Last Friday marked the four week anniversary since Steve’s triple bypass surgery. And we continue to be thankful that those are four weeks that we won’t have to go through again.

Now, Steve is in that awkward period of recovery where the lines of what he can do (or shouldn’t do) are a fuzzier than a couple of weeks ago.

Immediately following the surgery, there was no question that no demands should be placed on him. No one would expect someone who had just had open heart surgery to take on any of their typical daily tasks such as answering emails or cleaning the cats’ litter boxes (I really miss him doing that one).

If you’re not in a scary situation – such as when the possibility exists that things could really take a bad turn – it’s kind of a blessed place. There is freedom from knowing that you have permission to do absolutely nothing. If it wasn’t for the minor matter of excruciating pain, it would be a pretty good stay-cation.

But now that he has passed the four week mark, he is feeling some pressure both literally (he has one big zipper up the front of his chest where they cut into him) and emotionally to begin resuming a more normal routine. I have to remind myself when I come home from work and he is sitting on the couch watching COPS that it’s because he truly doesn’t have the energy to do anything else.

Steve will ask me, “I had major surgery, didn’t I?” He is asking that not because he doesn’t remember, but because he needs confirmation that there is a valid reason that his energy is spent by 2:00 in the afternoon. He is wounded – yes , he was wounded voluntarily and once he is fully recovered, he should feel better than he did before surgery – but nonetheless, his body has gone through some major rearranging. I’m sure his heart and lungs are still a little offended at the poking and prodding that they had to endure four weeks ago.

So in the meantime, we all need patience for the recovery process. It’s going to take more than a month for his wounds to heal.