After a fairly uneventful night's sleep I spent the first 30 minutes awake waiting for a painful (and stiff) knee to settle down. After 30 minutes or so of gentle stretching - helped by my morning tablets which included some painkillers -, the pain subsided.
The District Nurse called to check on the incision dressing. It was a different District Nurse and one I have not seen before. She was however accompanied by the same trainee as on Thursday. No sooner had they entered than the phone rang and an Anaemia Nurse from the kidney institute of the local hospital rang. She asked how I was feeling as the last blood count they had (taken while still in hospital) had my Haemoglobin level as 7.8. I mentioned that I had some blood taken the previous Tuesday and was due to have some more on Thursday.
Having negotiated on the relative urgency of booking an ambulance for me to attend the clinic for an iron infusion - it was agreed to wait the outcome of the next blood tests provided they included Serum Ferritin and Iron Profiles and the results were copied to the Renal Team.
The 2 Nurses and I then made our way to the bathroom. I got out of the power chair and used the zimmer frame to stand up and drop my trousers and boxer shorts. To my surprise this was met by appreciative "ooh"s. Realising this was unlikely to have directed at my physique or any part of it suddenly coming into view, I joked that dropping my trousers doe snot always have that effect. They were in fact admiring both the length and neatness of the incision line and the suturing before commenting that the surgeon obviously took his time not to leave a nasty scar.
In the middle of the afternoon my wife dropped in for a few minutes and we tried to see if I could manage to cross one threshold and make my way into the conservatory. Although the floor is level there is a metal ledge for the door to locate against when closed that would mean lifting my filleted right leg and right foot about 4 inches off the ground.
In the event this was managed and what is more we also managed the return trip. I still can not contemplate doing this myself without anyone standing by in case of problems, but it was a start. It is also one step nearer to becoming mobile outside of the house.
The longest journey has now begun with that single step.
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