So I have been out of hospital for a week and it’s time for a dressing change. This in itself would have been fine any day up to today because today I started to get feeling back in my lower leg. Now when I say ‘get feeling back’ I am referring to the fact that in order to do the surgery it was necessary to sever one of the nerves in my leg when making the incision and as anyone who has experienced nerve regret will know ‘feeling’ is simply a euphemism to giant, persistent, soul destroying (if you let it) pain!
For those of you lucky enough not to have experienced the delight of re-growth, which incidentally is a very very good (if painful) sign I will attempt to describe it. Imagine if you will the worst sunburn you have had (admittedly I have not had too many but I didn’t enjoy the ones I did have), add the feeling of a grazed knee (something I am very familiar with), plus multiple wasp stings (which I experienced when a confused wasp flew up my jeans leg-possibly seeking revenge for the wasp that drowned in my beer can and ended up being unceremoniously spat onto the grass) and finally stick a layer of bleeding eczema on top. Now this is the feeling of nerve damage which is being tightly compressed by a soft felt brace. If you are foolish enough to allow the affected area to experience fresh air or any form or physical contact you will feel the joy of an added layer of pain akin to burning pins and needles.
However, having described the agony of nerve re-growth I have to say it is a really really good sign. The fact that one week later I am beginning to have feeling means that there is the possibility that a year from now I will have full feeling in my leg (as opposed to the partial feeling and continuing agony of nerve damage (a watered down version of the above affected especially by rough fabrics and cold weather). So all in all I would say this is a successful day. I have two healing blisters on the back on my leg, two happy looking wounds, reduced swelling and the beginnings of the bruising appearing. I also for the first time managed to walk with no crutches and cook birthday cake using one crutch. I would say this has been a pretty successful day, but I still don’t like the nerve pain!
(Hopefully the sticker chart really will make an appearance tomorrow; I was distracted by baking, sewing the arm of a cow and sorting out books for Kenneth the Kindle Keyboard 3G, Free 3G + Wi-Fi, 3G Works Globally, 6" E Ink Display
/Kindle, Wi-Fi, 6" E Ink Display
(mine is a cross between the 2 keyboard but no 3G today!)
For those of you lucky enough not to have experienced the delight of re-growth, which incidentally is a very very good (if painful) sign I will attempt to describe it. Imagine if you will the worst sunburn you have had (admittedly I have not had too many but I didn’t enjoy the ones I did have), add the feeling of a grazed knee (something I am very familiar with), plus multiple wasp stings (which I experienced when a confused wasp flew up my jeans leg-possibly seeking revenge for the wasp that drowned in my beer can and ended up being unceremoniously spat onto the grass) and finally stick a layer of bleeding eczema on top. Now this is the feeling of nerve damage which is being tightly compressed by a soft felt brace. If you are foolish enough to allow the affected area to experience fresh air or any form or physical contact you will feel the joy of an added layer of pain akin to burning pins and needles.
However, having described the agony of nerve re-growth I have to say it is a really really good sign. The fact that one week later I am beginning to have feeling means that there is the possibility that a year from now I will have full feeling in my leg (as opposed to the partial feeling and continuing agony of nerve damage (a watered down version of the above affected especially by rough fabrics and cold weather). So all in all I would say this is a successful day. I have two healing blisters on the back on my leg, two happy looking wounds, reduced swelling and the beginnings of the bruising appearing. I also for the first time managed to walk with no crutches and cook birthday cake using one crutch. I would say this has been a pretty successful day, but I still don’t like the nerve pain!
(Hopefully the sticker chart really will make an appearance tomorrow; I was distracted by baking, sewing the arm of a cow and sorting out books for Kenneth the Kindle Keyboard 3G, Free 3G + Wi-Fi, 3G Works Globally, 6" E Ink Display
/Kindle, Wi-Fi, 6" E Ink Display
(mine is a cross between the 2 keyboard but no 3G today!) 
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