Monday 10th January
Today was not a great day mentally or physically. I was awake to say goodbye to my son before going to school and my lovely wife brought me tea in bed - then I must have dozed off and didn’t wake up again until gone 11am. From here on in there was a sense of ‘down’ about the whole day. Whether it was the wasted morning, the weather or the fact that it was Monday, who knows? It could have just been that I am recovering from an operation and there are going to be days like this. I’ve tried to be pretty positive and realistic so far, and writing this blog has helped, so today was bit of a blow but one from which to learn and move on.
Monday was also the first physio session since leaving the hospital. To be fair it went pretty well and I’m at least where I should be at this stage but I can’t get over how painful and restricted certain movements still are. All of the exercises are tough and painful but there is one movement I am really struggling with at the moment which is lifting my leg. It’s not until you can’t do something that you realise how often you actually do it. It’s the action required to put your foot up on a foot stall or when you swing over into bed or just bring your feet in to sit in a car. At the moment this causes me the most pain and discomfort and as well as that I find that I just don’t seem to have the strength to do it. I think that this is thing I am finding hardest to get to grips with - the pain I can put up with but the lack of power/strength is troubling me. I have been told it is normal and I follow numerous sites with other people‘s experiences and I know I am not alone.
Another thing I noticed was how swollen my leg is from just above the knee right down to the ankle along with some rather spectacular bruising which is runnning down the inside of my leg and alone the sole of my foot (photo attached - sorry but it‘s worry seeing. I’ve left it black and white to make it slightly more palatable!!). Again, I have been told it‘s nothing to worry about but the swelling definitely impinges on the ability to move and the bruising looks pretty grim.
Anyway, I am not the only one and I mustn’t grumble, just chalk it up to experience and move on. The overriding thought throughout is that everything I do is a step closer to full recovery.
I would like to take this opportunity to say a huge thank you to my loving and lovely family who are dealing with their own day to day stuff as well as making sure I am ok xx
So that’s the first week out if the way, in the words of Yazz “The only way is up”….
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