11 March - Glorious warm afternoon for a quiet drive with Mary to the source of the river Lez just a few km away from the clinic. To be explored when I can walk a bit more, but for the moment some good photographic moments.
12 March - So many kind a helpful comments about not overdoing things following my post two days ago. But although you can't be monitored 24/7, I do find myself in a fortunate place here, both closely checked by nurses and physios several times a day, but also encouraged to push the limits safely. So despite my (long-time, habitual) lack of sleep I am still in a very good situation, up to over 95° knee bend, with little pain except when those boundaries are being pushed, and my physio says I should be on an exercise bike next week. So I am happy with the long haul, but also content that the progress continues.
14 March - Great day at home yesterday with Mary. Delighted when neighbour Michel came to greet me as soon as we arrived - he had recovered at the same clinic a year or two ago. Christine also dropped by for apéro! Delicious meals and enjoyable rugby in front of a good fire. Unbelievably slow journey back in the rain after dark, thanks to a tractor without rear lights or number plate that crawled 10 km along the road till we got past at a roundabout!
Today I watched the 3rd rugby international with friends Michel and Colette (fellow chorists) at their home nearby in Prades de Lez. Happily France beat Italy though the match was uninspired.
15 March - My second full week of treatment starts this morning. All seems to be going well, and if only I could find a good place to put my leg in bed at night I'd be laughing...
Funny thing, this recovery lark. Not a bad night, not much pain over the weekend, then on the couch under the expert hands of Benoit this morning everything hurt like mad. All calmed down now after a good spell of ice.
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Daily life begins early here at the Clinique Ster. The first nurse comes in with medicines soon after 6 am though you don't really need to get moving till they take blood pressure and tempreature after 7. Breakfast is before 8, a tray in your room with hot water for coffee, orange juice and bread and jam ( a croissant at the weekend), then it's time to get your dressing changed at the nursing station along the corridor (twice a week).
Physiotherapy begins after 9 downstairs in the exercise rooms - first a 20 minute 'mobilisation' session one-to-one with a student therapist called Benoit, who is young, tall, serious and sensitive. Lots of massage and movement of the kneecap, but also testing limits and flexibility. Straightening the leg is still the most difficult and painful thing for me, Then 20 minutes of electric shock therapy with 4 electrodes attached to the thigh.
After that, ice, a constant throughout the day. During therapy times you go to the ice suite and are provided with frozen gel bags to drape over the leg for 15-20 minutes. At lunchtime and after 5 you fill your own rubber ice bags from a big tub by the nursing station. I think one would be advised to keep ice on at night if only it did not slip down the bed and end up cooling bits of you that don't need it! But it is a great help most of the time, and when I was watching rugby at the weekend I had an ice pack (or, at home, a bag of frozen peas) on my knee all the time. The morning ends with a collective gym session, gradually learning how to use the knee properly again, under good supervision from one of the therapists who take turns to lead the groups.
The afternoons begin with a second 'mobilisation', manipulation by the physio in charge of your case (mine is called Patrice, and he turns out to be a guitarist). He probes (and therefore sometimes hurts) more than Benoit and his job is to test limits each day and to try and push me a bit further day by day.
The building is at first sight modern but must be well over 20 years old - it is certainly on the 2002 IGN map of the area. In any case, as I've said already, it was built on a hillside with scant regard for disabled access - even the ramps from car parks to paths have been bodged in with asphalt after the initial construction. But once inside, lifts and corridors are well arranged with plenty of space for wheelchairs. The whole building is built in a ziggurat format, with the treatment spaces in interconnected square blocks to one side. Like many such places, spacious corridors have become a little cluttered with spare beds and trolleys!
Rooms are mostly shared, but as I write I have just been allocated a single room. I'm quite sorry to part from my companion, a man of my age called Jacques, but in any case he is just about to leave having completed his shoulder rééducation. I am a more fitful sleeper than most others I can think of, so I have reason to know that he is one of the least noisy sleepers I am likely to come across, and I'm relieved not to have to adjust to a new neighbour in a shared room. I moved to room 220 today, Tuesday 17 March. It looks directly out on the garden;
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