On Mama’s second day of recovery from her shoulder surgery we began to get a rhythm going with hourly events.
Recovery Training
Each hour she trains her lungs with a spirometer, a small plastic handheld medical device used to help expand the lungs after surgery.
She breathes in constantly for as long as she can to get this green disc to hold its position in the center of the device.
Her next exercise involves squeezing an orange training ball attachment on her sling, 5 times each hour, or 10 times every two hours.
She also gets up out of her sofa-bed throughout the day and takes walks to keep her blood flowing and prevent blood clots from forming.
She can walk around the house or go outside if it’s not too hot. I do worry about her going up and down the stairs, since her sense of balance is off from the lost use of her right arm stuck in a sling.
Breakfast
A bowl of vanilla yogurt with masticated raspberries and homemade granola.
A simple breakfast to start the day and put something in her stomach before taking her medicine. Mama has many pills to take, and her appetite hadn’t quite returned yet, so something sweet, but nutritional was in order.
Lunch
For lunch, I used some leftover rice, the kimchi we bought from our local Korean grocery, Han Ah Rum, and some sliced paprika from the basement freezer to make Kimchi Fried Rice.
I also prepared a dish of steamed vegetables.
In a shallow saucer, I placed a steamer and filled the vessel with water up to the holes. I set the stove to High heat and then started cutting up several veggies from the fridge.
- Green beans from our garden
- Bok choy
- Carrots
- Celery stalk
- Kale, leaves and stem
- And some cabbage leaves
I tossed all the veg in the saucer and put a lid on it, turning the heat down to Medium as it had begun to boil at this point. I let them steam for about 15 minutes and then transferred the contents of the streamer to a wok.
I then cooked the veggies in the wok for a few minutes with some olive oil and added pepper and pink salt to taste. After it was done, It went in the blue bowl.
With the wok cleared, I started heating the sliced paprika. They were still partially frozen and had some moisture from the ice. This paired well with the kimchi which had some spicy juices. I heated the two items in the wok for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
I heated the precooked leftover rice in a bowl in the microwave with some water in the bottom. This got the rice back to its hit fluffy texture. I then added the rice to the wok and mixed it in until all the granules were dyed red from the kimchi.
Removing the fried rice from the fire, I placed it in the beige bowl. I placed a single slice of sharp New York cheddar in a small bowl and put rice on one side and veggies on the other and served it up to mama.
She suggested it needed some soy sauce, but was pleased with the meal otherwise. I had forgotten to salt the fried rice.
Dinner
Mama slept through the dinner period and I just had some peanut butter and jam on an English muffin and an apple for my evening meal.
Recovery from surgery is an ordeal for the body and mama will need lots of rest to heal.
