returning to normal

Tomorrow marks 7 weeks post-op for me. I was officially cleared for "duty" (okay, life at a normal speed) a week ago based on time passed, but I'm still in a surprising amount of pain. I went to the doctor's office, and he was able to explain to me why this is: I'm scarred. Because of what all they had to do during the surgery, there was a high potential for internal scarring to begin with let alone when my genetics (yay hemophilia!) are added to the mix. Because the abdomen is in constant use, being the core of the body, those scars have had to form, break apart from movement, cause bleeding and more scarring, and then start the cycle all over again by breaking apart. He said that this will happen continually until some scars form that are in just the right size, shape and position that my body can continue to move around them without causing pain by brushing up against anything else. 

All of this means that while I should be relatively good to go, I'll most likely stay in some pain for the next few months. So basically, I have to just pretend that I'm fine and get back to normal. Okay then! I decided to take Johnny to Way Fruit Farm for their Fall Festival yesterday. Now mind you, as with all activities even prior to my surgery, I gauged his mood and the likelihood of multiple problem behaviors occurring and then decided upon our day's activities from there. Since he had spent a pretty happy morning hanging out around the house and had received a sufficient amount of sleep the night before, I took the risk and went for it.

We had a blast!

We got some popcorn and walked around the various vendor stalls, got our faces painted with matching balloons, flung apples in a sling-shot in the attempt to hit a truck out in a field, (which he did do successfully, telling me how it was just like Angry Birds) and took a tractor ride out into the pumpkin patch to pick out one to take home. We were pretty far into our visit to the farm when I realized that I had brought my son there by myself. Yeah, duh, I knew that. But what I didn't think about when it did it was that we might be standing a football field's distance into the pumpkin patch before he could find the perfect one to take home. I even talked him into picking a "smaller one" compared to his original choice, and we ended up buying one that weighed just over 23lbs. That doesn't sound too heavy when you think about some of the other items people tote around in daily life, especially those with children, but wow! I don't think the doc meant that I should be carrying toddler-size pumpkins all over creation when he said it was okay to "try to be normal" in my daily activities. It has been over 24 hours now and I'm still feeling the hurt. 

Despite the lack of foresight on my part, the trip overall was a success. Johnny made a lot of good choices when he could have done otherwise, and with constant encouragement I am proud to say that we didn't have even a single meltdown! I'm glad I decided to take him again this year, even though Steve couldn't come.