Home improvement

It's 5 days since I came home, and of course the change is sheer relief from the human point of view.  I think it is helping the leg to heal too, but without ever actually thinking it would be easier, the path to recovery has turned out to be more tricky than I expected.

The first couple of days were crowded.  First a visit to the doctor to sort out the mild chaos of my medication, finally eliminating the codeine.  Dr Cayla was full of praise for the surgery of Prof Canovas - 'you had the best in the region, you know' he said.  Then I took off my bandages and had a proper shower, confirming that everything  had healed nicely on the outside at least.  And also, only 24 hours after my arrival, the new exercise bike came.  I can now sit and pedal and watch telly as often as I like, currently 3 x 12 minutes a day but it will rapidly increase.  A big saving over the monthly gym sub I've just cancelled, and for the moment a huge advantage since I can't drive to the other side of town every day.

So I'm sinking gratefully back into normal life, sleeping better (in a bed propped at the foot by 2 planks to raise my legs - like the compression stocking I still wear most of the time it will help the swelling to go down - and I'm setting up regular sessions of physio at the local practice.  I knew where it was - friends have been there in the past - but had no idea what a busy place it was  inside.  I had my first session on Wed with a pleasant and competent woman who turns out to be of Belgian origin, and as with so many physio sessions I rediscovered pain I had forgotten, as usual mainly in straightening the leg.  But afterwards of course I had much less pain.

Over the week, the pain has gone up and down, and often I've more discomfort caused by swelling than actual pain, but at the end of the day and particularly if I forget my evening painkillers I get all sorts of tweaks and twinges.  I just think the graph is going slowly in the right direction.  Meanwhile I've been happy to get back to cooking at least one meal, and to doing some of the regular house and garden chores.  For the lawn mowing I now wear M's bee suit as a precaution: the bees once got really cross when I mowed too close and I ended up with 2 or 3 stings and a bad dose of recurring childhood phobia, but this time, earlier in the morning before the sun warmed them up, they really did not apy much attention.  Happy Easter everyone!