Day 6 - A day out.

Day 6 - Saturday 25 February 2017

Today my wife took me for a drive to the Dandenongs (a range of forested hills on the edge of Melbourne). We found a picnic tables for a couple of hours, had lunch and enjoyed the trees and breeze. After having spent the past 5 days stuck in the apartment I had been going quietly bonkers - it was good to get out.

Nothing to say about yesterday (other than it was my wife's birthday) - much the same as Day 4.

I notice elsewhere that people have been given a big boot for their foot. I asked about this at the time of surgery and was told no boot - I have to avoid putting weight on the foot and a boot might tempt me to do so - then I was handed crutches.

I hate the crutches. It is very difficult to carry anything while using them (I hook a bag over the hand grip) and I find there is considerable stress on my thumbs when the weight comes off my feet. Hence I have quite sore thumb joints at the moment.

The have also developed some lower back pain. My lower back has been troublesome since I took a nasty fall while running in wet weather, but I manage it with exercise and stretching. I don't usually run - I don't like it as a form of exercise and this just confirmed for me how hazardous it can be. Usually my back gives me no trouble other than the odd tweak. However, since the cheilectomy it has been quite painful at times. I have put it down to the twisting of my spine due to moving awkwardly while favouring the injured foot, together with unusual stresses involved in getting up and down. I am now making an effort to avoid twisting, which seems to be helping.