Post Op Day #5

A reasonable night's sleep but i remember getting up for a pee twice. My thoughts have turned to why I am constipated. I am not feeling any pain just aware that I have not been since the operation. I read this article: Constipation after Surgery.

With regard to the operation itself and my recovery the swelling is far less this morning. If I lie in bed with my laptop on my thighs and my legs straight, the left knee aches; the advice is to keep the leg straight as much as possible but I have used a small cushion under my knee, giving a slight angle of flex, to avoid the pain. The alternative is to sit in the chair and use the cushion on my cabin bag as a leg rest.

It is 06:30 now and the sun is breaking through the trees outside the window of my room which is at the eastern end of the building. I will get on with my first set of exercises soon and prepare myself for the appointments of today, which are all packed into the morning. Breakfast is available from 08:00 in the restaurant and I will catch up with my colleagues then; Alan is leaving today although still in a wheelchair.

Back from breakfast having wished Alan well for his return to the UK, I've done my second set of exercises on my own and it's now an hour before massage: kind of the wrong end of the schedule.

Polarized Light Treatment

The massage lasts about 20 minutes and then my appointment for the polarized light treatment. This lasts only 10 minutes of actual light treatment but the staff take off the bandage and then a nurse comes to check on the wound, clean it and then re-dress it. IT is fantastic to see how this is all co-ordinated. 

5 day old operation scar

I then returned to my room to change from robe to shorts and loose fitting shirt required for Physiotherapy and still had time to go to the restaurant bar for a cappuccino. Unlike the coffee from the breakfast bar, or things you get at the bar like beer and speciality coffees you pay cash. Here I heard an English speaker talking to the bar staff so I butted in only to discover that he, Lars, was actually Norwegian. He spoke such good English that it was very nice to sit, drink our coffee and chat. One of the great joys of traveling to unusual places is that the people you meet are generally very interesting and hold remarkably similar views on life and the universe!

Now it was 11:55 so Lars and I finished our drinks and I went directly to the Physio room for my session which was pretty intensive. So much so that I completely forgot to go to my Cryo appointment. Will have to apologise when I go tomorrow! I had returned to my room and had a rest before going down for lunch. The cappuccino had spiked my blood sugar level a bit as it was the first milk I have had since the operation. 

I enjoyed my lunch in the open seating area, to the outside of the restaurant but then took up the physio's challenge of circumnavigating the 'pond' as he referred to it. It is actually the river valley running through a section of pine forest. See separate blog post. 

I made it back but I don't recommend anyone having surgery to take on this challenge so soon after their op! I was pretty knackered by the time I got back so I sat down with a beer and was shortly joined by Lars who had driven to a local cafe near the river about 5km away for lunch. He thought it was well worth a visit. He is here having a break and visiting friends in Vilnius.

Some more thoughts on things to do before travelling: 

• Make sure you have European roaming data; I did this as I had learned from ages ago that you can get charged lots extra. The coverage of 4G+ is very good unlike what we have in the rural areas of the UK. 
• Have an amount of small change/5€ notes etc for coffee, beer etc.. 

I rested again before dinner and then sat with Lars before he went of to ride a local cable car to view the sunset while I returned to my room to complete my blog of the day.. 

And as a final note my constipation ended this evening.... So that was a 5 day situation and all is well now. Hope that is not a TMI moment... Lol