Update, week 3 of pulmonary embolism recovery

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Third week at home, thought I'd write an update.
For the full story see:
An abrupt reminder of mortality.
Update, week 3 of pulmonary embolism recovery
Update, week 4 of pulmonary embolism recovery
Update, week 5 of pulmonary embolism recovery
Update, week 11 of pulmonary embolism recovery
Update, 12 months after pulmonary embolism
Another reminder of mortality (here we go again)

The first week

First week went to napping and reading about OpenGL, something that I've tried to write a little about on my coding page. I was really tired and out of breath. Daily walks to the closest road sign (about 200 meters) and back. Really slow walking, out of breath when going just a little too fast. Back home, had to take it easy for a period to get back to normal. Overreaching results in blood taste and pain in back/lungs.
Had a long talk with a nurse from the hospital about Xarelto and how it is supposed to work. Evidently I get a higher dose the first 3 weeks and then it lowers a bit. Really nice to talk about it with someone that actually took their time to explain.

Second week

Had a revisit at the hospital on Tuesday, really out of breath and a little blood taste walking from the parking lot to the doctors office.
Asked my doctor and he said that I should try to activate myself but keep it under the limit of overreaching. Easy to say, hard to do as that wall comes with no warning. One step is OK and the next is out of breath alternatively pain. He extended the sick leave with 1 week 100% and then another week 50%. Told me to not take amlodipine anymore and go check blood pressure again next week.
End of week 2 I managed 2 walks per day to the first road sign.

Third week

Things are starting to go better. On Monday I decided to sit on the bike (on the trainer) for 10 minutes. Really really really slow, like pulse around 100 bpm. 

Wednesday, off to check blood pressure (evidently you have to book a time slot in Sweden to do this). 120/85 compared to 160/110 when I got the medication at the hospital. So off those pills at least.

20 minutes real slow on the bike. Felt good. Not overreaching. Still tired but, a lot better. Nice to see progress.

Today (Thursday) I walked 3 times longer then last week. so 600 meters and back (3rd road sign). It wasn't fast and had to stop 200 meters from home as I felt pain and out of breath. So even slower home, but I made it. Tired now afterwards, probably lie down a bit. Lets see if there will be a penalty for this later today or tomorrow.

On Saturday Xarelto will lower to once per day, so I guess its a bit less risky to get papercuts from there on :)

Plan for next week

Back to work at 50% for one week and then 100%. At the time of writing this sounds doable, the original plan to go back 100% on week 3 would have ended in a disaster.

Why I write this

I don't write this to feel sorry for myself or whatever. Just to share an experience, maybe ease for someone else that has the same diagnosis. You don't have to be old to get this, I am myself 33. I've always categorized this as something to look forward to when I get older. But life is full of surprises and luckily we humans are capable of adapting :)

Thanks for reading