In my previous post, I shared my story about moving from Pearl Recovery Center to the Residence Inn Beverly Hills, where I stayed for five nights before flying home. This is a continuation from that story.
So I got to the Residence Inn on a Friday and stayed there until Wednesday when I returned home. I’ve talked about Friday already, but Saturday/Sunday are kind of a blur. I intentionally spent a lot of time resting any time I wanted, drinking protein shakes, doing short walks in the room and eating things I cooked in the room, although I really wasn’t hungry.
During this time, I had tiny daily goals: cook an actual breakfast, wash my hair in the sink, be up moving and around a bit. I was crabby on Saturday because it was hot, but I didn’t have much pain. Of course I complained about the drains (and I promise I will write a post about the drains next), but they really were a nuisance more than anything – not painful.
I’m sharing this information because I’ve gotten so many questions about this: In this video, I am wearing Absolute Support Compression – I love the texture and color to wear as panty hose in the future. https://amzn.to/3le6wCw
While I was still unable to shower, I was finally able to wash my hair (thank goodness!).
By Sunday the swelling in my legs was pretty impressive, even though I was wearing the compression and using a leg elevation pillow. I did several sessions of therapy activities, like foot exercises, legs on the wall, and my version of Manual Lymphatic Drainage, which I share with you below.
The rest of the stay was uneventful. My drains stopped filling Sunday evening. I casually read a great beach read called, “28 Summers.” I came out of hibernation on Monday to go to a post op visit (separate post about that). I also visited a hyperbaric chamber to speed healing, went for some walks outside in the beautiful Beverly Hills area, ventured to the free breakfast area, and on the last night, walked to Factor’s Famous Deli to enjoy an unintentionally private dining experience on their patio. I will say that the front desk people were very kind and interested in my recovery as they saw me go out for longer each day. I also think they were relieved that I wasn’t leaking juice in their lobby any more!
By the last two days, I was bored and lonely, and also considering taking another trip up to Santa Monica. Every time I’d ‘almost’ do it, I’d realize I was actually still pretty tired and decided to save it for another trip.
I will also add that I recovered alone in a hotel, and I’m kind of glad I had the weekend to do nothing on my time. I would have loved to have Rob and the kids there, but honestly I think I’d be holding them back from doing fun things in Cali, especially if everything were opened up (due to COVID). If there were there I may have gotten out and walked a little more, but I think I really needed the quiet time to recover too. It turns out that it was a gift they didn’t come. While I was in the hotel, my husband was dealing with an epic snowstorm, power outages, water outages, then a water pipe break in the most unusual storm. He’s a fantastic storyteller and has a blog about his fun times here: https://www.robohara.com/?p=12999. (PS, thanks Rob for dealing with all THAT so I could focus on getting better.)
Other items that were helpful on these big-time rest days:
Black sleep shirt: https://amzn.to/3tlPjKn
Puppy pads were super important: https://amzn.to/3tlPjKn
I WISH I’d brought a no-rinse shampoo. (I will use dry shampoo for one day and then it just makes the situation worse.): https://amzn.to/3eArryk
Book about manual lymphatic drainage: https://amzn.to/30DoLI4
