How and why to ignore post-operative rehabilitation instructions

The experience of getting into your car after being discharged from a hospital following major surgery has to be one of life's greatest pleasures. Sure, I was in the passenger seat and Maribel was driving but it still felt good to be out of that place and in my own car. I wasn't driving because my patient's information packet said I couldn't drive for four weeks. Well, the fact is I could have driven myself home. I had no trouble getting from the wheel chair into the car. My legs and arms worked perfectly. I could turn my head in either direction. My chest and legs were a bit sore but no more than had I been weight lifting at a gym. Maribel drove for the next three weeks, but only because I enjoyed being able to look at things as a passenger rather than having my eyes glued to the road as a driver. But the point is I could have driven on day one. 

Two weeks after returning home the grass looked like a wheat field and really needed cutting. I was about to call the lawn service I had used when I had my knee replacement when two neighbors, without telling me in advance cut the grass. A week later when the grass needed cutting again I briefly thought about calling the lawn service, but I felt good enough to at least try a portion it myself, sort of as an experiment. We have a 21" self-propelled walk behind mower and 3/4 of an acre with hills. My body was telling me I could do it. Maribel was seriously threatening to call 911 if I even attempted to start the mower. It took me two hours rather than the usual 1 to cut the front portion and I stopped to rest several times, but I did it with no negative results. My legs cramped up a bit in bed that night and I woke up mildly sore the next morning, but not sore enough to stop me from cutting the back yard that day, which took me 3 hours with several breaks. So approximately four weeks after a triple bypass I had mowed my lawn. The following is from one of the patient instruction forms I was given.

FOR THE FIRST 3 TO 4 MONTHS

"During the healing process it is important that you don't do any heavy activity or any physical lifting, pushing,or pulling over 5 pounds for 4 to 6 weeks and not over 10 pounds for 6 months as this can interrupt the healing of the breast bone. We also do not want you to do any physical activities that could harm the healing process such as riding a motorcycle, weight lifting, lifting or pushing any heavy equipment as in gardening equipment, no pushing lawn mowers, no lifting children, suitcases, laptops, groceries or animals, do not try to open a stuck window, no vacuuming, or pulling wet clothing out of a washer. No smoking while you are healing as smoking can also delay the healing process. No driving while you are taking pain meds and until you have come in for your first post op appointment."

AFTER 3 TO 4 MONTHS

"After the end of the 3 to 4 months period you may return back to your normal activities. For your entire body to be back to feeling normal it can take up to 8 months to a year. It is normal to have some aches and pains at times during the healing process. Time will heal your body."

I think I violated every single prohibition in the first 3 weeks with the exception of lifting kids and taking wet clothing out of the washer. These instructions would pretty much make a couch potato out of anyone for at least 3 months. Think about the lawn mowing restriction. If I had used a lawn service for 3 months, the cost would have been $50 x 12 weeks, or $600, plus I would have lost the benefit of the exercise, which spurred me on to push myself further.

Another form said to walk frequently during the day in the house, suggesting distances of 20' to start and adding a few more feet every time. I was walking 3 laps around the perimeter of the house on the 2nd day home, and after the first week Maribel and I walked the 1.5 miles of the Fort Oglethorpe trail non-stop. Had I followed the instructions I would have missed the new blossoms on the trees and bushes and the singing of the birds.

Without going into further examples, suffice it to say that I was basically living my normal life within 4 weeks of the bypass. That gave me at least 2 months of quality living that I would not have had if I had followed the instructions. And think about this. I will soon be 80. Those same instruction forms are given to a guy who maybe needed a bypass at 40. How much faster than me could he recover if he pushed himself ?

The whole point of this post is that I believe that by pushing my body and listening to what it told me, I was able to speed up the rehab process and begin enjoying a normal life much faster than if I had followed the instructions. And at my age, or any age, those extra weeks matter.