Rehab, er, I mean Cardiac Rehab

So I had my initial consultation for cardiac rehab today. I officially start on Friday. Today they got my history, took my resting blood pressure and heart rate, had me walk for 6 minutes to get a baseline, and had me fill out a couple of surveys. But the catch was that I had to wear a monitor. You know, with the patches that stick to your skin and the wires that connect to those patches which monitor your heart rate. The sucky thing is that those patches make me itch. It's very difficult to itch yourself under your shirt while you are trying to walk. I looked kind of like a monkey scratching my chest while wearing a T-shirt and shorts. (But I did shave my legs today so I looked LESS like a monkey without all that hair.)

It was no big deal. The actual work starts on Friday. I'll be going every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 3 PM until September 25. (That's the day before my birthday!)

I'm very excited to go through rehab, um cardiac rehab. At the end of the 6 weeks (18 one-hour sessions) I should be feeling much better. I was told that I'll be at least at 80% at my best after surgery. Considering that I was only at 59% before my surgery, that's quite an improvement.

Apparently there are quite a few people who show up at that time. So I'll be making more friends who have had open heart surgery! But I was told that I will be the only one in the group who has had a valve replacement. The rest have had bypasses and that kind of thing. Am I wrong to be glad that my surgery was a result of something that happened through no fault of my own?

I've also noticed that the more I drive the more my chest hurts. I actually took one of my prescription painkillers last night because it hurt so bad. But the medication didn't help me sleep. It just made me dizzy and woozy and kept me awake. So today I bought some of that new Advil PM. I'm gonna try it tonight. I'll let you know how well it works.

Tomorrow I have my post-operative appointment with my surgeon. I'm hoping that he'll be really impressed with my recovery. And I'm hoping to see my friend, Cynthia. She is already out of the hospital and staying in a hotel, and is no longer taking prescription painkillers. She is my idol. (Plus, she knows Ellen, remember? I'm still waiting for that response...)

The only sucky thing about tomorrow is that I have to drive. RobbieMax is working, Will is too young, and my friends are working and my mom is busy. So I'm driving all the way there and back by myself. Then we're going to the Twins game. I'm not looking forward to Thursday. I'll be hurting.

Hey, do any of you wanna give me a ride to and from Rochester tomorrow? I promise to be my charming, hilarious self.

What can I count down to now? I'm not ready to think about work...