You have said that you are a rabid exerciser, so you are probably very strong. Your muscles will not fail you. Your brain will be sending you some funny new messages, and you will be depending on your strength to keep you vertical...muscles good, brain not so good. The good part is your brain will quickly begin to learn, and you will quickly learn to adapt to these new messages. My surgery lasted 10 hours, and 14 hours later, a therapist strapped a heavy canvas belt around my waist, and helped me get out of bed...I was still in intensive care. She kept her arm inside the belt, across the back of my waist, and we started walking. I was tired and wonky, and she was complaining that I was walking too slowly. I am an avid exerciser also, and here is where attitude comes into play. I know you have worked yourself to exhaustion exercising but you still have two more sets to do, so you just tell yourself, "I can do this!" so you just bear down and do it! That is what I did...just get it done. Later that morning I was put in a regular room, and nobody said I had to stay in bed, so I started walking on my own. At first, I only walked in my room, but by noon, I was walking in the hall way. There are hand rails there, and the nurses said I had to use them. When they were not looking, I did not use the rails, but I got caught, and pretty soon it became a game. Everyone has a different type of recovery. Some of it is physical, and some of it is mental. Some recoveries are slow, and some are fast. Excellent health is key to your physical recovery, and mental recovery is all in your head. It is just like exercising...just do it!
James
