Less appendix= more free time.

Check out my new bag:

Wondering where I got it? I'll show you:

That's right- I made that bag myself! Its my biggest sewing project to date. In the seven days since I had my appendix out, I haven't worked out at all and I've only spent a little over four hours at work. I have slept about twelve hours a day; made the above-pictured bag; read four books so far; watched countless episodes of "Top Chef" and "Lost;" and made guacamole, blueberry cobbler, peach oatmeal crumble, salads that my mother said looked straight out of a restaurant, and (my new favorite) spaghetti with bacon and eggs. Its been a busy week off.  

As many of you know, I have ADHD (Attendtion Defecit Hyperactivity Disorder). It manifests for me in a variety of ways, but one is an insatiable need to always be doing something. When I was first diagnosed, my psychiatrist was trying to determine whether I had the inattentive or hyperactive version of the disorder, so she asked me how well I tolerate sitting still. I thought about it for a minute and replied (honestly) "I don't know, I don't really sit still long enough to find out." This disorder has provided plenty of challenges for me throughout my life, but I think it also makes me well suited for manic pursuits like my work/school combo and marathon training. 

Speaking of which... I still don't know how this whole experience will impact my training. All in all, I've felt pretty good this week. I've had almost no pain, but I have dealt with exhaustion and pretty severe shortness of breath (a side-effect of anesthesia). A few days puffing on this lovely device has restored my breathing to almost normal- at least indoors. Outdoors, the heat still leaves me out of breath pretty quickly. The combo of the exhaustion and the shortness of breath means that I haven't attempted to run or go to the gym yet. There's also the fact that I still have three wounds on my stomach healing. Despite the lack of pain, I can definitely feel that I had surgery in my abdomen just a week ago and I (obviously) don't want to risk messing anything up in there. 

So, I'm taking it easy, but I am very aware of the ticking of the training clock, and even more aware that I'm registered (and paid) for a half-marathon on September 12th. As a bonus, its a half with a strict cut off time of 2:45, which means that I couldn't just decide to walk the whole thing. I think I'm going to try a brief treadmill walk at the gym tomorrow and see how it goes. I have a follow-up appointment with my surgeon on Wednesday and I hope she'll give me some solid guidance then. She was very understanding about my desire to resume training as soon as possible. 

If, for some reason, I don't make it back to training soon, I'll be happy to take orders for tote bags, and maybe even decorative pillows!