A lap around the sun

I closed off April with some good markers: a naked neck, a dip in the sea, a sneaky peak and completing a lap around the sun.

Good flow

On Tuesday, I had a follow-up appointment with my vascular surgeon, who summarised his team’s part of my February surgery as a success. It was my first opportunity to talk with him since. He told me that the endarterectomy procedure itself had been more complex than standard, due to the damage from my previous radiation treatment, but my recovery has gone well and with normal blood flow restored, I can now reduce some of the medication I’ve been on. And no need for further follow-ups; a phone call in October will suffice. So another crucial part of my system is sorted for now.

A naked neck (look! no tubes or dressings!)

On Thursday, at my dressing clinic at hospital, my tracheostomy wound was assessed as sufficiently healed to lose its dressings and go naked. At times in the past month, my doctors and nurses would describe the wound as “fragile”, “delicate” or “angry”, so going naked was a significant graduation. With the temporary airway completely sealed & healed, I’m cleared to go swimming. While I was lying in ICU in my March hospital stay, I would close my eyes and imagine myself swimming under the waves, as a means to stay calm and focused on my breathing. So it was a fitting celebration yesterday to go for a 20 minute run along the beach, followed by a deep breath and a dive into the waves.

Some other aspects of my post-surgery recovery have been slow, but steady enough. I’ve had some marginal gains in my swallowing skills: I can now drink a smoothie without coughing it up, and I’m now able to hit my target of one yoghurt a day. It isn’t clear how much improvement is left, but I’ll put that to the test over the next couple of months working with my SLT specialist.

A lap around the sun

I also had my birthday, marking 47 times around the sun. Every lap is significant; this one especially so. No-one is more excited about birthdays than 5 year old Mia, who demanded a celebration with the works. Maree got up early to bake a cake. It looked delicious cooling in the morning light on our kitchen bench. However the only one from our household to actually enjoy the cake was Freddy - who while we were out of the room, disgraced himself by hauling the cake to the floor and pawing it to pieces. He ate a solid third of it in three seconds flat, and he would have eaten the lot if he hadn’t given himself away with all his greedy growling as he gorged himself. Was it too much to ask, to have our cake and eat it too? Sigh.

A sneaky peak

To complete my lap around the sun, I slipped in a sneaky peak, with a run to the summit of the Paekakariki escarpment track. It was tough, slow going, but important to do. The run was my part of a virtual charity fundraiser in support of Kerry Suter, an elite runner and coach, who broke his neck in a mountain biking accident in late February. We have several mutual friends, so I had heard news of his accident quickly, while I was in hospital. Kerry is now a tetraplegic, receiving specialist treatment at NZ’s spinal unit in Auckland. Reading Kerry’s progress updates reminds me how fortunate I am; to freely walk, to return to running (however slow!) and to play at the beach with Mia.

A few pics below from April…

Enjoying a clear Autumn night in the back yard with Maree and Mia. After a series of planned and unplanned hospital stays, it feels good to be home together to enjoy these.

Freddy helping me stretch before my birthday run up the escarpment.

Mia completes a lap around her beach fort as I complete a lap around the sun.