First Day

"The first day of recovery is always the hardest," said the nurse today.

And it was. 

Sitting up, getting out of bed, moving from her back to her side are all painful.  The doctors and nurses are regularly asking Ma to rate her pain on a scale of 1 to 10 and they have her hooked up to an intravenous pain medication drip where she can hit a button and the medicine comes through the IV.  She has been using it sparingly though as she doesn't "want to turn into a dope addict."

The doctors insisted today that she get up on her feet and so the nurses took her for a stroll down the hall.  It was not a long walk - about 10 yards total.  She was assisted by the nurse and a walker, and she said the walk "wasn't too bad."

For tomorrow the goals are to go for two walks and to sit up for a while in a chair.