other reason I felt so bad was that I had gone into the original operation a strong healthy male.
I went into the second operation very very ill. Makes perfect sense I guess.
Pop in for Part 6 tomorrow
At last I was seeing that the light at the end of the tunnel was not a giant locomotive coming at me at speed.
Okay now one from me. Congrats on 50 days blogging. It's probably now a daily habit and soon you will hit 100, then 200. Good work!
Part 6
A week after Op 2, Carl was the bearer of brilliant news. " The infection is gone, you can go home friday."
The funny thing was....all of a sudden I felt anxiety. I had been in hospital for a month and I was afraid to leave. I had to walk away from my comfort zone.
Well friday came as did my girl, to collect me and a very wobbly Dougal walked out into brilliant sunshine and more people than I'd seen in a long while. Out into the car park cars were easing themselves into tight parking spots with decorum but through my eyes I was sanding in the middle of a dodgem car rink with them all aiming at me. It was weird.
Driving home in the pasenger seat I realised how bumpy the roads are...funny how I never noticed that before.
I've been home just over a week now and I get stronger every day. I've shed some tears about my plight only once but I guess I can be forgiven some down times.
The day I came home I could only walk about 50mtrs around the garden (seriously).. on saturday I walked 3.5kms, so I'm really making progress.
My attitude is very positive and apart from having to relearn how to drive, eat, read, walk etc, I'm still the same as I always was.
I do not take lightly what happened and now treat myself with much greater respect. I think this will be a good thing for me and I believe I will end up physically much better than I was before.
I start my new shred with all of you, but from a different place. It'll be a while before weights are included in my training routine but I'm not training for the Olympia so that's OK.
Obviously I can't do any upper body work for now, but I can do lower body and I can walk.
I lost 10kgs (22lbs) in hospital and it was mostly muscle. My attitude ...I'm glad I had the muscle to lose.
So all in all - I'm back from my vacation - just a little bionic ( titanium rods, screws and wiring to hold me together) is all and with a new card in my wallet which will get me through airport search points.
Thank you all so much for your prayers and good wishes, they often brought tears to my eyes...
FOR ME THIS IS NOT THE END, IT IS JUST THE BEGINNING.
dougal macdonald mind-body-superfit "I believe I can"
Mobile blogging is working! That's really cool. Glad to hear the move is going well. I'm sorry to hear about your Dad's health. It's really great of you and your wife to make the decision to have him come stay with you. I'm sure your good health and prioritizing your running is helping handle stress. It would be so easy (and completely normal) to move your focus away from your own health, but you've done a really great job balancing it. If you get an opportunity to just do something fun or take a few hours for yourself to just goof off, remember it's good for your health to take it! I'm sure you've got a lot of things to take care of, but I thought I'd mention relaxing is good for health just to keep it at the top of your mind so if there's a chance to take a nice big break, you'll take it. And when you do ENJOY it. :-)
Much love to your Dad and family from your internet friend way over on this side of the pond.
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