Top surgery diary week 2: My follow-up appointment went well, so I was able to get my drains taken out before flying back to LA. Pain has been manageable, to the point that I've been doing without painkillers for the last few days, and on the whole I think my fatigue and muscle weakness have been receding at a good rate. Sleeping on my back has been rougher this week, though--I think the pain meds made me drowsy enough to get to sleep without much trouble, but without them, the back pain and general alertness that comes from sleeping in a position that my brain registers as "time to get up! also think about your tummy and how you might be hungry, kind of?" has been keeping me fairly sleep deprived. I've tried a few different pillow positions without much success. An unexpected heat wave in LA hasn't helped. At least I don't have to go the gym--working out with this kind of fatigue is a recipe for injury.

The low sodium diet has also been absolutely nasty--it's hard to eat enough when everything tastes like cardboard!--but as of this writing, I've got less than three days left, and for my last few meals, I finally landed on a recipe that doesn't suffer too much from the omission of salt. At least I can still have coffee!