My lesson over the last few days: post-surgery fatigue can be pretty intense! And for me, it’s notably different from the fatigue that I had with chemo.

Everyone’s experience with cancer treatment varies, but for me, chemo fatigue was mental: my brain was mush and I don’t generally remember those periods. Post-surgery fatigue, by contrast, is totally physical. My mind is ready to go, but my body says: not so fast.

Yesterday, for example, was a very fatigue-y day, with four naps. These were not “fun naps” involving reading or something. No, these were full-on sleep. My big task for yesterday (interrupted by a nap, and a meal, and a period of staring out the window) was changing out all the trash bags in the house, and bringing the trash / compost / recycling outside.

The day before, I possibly pushed myself too much — I took our dog out for a walk around the neighborhood. I was completely exhausted at the end of that, and maybe (?) still recovering the next day. Or, maybe recovery from surgery isn’t always a neatly predictable thing.

Last week, I actually made up a dinner of pancakes and eggs (trust me, things were a lot harder last week … so this was an accomplishment):

I hit a wall, big time, at the end of that — actually I remember I started to fade before I had made all the pancakes; my sister Katy told me hey .. why don’t you take a break there .. but no! I stubbornly insisted on finishing up all the batter, and then collapsed into the recliner, totally spent.

Today was a pretty good day. I am listening closely to my body. I had enough energy to go out for a 15-minute walk –

That was good for the day, and the rest of my time I’ve spent active inside on various tasks. And one big afternoon nap.