How To Recover From Any Surgery — My Exact Rehab Program

In the hospital:

1. Ankle Pumps
2. Diaphragmatic Breathing
3. Sit to Stand
4. Single Leg Standing (in bathroom while brushing teeth, for example)
5. Walking — assisted with walker to IV pole to independent

After discharge (with biofeedback in front of mirror when possible, in order to re-learn how I was moving and build coordination as quickly as possible):

1. Walking
2. Climbing

After 6 weeks (with biofeedback in front of mirror):

After 8 weeks (paying special attention to ‘torque’ and making sure not to push too hard):

1. Golf (1/4 swing and 7 iron & up only, to begin)
2. Paddle boarding (avoiding full torque and building gradually)
3. Beach hikes/walks (creates an unstable surface that challenges balance)
4. Long walks carrying my son (any object would work, but to create resistance)
5. Stair-climbing in sets of up/down 10x
6. Playing with my son (this required me to get on my hands and knees, on/off the floor, etc.)
7. Full workout potential, but focusing more on ‘active living’ than pushing with a workout. Resistance training will be more fully transitioned in after 4-6 months, while MED training will be the main focus until then, allowing my body to heal as the single priority, rather than breakdown and build again.

In the hospital:

1. “Drink It Down” — this is a mantra I repeated to myself, almost in song-format, while making sure to smile. The goal was to create a happy digestive state, ultimately allowing my body to accept what might be perceived as a ‘foreign object,’ since it had undergone so much trauma.
2. “Relax” — again, a powerful mantra to direct my body and give it instructions on how to react.
3. “Everything is OK” — consciously, this was a scary time. Allowing my body and brain to understand everything will be OK was a necessary step to speed up rehabilitation, as often times we forget to communicate between our brains and bodies.
4. “One Step at a Time” — these powerful, simple words were used as guidance to divide a massive goal into smaller parts and feel victory along the way.
5. “Jordan, this is for YOU.” — these tear-jerking, chill-inducing words would prepare me for war when I needed to push the hardest.

After discharge:

1. Meditation
2. 5-sense Affirmations

3. Mind Coaching

   I had the pleasure of meeting Angie Johnsey, who has served as a wonderful resource for me in “mind training.” Angie is a special and extremely talented woman, who originally was trained as a nurse, now specializes in Reiki and other forms of healing, and has an uncanny ability to detect when the “mind is playing games on you and causing stress.”

   Angie describes the mind as a character of its own, so any perspective you might be carrying that leads you to believe you are unloved, uncared for, insecure (financially or otherwise,) is only based upon a set of beliefs you’ve acquired over time. These beliefs help guide great decision making for you on a daily basis, but the mind’s statements and beliefs can also be misguiding.

   As you might imagine, recovering from any surgery, dealing with large medical bills, and various family strains of being a new father at the same time can be stressful. But, each of these stressors is also a blessing; learning how to shift my perspective, use the way my body feels as an indicator of what my mind is telling me, and learning to ‘observe’ instead of ‘react’ has been paramount in the way I feel and my recovery.

With Ileostomy:

Shake:
• Coconut milk
• Coconut water
• Whey
• MCT oil
• 2-3 frozen strawberries

Observation of Key Foods for Better Output:
• Olive Oil
• Avocado
• Grassfed beef
• Chicken
• Potatoes
• Yogurt (plain)

Veggies in small quantities:
• Spinach
• Peas (somewhat dangerous, must chew thoroughly)
• Bell peppers
• Mushrooms
• Carrots – cooked
• Sparing amounts of fruit, outside of banana.

After Ileostomy Take-down (no longer had fiber restriction in place):

1. Reduce/Eliminate (as much as possible) protein for 8 weeks.
2. Transition protein back in slowly over 2-3 weeks.
3. Focus on ‘inclusion’-based diet, rather than ‘exclusion’ — most diets focus on what you’re not allowed to eat; instead, we might want to consider eating fewer foods, but foods that are safe and healthy for us. It stands to argue that we are only intended to eat a certain # of foods. As we look around at every other animal species on Earth, each one has a select, or “inclusion-based diet,” rather than exclusion. By focusing on whole foods that were natural to my ancestors in their living environments, I feel my best. Thank you, Matt Riemann, for you have given me my health back.

Minimum of eight hours per night, even if interrupted. Meditation also became a huge part of my life, and I meditate 2x/day, for 20 minutes each. My finding is that I feel as rested as an hour and a half nap, but even more tolerance for my day.