Doing too much post-op, and brace style.

Friday - the day after surgery - was a busy day. I did way, way too much: I went to the gym, had lunch at Commander's Palace, took about 9 work calls, and then got a call from a friend from church. He's a professor, and the semester just ended, so he wanted to celebrate. David and I agreed to meet him for happy hour, although we didn't really need a drink at that point!, and he offered to drive.
This led to me hopping into an enormous SUV in my muddy, torn-up, drenched street, in the pouring rain...reversing the process in the parking lot...climbing wet, metal stairs to a wine bar...perching on a dreadfully uncomfortable stylish sofa while my brace compressed my abdominal aorta...hopping back into the SUV, which I swear grew higher and higher every time, to head to dinner...walking blocks in the rain to the restaurant...dropping my crutches loudly at least five times on the restaurant floor...more walking in the rain....back to professor's house....more walking in the rain...card game with him, his wife, David...delirious hands of cards...popcorn....more walking in the rain...leaping from mile-high SUV onto muddy street and puddles and dragging crutches through rain storm to house.
I immediately went to bed, mud and all. My lips were white, my nails were blue, my teeth were chattering uncontrollably, and I was nearly incoherent.
Lesson learned: Do NOT accept a ride right after surgery. You need your own escape vehicle! Not that we didn't have fun, we did; but I'd have preferred not to ride in the Mt. Everest of vehicles, and probably could have ended the evening after the wine bar. Unfairly, I blamed David for not making excuses for us, but since he's a patient darling, he just smoothed my hair and put ice packs on my leg and turned the heater on.
Since then, I have pretty much felt like crap, with waves of nausea and vomiting coming and going. I feel oddly out of it, a little hazy, which is silly. I'm not taking any drugs accept the indomethacin (an NSAID) I am prescribed to prevent bone regrowth, but I still feel loopy and queasy. I tried not to do too much most of the rest of the weekend., though we did walk to church. I'm off today, but Tuesday it's back to work, so I am trying to rest up as much as I can before then.

And in an effort to inspire myself not to dress like a homeless person while doing the crutch/brace thing, here is the first in a series of brace style (a what-I-wore of the post-op ilk):

Swelling looks better, doesn't it?

Jeans, clogs, my NOLA water meter T-shirt, denim shirt. Excuse the ghastly white face and lips.