Last we spoke, I’d been dealing with an opening at the intersection of my fleur-de-lis incisions. By Friday, May 10th, it was continuing to get bigger and look like it was getting deeper. I sent more pictures to Dr. Geldner and he said to meet him at his downtown (blargh) office the next day. Meanwhile, all of a sudden the gauze pad was SOAKED with yellowish serous fluid (remember the liquid scab stuff?). Thankfully, that was a one-time thing and I didn’t ooze through overnight.
The following morning, when I woke up at 6am, Hubs was understandably confused. I never get up early on a weekend. But, it was necessary due to it being the start of construction season. After a shower, breakfast, and plenty of coffee, I headed out. I was pleasantly surprised when Apple Maps changed my directions from taking the highway all the way down to the city to local traffic. It had me go the old school scenic route that took me to Lake Shore Drive. It was a gorgeous day for a drive at that. Bonus: I had looked into parking the night before, and found that if I used the garage’s site/app, I only had to pay $7 (as opposed to $30).
As it turns out, from Dr. Geldner’s viewpoint, the wound was no worse than the last time he saw me a few days prior, but he was worried because the pic I’d sent didn’t reflect scale and he thought it was much more spread out. Gee, had he said something, I could have put a dime next to it in another pic for scale and it would have saved a trip. But, he did take a great deal of time going into the ins and outs of taking care of the wound and expectations for healing. Also, as he watched me put the binder back on, he had a lightbulb moment that made the trip well worthwhile. You see, while a separation like mine is not uncommon, he would have thought it’d have been more healed by now. He surmised that the edges of the binder may have actually been putting too much pressure on it when I sit, inhibiting healing. Short people problems. So, was henceforth binder-free. I have to admit, I felt a bit naked without it. But, as it had been over 3 weeks since my surgery, I’m ok enough to ditch it. I just had to be a little more mindful to not stress the area. Kind of like lifting without the weightlifting belt – just don’t go too heavy.
Three days later, I could see the hole filling in and the rigidity/swelling and tenderness in that area was finally starting to dissipate. Woo hoo! Guess he was right – it was the binder inhibiting healing.
Four more days and I found myself comfortably sleeping on my side instead of my back! Another day, and I was really beginning to enjoy the little things about how my body has changed – like more complete forward folds… I was leaning over to scratch my leg and realized I was comfortably folded in two with my face much closer to my shin than it used to be able to get when I had that belly in the way. In fact, I was feeling so good that I let myself peek at the WOD for the next day (I’d avoided looking at the Kilter workouts since surgery), and I was right in doing so. Yep… I definitely have FOMO and can’t wait to get back in there!
It’s kind of funny, because around the time of surgery, I was thinking to myself, “Oh yay. I don’t have to do Murph this year. Then I saw CrossFit posts on social media about Murph prep and I thought, “Aww man… I want to do Murph this year!” So, I did – sort of. I showed up and did my 2 mile walk with my Kilter Fam. My friend Rachel & her baby, Isaac walked with me (plus another couple – Beth & George). It was great to be back with my community – even for an hour.
I was definitely ready to step up the effort in my walking routine. I began to incorporate short jogs between fire hydrants. First, it was every few, then eventually, every other one.
Soon, I decided to borrow a 14 lb. weight vest (thanks, Rach!) and headed out for my first weighted walk on June 6th. It was hella windy. Allergens were aplenty, making my nose run. And my podcast streams were crapping out on me. I switched from my usual Sara Silverman to Zarna Garg and got it to play. Once I’d been out for a mile and a half, I tossed in one hydrant-to-hydrant jog. That was enough, thankyouverymuch.
Fast forward a couple days, and I’d worked up to a run/walk – with the vest – for about 1/4 of my two miles. Like my neighborhood bicyclist who rides around with her hair in curlers (master multitasker, that one), I was ready to do more with my fitness. So, I decided that at 7 weeks post-op, I’d head back to the gym on Monday. Hooray!!!!
It was great timing, as one of my OG coaches, Brandon, was running class that day and let us know that it was his second to last time he’d be coaching us because of a shift in his work schedule. It was also a great workout – which I massively scaled. First, we were to do 2 touch-and-go power cleans + 4 front rack lunges, every 2:00 x 6. Then, 3 rounds of 25 wallball shots (RX+/RX 20/14 lbs), 25 box jump overs 24/20 in & 25 cal row. And here’s how I did it:
@dmoranphotog #crossfit #crossfitkilter #strongissexy #strongisbeautiful #shortpeoplefitnessing #selfcare #crossfitisforeveryone #workinprogress
I’m so happy to be feeling like myself again!
I will leave you with this slight backpedal – my 1-month progress pic (which is pretty much how I look now). For now, my plan is to continue to maintain my weight, but plan to start up another cut once I’m back to full lifting at the 3-month mark. Cheers!
