Today marks five weeks since my surgery. Amazing how time flies. All in all, life has been very good. A few rough days with pain and a trip to emergency at the hospital, but really I’m feeling good.

I’ve been up and walking around and slowly but surely building up some strength. Today I surpassed my goal of 10,000 steps. Pretty happy about this.

Today was also the start of the cyclocross clinics. I’ve been leading a small private cyclocross clinic for a few years now. I didn’t want this to end as a result of my recovery, so Marc has taken over for me. Tonight was a great success with everyone learning lots, laughing, and enjoying being out on the ‘cross bike. A big thanks to Marc for taking over and a very huge thank you to the women who have been coming out to these clinics.

I was thinking about the post I wrote one week before my surgery. In that post I listed a bunch of goals that I have for post-surgery. I think that at the five week mark, it’s the perfect time to revisit these:

1. Out of the hospital in five days: I smashed this and left the hospital after four days. The stay in the hospital was pretty much okay. There were some rough moments, some stressful moments and some downright awful moments but really, it wasn’t so bad. Whenever I end up in the hospital for a while or end up in emergency, I really am so impressed with the nurses – these people are working so hard and it seems like they’re on a flat out run all day.
2. Be ready for a fun weekend at the cottage on Labour Day: yep, nailed this one. This Labour Day weekend was a big one for me. I’m very happy to say that it was a success. There were no travel or car disasters. No leaks or pouch blow-outs. No stresses over food. My niece and nephew were champs and totally understood that I couldn’t pick them up, play basketball, play pingpong or do any other crazy stuff. It was easy being around my family and just being able to relax and not worry about anything.
3. Ready to fully take in the Adele concert on September 28 in Montreal. (Fourth row tickets!!!): well good thing I checked the date – the concert is on September 30. All systems are go for this big concert. Air BnB accommodations are booked. I got the okay from my surgeon. I’m stoked. Marc is stoked (or he is pretending to be).

So far so good in the goals department. When I see my surgeon again on September 27 I’ll ask him about getting back on the bike and starting some very light yoga.

Interestingly, I don’t really miss the bike that much yet. I think this is likely because I’m not ready to sit on a bike seat yet.

I’m at the point in my recovery when it’s easy to forget that I underwent a major surgery. The external staples are out. There is essentially no pain. But the internal healing still has a long way to go. This is the biggest challenge – reminding myself that I’m still not recovered yet.

So that’s about it. I’m feeling good. Best I have in a long time. It’s funny to realize that five weeks after major surgery, I’m feeling better than I have in a really long time. I guess I just got used to feeling unwell and being in pain. What a relief it is to no longer be experiencing daily pain.

I can tell you I’ve been doing lots of thinking about 2017 and what I want to achieve. 2017 is shaping up to be a fantastic year. But for now, I’m on the slow and measured approach – this is a race that can only be won with turtle speed.