Wanna recover quick from surgery?

I’m discovering how unusual it is that I was up running errands and going for a walk the day after my shoulder surgery and off of pain meds the second day.  Yesterday, I worked out at the gym for two hours.  Here it is, the fifth day, and I’m at my office working.

The surgery was arthroscopic, but still, even the doctors were expecting me to lay around the house for a week.   (Hey, just between you and me, it’s July, it’s Denver, and my 100-year-old house is NOT AIR CONDITIONED!! 

My regular doctor called me this morning to see how I was doing after my surgery.  He wasn’t too surprised that I was off meds and had just gotten in from doing an hour on the treadmill.  He said that two things really helped: 

1. I am in terrific physical shape.
2. I have a mindset of not letting anything get me down (mental toughness!).

I haven’t always been in terrific shape, but a series of goofy little health scares made me really pay attention to my health and fitness (see my article on another blog, How a little brain tumor did me a favor).  I guess you get a little “mental toughness” simply by asking yourself, Hmmm, I wonder if there’s anything at all I can do to help myself?

Doctors are cool but they’re not all that into holistic and natural remedies so I found a doctor who was an expert at the traditional approaches but who was open to whatever I could find that might heal me, naturally.  Diet, nutrition, exercise, chiropractic… he is cautious but open to it. 

For example, a few years ago I had high blood pressure and was on bp meds.  Even on meds, my blood pressure was 180/120.  I did a little homework, got on an acai juice thing, and with his permission, got off the meds.  My blood pressure is now consistently 110/60.

I was on an anti-coagulant because I have a  stroke condition.   I searched around, found out that fish oil is a very effective anti-coagulant, and asked my doctor about it.  He liked what he learned so I’m now getting all the benefits of fish oil!

My friends think I’m a stuborn and difficult patient because I barely let them bring in meals or drive me around.  Dang, I have a marathon to train for!  This is how I am!

So, I say, if you wanna recover quick from surgery, just take better control of your health and develop the mindset that you’ll be fine!