{"id":31222,"date":"2026-11-14T12:52:30","date_gmt":"2026-11-14T18:52:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brubakers.us\/?p=31222"},"modified":"2026-11-14T12:52:30","modified_gmt":"2026-11-14T18:52:30","slug":"small-birthday-dinner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brubakers.us\/?p=31222","title":{"rendered":"Small Birthday Dinner"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>We had a small impromptu dinner at the Belmont with the Terneses on my actual birthday this year. It was just 10 days after my surgery so Brian and I didn&#8217;t make any plans. We didn&#8217;t know how I would be feeling. That same week Susie suggested dinner and, since we didn&#8217;t already have anything going on, we set a date. <\/p>\n<p><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/ching\/55624144239\/in\/datetaken\/\"  title=\"Untitled\"><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/55624144239_77d438f1c2.jpg\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" alt=\"Untitled\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Brian got me my favorite cake from Whole Foods. <\/p>\n<p><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/ching\/55622488888\/in\/datetaken\/\"  title=\"Untitled\"><img src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/55622488888_7a57930679_c.jpg\" width=\"500\" alt=\"Untitled\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>I don&#8217;t want to jinx myself but my recovery has been pretty smooth. I had surgery on Tuesday, October 20, and within a week, I was already off pain meds. For pain management, the doctor prescribed me ibuprofen and oxycodone and I didn&#8217;t use them. I just used our normal, over-the-counter Tylenol. I started taking Tylenol at 6 AM on Wednesday morning and took them every six hours that first day. The next day, I took Tylenol three times. Friday, I took Tylenol later in the day and only took it twice. I started the Tylenol later and later in the day to the point where I was only taking the pain medicine once a day. I think Tuesday, October 27, was the last day I took any Tylenol. <\/p>\n<p>I didn&#8217;t think I would be feeling as well as I did only a week later. We didn&#8217;t make any plans because we thought I would still be feeling pretty bad and not up for doing much of anything but I felt fine so we figured it was safe to go to dinner. <\/p>\n<p>I still had cramps that would come and go and my abdomen still felt funny whenever Brian would hit bumps in the road while driving but I wasn&#8217;t in much pain overall. If anything it was mostly discomfort so I didn&#8217;t feel the need to continue taking Tylenol. The cramps would come and go and were worst when I had to go to the bathroom but they weren&#8217;t unbearable. I also had gas trapped in my belly from the surgery that was still trying to escape of my belly felt funny for several days. <\/p>\n<p>The things I read recommended walking around the house and so I did that but then we progressed to walking in our neighborhood. The first time I walked outside, Brian and I only walked a third of a mile. The next day two-thirds of a mile and the third day I was able to walk a mile. Granted the mile took 30 minutes but it felt good to be able to do it. <\/p>\n<p>By the time my two-week followup appointment came around on November 5, I was feeling almost normal. I still couldn&#8217;t run or jump because my belly still felt funny (probably from my organs shifting and settling in the cavity vacated by my giant uterus) but I felt fine other than that. I told Brian I thought there might be something wrong with me because I don&#8217;t feel like there&#8217;s anything wrong with me, which didn&#8217;t really make any sense. We were both baffled but Brian said this is a testament to the my doctor doing a great job with the surgery. <\/p>\n<p>At my two-week followup, my doctor released me to return to work the following Monday, November 9&#8211;work from home for the first week and then back to my normal hybrid (at home Mondays and Fridays; and in the office Tuesday through Thursday) work schedule the following week. The doctor still wanted me to lay off pickleball and Zumba until after my six-week followup which is not until December 7. Let me tell you, I am so ready!<\/p>\n<p>Ereymi is covering my Zumba classes until the end of the year but I told her that I would attend class as soon as my doctor releases me. I am counting the days. Thank you so much to everyone who has checked in on me, prayed, and wished me well. I appreciate all of your kindness, thoughts, and prayers. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We had a small impromptu dinner at the Belmont with the Terneses on my actual birthday this year. It was just 10 days after my surgery so Brian and I didn&#8217;t make any plans. We didn&#8217;t know how I would be feeling. That same week Susie suggested dinner and, since we didn&#8217;t already have anything [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10],"tags":[115,2498,3906,3907],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brubakers.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31222"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brubakers.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brubakers.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brubakers.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brubakers.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=31222"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/brubakers.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31222\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31233,"href":"https:\/\/brubakers.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31222\/revisions\/31233"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brubakers.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=31222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brubakers.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=31222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brubakers.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=31222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}