Just under five weeks ago, on January 31, 2023, I was rolled into OR 5 at 0730 at the University of Chicago Hospital in anticipation of open heart surgery.
My surgeon, who was born and raised in Roma, Italia, greeted me in Italian. In 1986, while my surgeon was in college in Roma, I too was in college in Roma at Loyola University of Chicago’s Rome Center.
“He’s a Roman and we will take good care of him today,” my surgeon informed the ten to twelve people in that OR preparing for my surgery.
That’s about all that I can remember.
After that, recovery and convalescence became my primary focus. The first twenty-four hours post-surgery were among the worst of my life. Oh, the pain! I was discharged only three days post the surgery. Getting home to rest was a great moment in my recovery. The first week was a bit tough.
My parents, to flew in from Florida, left. Then a couple of weeks later my daughter returned to her home in Seattle, today my wife goes back to work and I find. myself alone for the first time in five weeks.
Today, I return to my counseling office and yesterday actually returned to the radio/podcast studio. Other than some technical issues with new equipment, performing the radio showgram was awesome. It was great to get back to what I love to do and enjoy doing. That’s recovery.
Things are getting back to normal or at least routine. Post open heart and a five-week recovery….nothing can ever be “normal” again. And I don’t want it to be normal. I want change, change in attitude, change in approach, change in outlook. That’s growth. That’s development.
Recovery has gone better than I could have ever imagined, well, I did imagine that I would recover and heal quickly and like a pro. And I did. I worked hard to get back into “playing shape” to ensure that when I sat back down on the therapy couch I would have the cognitive and physical stamina and energy to do what it is that I do. And the same holds true for the production of media mayhem for the mental wellness of which I write, host, and produce.
Time to get back at it and ratchet things up a notch.
The Bob Zima Blog 