Marking time

 

The surgeon said it would take at least six weeks to reach full recovery. My June 9 right lung lobectomy removed the sarcoma that had, for the third time, made an unwelcome appearance in my body. I didn't want to believe it would really take that long to feel good again, but he was right.

Today is the six-week mark, and I am finally feeling back to normal. I am walking as far as I walked before -- often clocking more than 10,000 steps a day. Most of my five small incision sites are healed, with one taking just a bit longer. Daily inhaling exercises have steadily demonstrated my increased lung capacity, almost to the point where I was before the surgery. And internal aches from where the robotic instruments roamed around my innards are mostly just a memory. I am once again comfortable in my skin. 

As I give thanks for my recovery, I can't help but recall another passage of six weeks with a much different outcome. Nine years ago, my then-husband and high school sweetheart, Tom, was well on the mend from Achilles tendon surgery, walking around our neighborhood to regain his strength, when he noticed it was getting harder to complete even short distances.  

He saw his doctor, had blood work and was subsequently hospitalized and quickly diagnosed with leukemia. For Tom, six weeks marked the time from diagnosis to death. He never left the intensive care unit where he endured heavy-duty chemotherapy, two surgeries and ultimately succumbed to the sepsis he developed in the hospital.  

Six weeks can seem a ploddingly slow time when it is marked by niggling pain and discomfort, or it can be breath-stealing fast when it defines the end of a life. 

No six-week time frame comes with guarantees -- nor can we be fully assured of what the next six hours, or days, or years will bring. But we can appreciate each day as it dawns and vow to seize its potential for good. Day by day is a good outlook, or quoting from a favorite Anne Lamott book as TC and I like to do, "bird by bird." 

Whether recovering from trauma or just continuing the journey to be our best selves, my wish is for all the best six-week periods ahead.