Spoke too soon! 😒

I woke yesterday feeling really run down again and it was a struggle to get out of bed – very similar to earlier in the week.  C checked my wound and thought it still felt hot compared to the surrounding area. I picked up a bit during the day, but found I tired very quickly – much quicker than in the last couple of days – but didn’t feel it merited a trip to ED.

This morning I had the most pain in my back than I’ve had for a few weeks, and again felt very run down. I went to physiotherapy and the physiotherapist also thought the wound felt hot.  Given that my antibiotics run out tomorrow, she advised I speak to the GP again as I might need a longer course of antibiotics.  I have an appointment with the GP tomorrow morning.

My balance is still not great, and I mentioned the “jelly-leg” seems to be getting worse rather than better.  She got me to try standing on one leg. My right leg wasn’t too bad, although I could feel myself making constant adjustments.  Standing on my left leg was a different matter.  I could barely manage a few seconds without having to grab the couch. Something else to practice to help build the strength back up in my legs.  On checking my quads she thought they were in pretty good shape, with no sign of muscle wastage; something I was quite surprised about considering I have only cycled a couple of times in the last year, I can’t jog (I fall over after a couple of strides) and I haven’t been on the cross-trainer since about February.  It therefore seems to be about making the muscles work correctly than physically trying to build them up.

In terms of the exercises, I seem to be doing quite well. Twisting from side to side has improved a lot, but I have limited stretch vertically, so I’ve got a new exercise to work on that.  Getting up from sitting seems to be ok, in the sense I do it correctly when I think about it.  I need to practice more so I do it as second nature.  She took a baseline of how many sit to stand to sit I could do in a minute (10, which she seemed to think was quite good). I guess we will see if I can do more when I go back in a couple of weeks.  We talked about using the cross-trainer, some gentle cycling and swimming, all of which I should be able to start doing in moderation once the infection is sorted. My reflexes are either accentuated on my right (apart from my right knee which is still virtually non-existent), or those in my left side are somewhat dulled. She is also referring me for some hydrotherapy, but again I won’t be able to do that until the infection is sorted.

It was a bit of a weird feeling afterwards in that I felt like I’d had a boost in terms of physical ability following physio, but at the same time I was completely drained.  I guess it was a case of the mind feeling more positive, but the body still feeling like I’d reached a limit for now.