Thawing Out Nicely Now!

16 days after surgery and although still swollen my right leg is beginning to thaw nicely.

I started to notice yesterday that it was looking less like the leg of a Michelin Man as I could gradually discern a knee reappearing followed by the top of a calf. At the same time the feeling of having a 2 inch strap tied tightly around the middle of my right foot started to ease up.

When I wriggle toes and tap my right foot it stretches things that have seem fixed and begins to send messages of mild pain, that have so far been absent, to my brain.

Instead if being interpreted as a useful indicator to stop doing something this pain bores right through to my conscious thoughts as "ooh - that's good .... some feelings at last, its good to feel alive".

I realise this might sound somewhat masochistic but I remember having similar thoughts as a child on a frosty morning when the tips of my exposed ears would feel like they had been stiffened by an iron rod. Even more extreme was the thawing out process on Saturday evenings in Winter when after working all day on local market stalls and having loaded up unsold produce I would stow away trestle tables, canes and tarpaulins ready for next time. Even with gloves the ends of my fingers would turn white. They stayed that way during the bike ride home.

Even with my hands around a hot mug of tea the finger ends stayed white. but by the end of Dr Who however, as the blood once more seemed to pump through them, I experienced a numb sort of pain that felt like the bones had been replaced with iron bars.

That feeling is once again returning to parts of my right leg and I am experiencing similar emotions now. There is a reawakening of numb pain and at the same time a welcome that things are getting back to normal. I know that in time , perhaps another week, the messages to my brain will be of the boring "everything OK" nature that makes the conscious mind forget about the existence of various appendages. But for now its a case of "ooh!" allied to "its good to be alive" - Thawing nicely in other words.