I Lost 7 Pounds Yesterday

I am not sure my exact weight when I went in for surgery.  I didn't weigh that morning.  We'd gone out to eat the night before so the number would have probably been up.  I weighed often enough in the days before surgery that I have a pretty good idea of the neighborhood.

I weighed several days after coming home on a lark.  I knew it would be up because my left leg was incredibly swollen.  There was an obvious difference in the size of my right and left legs.  My weight was up 15 pounds.  I didn't get upset because I figured there was more than 15 pounds of fluid in my left thigh alone!!

That, and the fact that my appetite was virtually gone.  I was (and am) trying to listen to my body, and eat when I am hungry.  I got some protein bars and nuts to eat during recovery to have a quick and nutritious snack on hand when I got hungry.  Since I wasn't wearing my regular clothes, I didn't have that guide, I felt like my weight would be down if I could somehow discount the swelling.  One day, I even thought my face appeared thinner in the mirror.  That is a hard one to quantify.  I just enjoyed it without 'proof' and went on.

I go to therapy on MWF.  My therapist is great.  She is the kind of person, I'd be friends with.  We work hard on getting my muscles back in shape so that I can move my left leg again.  I am making progress.  When I first came home 65MD (or whoever was here) had to left my left leg in to the bed.  I couldn't lift it at all.  Nor could I make a side to side motion with that leg.  It was a fluid filled sack of meat hanging from my body.

Now, with great effort, I can lift my leg into the bed and under the right circumstances move my left leg from side to side.  That is just the first wave.  I have to be able to lift my leg while laying on my side.  We haven't even begun to work on that.  Then there is the whole walking thing.  I need to be able to walk without the assistance of a device.  Those things will call come in time.  That is why I am going to therapy.

Yesterday, my therapist wasn't there.  She had a well deserved day off.  I had another therapist.  She was very nice and very different.  Yesterday's therapist was very concerned about symmetry and balance in my body.  I did not understand a lot of what she was doing.  We didn't do the exercises I am used to.  Instead, she put her hands on various parts of my body starting at the top of my head and working down.  I laid on my back on the table as she put her hands under my head, under my shoulders, under my waist, under my pelvis, etc.  She just laid her hands under me.  She didn't massage.  We chatted about family and life as she moved through this process.  

At the end, we did a couple of exercises.  She actually did more of the movement than I did.  She wanted me to see how it would feel to move the muscles properly.  Finally, she told me that she was moving the fluid through my lymph system so it could leave.  She showed me how to put my hand on my left hip to help shed the fluid myself at home.

I wasn't quite sure how this shedding was going to happen.  I could think of two possibilities.  I could pee it out or it could seep out the incision.  I was right.  Both happened.  We put a towel in the bed in case the incision oozed.  It was a good idea, but the sheets are in the washer now.  I also got a lot of practice walking to the bathroom.  It seemed I was peeing far more than the urgency of need.  Even 65MD, commented on perhaps my bladder had expanded.

So, this morning, I weighed.  I'm down 7 pounds.  Now, if I could just do that a few more days...