Post surgery fatigue

[Dr Ken]

Any ideas on how to minimize fatigue, other than the obvious of scheduling more resort time.

We didn't get to have a honeymoon when we got married, because my wife was scheduled for chemo the next day. She had two major surgeries (removing her stomach, gall bladder, and several feet of intestines) and was hospitalized for 40 days.

While in the hospital, we made plans for a honeymoon at the only place in the world where we knew we could have fun regardless of how well she is. We hoped she would be reasonably well in time for our first anniversary. We leave in 11 days!

She is fine without a wheelchair now; she can walk a mile without difficulty. She's still on lots of medicine but no longer has a feeding tube.

To pamper ourselves, we're staying in a honeymoon room (at concierge level) in Wilderness Lodge. We only have a 6-day ticket for a 10-day vacation. We plan to visit the parks most mornings plus three evening visits (wishes, illuminations, and Fantasmic). The remaining time, we have no plans. She can laze by the pool or nap in our room. (I might go to some parks alone.)

I looked into GAC cards but nothing seems to be available that would help her.

Any ideas for reducing stress/anxiety more than I've prepared?

PS: every test has come back showing cancer free!

 

[Goofygirl17]

I don't have any advice but wanted to say Hooray for cancer free tests!

Enjoy your vacation!

 

[Cheshire Figment]

Seriously I would consider renting an ECV from off-site. Maybe she can walk a mile without a problem, but once around the World Showcase Lagoon Promenade is over 1¼ miles, and that is without actually going into any country. And the corridors in WL can be very long.

A GAC will not work as it does not eliminate the distance between attractions. And most queues do not have benches. Also, for example, the queues for Soarin' and Safari are each over ¼ mile long and they have no benches.

 

[joanchris]

I agree with the suggestion of renting an ECV. For shorter trips into the parks you may be able to leave it at the hotel, but for AK and Epcot, even if you're just going to Epcot for Dinner and Illuminations, it's a long walk.
Congrats on being cancer Free!!! Have a great trip!

 

[FortForever]

Congratulations on being cancer free!!

I agree with those that say rent an off-site ECV. Just GETTING to the parks seems like it involves more than a mile of walking. On a recent trip, I logged over 55 miles on my fitbit in six days.

Tell your wife to please not be embarrassed about an ECV. Many, many people that look healthy need them for invisible disabilities. I had to rent one last time we went due to temporary foot problems. Despite looking healthy enough to walk, people were nothing but kind to me.

 

[Dr Ken]

Seriously I would consider renting an ECV from off-site. Maybe she can walk a mile without a problem, but once around the World Showcase Lagoon Promenade is over 1¼ miles, and that is without actually going into any country. And the corridors in WL can be very long.

My mom and my sister use ECVs when at WDW. So, i'm familiar with them. That option is one of the reasons that we picked WDW for our honeymoon. (When we made our honeymoon reservations, my wife was still in intensive care on an IV.)

Personally, I hate getting ECVs to/from the parks. Do you think we would have a reasonable chance of success renting on-site since it will be off-season (Apr 24. - May 3)?

Regular wheelchairs as a backup would be fine, if we're likely to get an ECV most days. We'd always be renting either early (rope drop) or late (after supper).

 

[Dr Ken]

I don't have any advice but wanted to say Hooray for cancer free tests!

Enjoy your vacation!

Thanks! With how tough this year has been, knowing that we beat the cancer really helps. I survived the ordeal of my first wife dying (congestive heart failure), I can't bear to go through that again any time soon!

 

[cobright]

This may sound a little odd, but bear with me (yes that has become my catchphrase but please don't mistake it as not being serious about this advice).

Liquor. Just a bit at a time over the whole day. I know; it sounds like madness. It's not. From the beginning of modern medicine liquor has been used to treat this EXACT condition. Here's a legitimate scientific investigation: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3117141/

Liquor is the perfect food for a person recovering from surgery, it is metabolized completely and provides more energy by volume than either sugars or starches. Even in low concentrations which do not cause intoxication it has a calming effect while at the same time stimulates the bodies various systems.

It's not just an archaic medical throwback. Doctors are still standing by the beneficial health effects of moderate alcohol consumption. As in this 'Voice of Amarica' news program: http://learningenglish.voanews.com/content/medical-experts-debate-value-of-alcohol-use/1534297.html

Before I came back to the states I spent a long time recovering in a German hospital and I would not have made it without my ration of whiskey. Three or four sips, just sips at a time I'm not talking about getting bombed, and I could consider eating; I could get to sleep; could concentrate on what people were saying to me. I performed so much better during my physical therapy that my doctor codified my liquor ration on my chart. Also, I used far less narcotic pain killers and eased off those completely without complications when the time was right.

I'm just putting it out there, it's not for everyone.

 

[Dr Ken]

It's certainly worth trying. Thanks!

It can't be worse than the narcotics she's taking now or the medical marijuana she might need to take. According to her doctors, it's all trial and error. They can't predict what will or won't work for any specific patient.

Personally, I think ice cream is a great source of calories. But, she has real trouble trying to eat it. Not something I can readily understand! (grin)

 

[WheeledTraveler]

Renting around rope-drop time you generally should be okay for getting an ECV. I would expect it to be harder in the evenings. The other thing is that ECVs rented in the park are substantially more expensive than they are rented offsite. You could probably get a week-long rental for the cost of 3 days of ECV renting at the parks. As far as I know, you wouldn't get a discount from WDW if you only rented for the evening, either. While it can be a hassle (I've done WDW with a non-folding wheelchair and commuted using a powerchair on NYC busses for a year so I really do understand that part), it may be worth it for the cost and just the convenience. If you rent offsite that means you'd also have it if you wanted to go to DTD for an evening, for example. Since you're planning on taking it easy and slow, you may find the WDW transportation less of a hassle with an ECV compared to if you're touring to tour and try to fit everything in.

If at any point in the parks your wife needs a break, but doesn't feel she needs to go back to the room, she can lie down in First Aid to get some rest. I don't know if they have a limit on how long you can stay, but I definitely know people who've spent more than an hour lying down/napping there.

Congrats on your wife being cancer free. Hopefully the cancer has given up and won't try to invite itself back again.

 

[cobright]

Another thought, and I'm just going from my own experience here ...

Instead of hitting the parks in the morning with the assumption that when you guys get winded you'll head back to the resort, try flipping the schedule.

I mean wake up, eat, enjoy the resort, eat again, freshen up after lunch, then at 2:00pm or so, head to the park.

Couple things at work here. Sleep = 8 (ish) hours of not eating. So you have breakfast and rush to get as much in the park done before you get too tired and you never really recover fully from your sleep. I know it seems like sleep is such a good thing but it's a long time to go without fuel. So you get two full meals in before you hit the park.

Then, you have much less congestion on the trip there (important if you are in a scooter (or whatever they call them now). By 3:00pm the heat of the day will be waning as will the crowds.

So now you enjoy the park and when exhaustion sets in, enjoy a nice sit down dinner. If you don't get your wind back, leave at normal park closing. If you do, stay for EMH (if available).

Just thinking out loud. By the time I was walking again I hated tiring out, but I hated being surrounded by the same scenery all day too.

 

[Dr Ken]

Another thought, and I'm just going from my own experience here ...

Instead of hitting the parks in the morning with the assumption that when you guys get winded you'll head back to the resort, try flipping the schedule.

I mean wake up, eat, enjoy the resort, eat again, freshen up after lunch, then at 2:00pm or so, head to the park.

That's always an option. But, we're going to try for rope drop on the first day and see what happens.

I'm worried that we might have too much waiting in lines in the afternoon. Also, at 2pm getting an ECV might be a problem.

The CL lounge opens for breakfast at 6:30am and is literally across the hall from the honeymoon rooms. MK EMH opens at 8am. With 30 minutes for the boat, that gives us one hour for breakfast. Plus I'm planning to carry some breakfast bars in my backpack. We'll rest at 11 am for ADR and decide then if we're done for the day.

We've both been to WDW lots of times before we were married. So, 3 hours with almost no lines on 6 out of 10 days might be enough for us. The rest of the time, we can be pampered guests at WL. Not a horrible fate! (grin)

 

[Dr Ken]

Thanks everyone for your feedback!

We're leaving WDW and returning home tomorrow (Friday).

We've had a nice, relaxing honeymoon. Walking turned out not to be a problem. We never needed a wheelchair or ECV. Short days was all it took.

The weather was great all but the last two days. It rained all day yesterday and all day today. We got to all of the attractions that we wanted to see. There were never any crowds. We hardly ever waited in any lines. Most days Kathy only had enough stamina for about 5 hours per day. Because she retired early each afternoon, we never saw a parade or fireworks. But, we were able to see and do whatever we wanted using only those 40 hours (5 hours each of 8 days).

 

[SueM in MN]

Thanks everyone for your feedback!

We're leaving WDW and returning home tomorrow (Friday).

We've had a nice, relaxing honeymoon. Walking turned out not to be a problem. We never needed a wheelchair or ECV. Short days was all it took.

The weather was great all but the last two days. It rained all day yesterday and all day today. We got to all of the attractions that we wanted to see. There were never any crowds. We hardly ever waited in any lines. Most days Kathy only had enough stamina for about 5 hours per day. Because she retired early each afternoon, we never saw a parade or fireworks. But, we were able to see and do whatever we wanted using only those 40 hours (5 hours each of 8 days).

thanks for giving us a report. We don't always find out how things went.
Hope your travel home day goes as well as the rest of your trip did.

 

[spacemountain]

I'm glad to hear your trip went well and that you were able to have a nice relaxing time together. Congratulations on beating the cancer