Weekly Recovery Update: Still Healing, Still Working, Still a Big Kid
Not too much changed this week.
And honestly? That is not a bad thing.
Recovery has a weird way of making “nothing dramatic happened” feel like a win. No big setbacks. No major new issues. No surprise medical plot twist. Just another week of showing up, doing the work, and slowly getting stronger.
At this point, I will gladly take boring progress.
Still Showing Up for Cardiac Rehab
I am still going to cardiac rehab, still working, and still recovering. That may not sound exciting on paper, but it is actually the whole game right now.
Recovery after open-heart surgery is not some movie montage where you struggle for thirty seconds, inspirational music plays, and suddenly you are jogging up a mountain in perfect lighting. It is more like:
Wake up. Check how sore everything is. Go to rehab. Try not to overdo it. Work. Rest. Repeat.
Then randomly get humbled by sleeping on your side wrong.
Cardiac rehab continues to be one of the biggest parts of getting back to normal. It keeps me moving, keeps me accountable, and reminds me that progress does not always have to look dramatic to be real.
Some weeks are big milestone weeks. Some weeks are maintenance weeks.
This was more of a maintenance week — and I am learning to respect those.
Work Is Still Workin’
I am also still working, which is another big part of feeling normal again.
Getting back into a routine has been important for me mentally. After everything that happened, it is easy to feel like life got put on pause. Work gives me structure again. It gives me problems to solve that are not medical problems, which is a nice change of pace.
I am still pacing myself, though. That has been the hard part.
Before all this, I was used to pushing through things. Now I have to be smarter about energy, soreness, and recovery. My body has made it very clear that it is no longer accepting “just ignore it” as a valid strategy.
Apparently, after heart surgery, your body becomes management.
Orthopedic Update: Shoulder Is Getting Better
I went back to the orthopedic doctor about my shoulder, and thankfully, that has been getting better.
That is a nice piece of good news because the shoulder has been one of those annoying side quests in the middle of the main recovery campaign.
The only real pains I have right now are mostly chest soreness from sleeping on my side and from overexerting myself a bit.
Which, to be clear, is mostly my fault.
I have been trying to move more, do more, and feel more normal — but recovery has a very strict return policy. You overdo it today, and tomorrow your chest sends you an invoice.
Still, compared to where things were, I will take this kind of pain over the old pain any day.
The Current Pain Report
The main issue right now is chest soreness.
Some of it comes from sleeping on my side. Some of it comes from pushing myself a little too much. Neither is shocking, but both are annoying.
It is one of those reminders that even though I feel better, I am not fully healed yet.
That part is frustrating because my brain wants to move faster than my body. My brain says, “We are back.” My chest says, “Absolutely not. Sit down, champ.”
So the current plan is simple:
Keep going to rehab. Keep working. Keep healing. Stop acting like I am fully rebuilt when I am clearly still under warranty.
New Toy Alert: RC Rock Crawler Jeep
Now for the important medical update:
I got a new toy.
This week I picked up my RC Rock Crawler Jeep and took it out for its maiden rip.
And yes, I am fully aware that I am a grown adult getting excited over a little Jeep with lights, tires, suspension, and just enough attitude to make me want to find rocks immediately.
I regret nothing.
There is something about RC cars, drones, cameras, and little mechanical toys that still makes me feel like a kid. After the last few months, I think that matters more than I realized.
Recovery is not just about getting your body back. It is also about getting pieces of yourself back.
For me, that means toys, gadgets, flying FPV, taking photos, making videos, and finding little excuses to go outside and play.
The RC Jeep is not just a toy. It is a tiny off-road therapy vehicle.
Possibly not covered by insurance.
Maiden Rip Complete
Taking the Jeep out for the first time was just fun.
No major goal. No serious project. No fitness tracker milestone. No doctor appointment. Just something new to mess around with, film, photograph, and enjoy.
That kind of fun has been missing for a while.
When recovery takes over your life, everything can become measured in medications, appointments, lab results, soreness levels, and how many minutes you walked. Those things are important, but they are not the whole picture.
Sometimes healing also looks like crawling a tiny Jeep over rocks while grinning like a ten-year-old.
And honestly, that might be one of the healthier things I did this week.
Remaining a Big Kid
I have said it before, and I will say it again:
I will always be a big kid with my toys.
Drones, RC cars, cameras, computers, random gadgets — that stuff keeps me curious. It keeps me creative. It gives me something to look forward to.
After open-heart surgery, I think it is easy to get stuck thinking only about what changed, what hurts, what is limited, and what still needs to heal.
But weeks like this remind me that there is still a lot of life to enjoy in the middle of the recovery process.
Even if some of that life has tiny tires and bright LED headlights.
The Plan for Next Week
The plan is not complicated:
Keep showing up. Keep healing. Keep pushing forward carefully. Keep working. Keep going to cardiac rehab. Keep finding small things that make life feel normal again.
And most importantly, keep remembering that progress does not always have to be dramatic.
Sometimes progress is just another steady week.
Sometimes it is a little less pain. Sometimes it is showing up when you do not feel like it. Sometimes it is getting through work. Sometimes it is laughing at yourself while playing with an RC Jeep on the floor.
This week was not a major breakthrough.
But it was another week forward.
And right now, that counts.
Final Thought
Recovery is still happening. I am still not fully back. I still have soreness, limits, and reminders that this process takes time.
But I am also still here, still improving, still working, still showing up, and still finding ways to have fun.
That feels like a win.
Another week down.
Maiden rip complete.
Big kid status: fully active.