Medical stuff...

No news re the Bump. Sigh. She is taking her time. I am not good at waiting. Not good at all.

I think I lost my mind yesterday. For some bizarre reason, I decided that yesterday was a good day to wash the lounge curtains. And no, there was no bright sun or breeze to dry them in at all. I soaked them, then washed them, then ironed them wet to get the creases out and then discovered that they were still too wet to hang up last night, so I went to bed at 9.30 instead of sitting in the lounge with no curtains.

See. I live an exciting life. Tonight they are up in place. Damp. But up.

And today.... it has been a long day.

I went to physio this morning, and I can tell you that missing one and a half sessions is not good. I noticed the drop in ability immediately. Did I mention that I had to stop the last session when I nearly passed out? That was not good. I am fine, but now I need to catch up. Not for the next 24 hours though.

WARNING: This post speaks of blood, but there was never actually any visible blood, so skip the rest if you are queasy at the thought!

My friends Jackie and Jean and I went off to the hospital this afternoon for my visit to the pain clinic. I thought he was going to just check the meds. Hmmm. Right he said...I am doing the IVG (Intravenous Guanethidine regional block) this afternoon. Huh?? He actually had spoken about this last time, but I must have missed the fact that he was going to do it today. That mind, the lost one, remember.... Anyway, he gave us another copy of the leaflet telling me about it all, and then inserted a canula into my foot. I nearly drew blood. My nails almost went through my hands. I don't talk about the leg much any more, but just know that it hurts. All the time. Even with the meds. And the nurse had her hands tight round my calf. Just perfect.

So then, the best nurse in the universe popped in and told me what happened next. Basically, they strapped this tourniquet, with automatic pump to my thigh. You have no idea how many straps that thing had. They measured my blood pressure, so they could adjust the pump accordingly, and then they pushed the worm up and round my leg, which forced all the blood in the leg up above the tourniquet. Then they inflated the tourniquet and whipped the worm off. Bingo. A bloodless leg. We were inordinately fascinated by it. She called a junior nurse to view my bloodless leg too. I was an exhibit. Good thing my friends and I were just as fascinated at the time.

The worm, by the way is a sort of rubber tube with water or air inside it, and they force it over the toes and 2 of them force it up the leg, and it is so tight, it pushes the blood out of the leg. I told her to practice an evil cackle, because I am SO going to video that next week. (Yes, I have to have this done next week and the one after too.)

Anyway, where was I.....right. The bloodless leg. They then inject a local anaesthetic and the guanethidine into the leg and it circulates through the empty veins and into the tissue for 20 mins. And your leg looks dead. She told us that this is what a dead leg looks like. I needed to know what my leg would look like when it is dead. Purple/blue/bright red. Stunning. I took pictures, but you do not want to see them.

And we sat there drinking tea/coffee and eating biscuits, and watching the leg change colour. It was spectacular. Believe me, I needed the distraction. The tourniquet was unbelivably painful. My friends made me laugh, though, and I do believe we may have been a little rowdy. But it worked. I was distracted. Then the buzzer goes off, and I had to lie down as she deflated the tourniquet. You are supposed to have appalling pins and needles, but I felt nothing, and then the leg, all of a sudden looked normal again. This treatment is supposed to temporarily interrupt the sympathetic nerve supply to the leg. I suppose it is supposed to try to stop it and then jump start it so it may work properly.

Well, if it works, I can cope with anything. Even 2 more of these in the next 2 weeks. They strapped the ankle for support so I could walk properly and off we went. And into yet another blizzard.

So here I am at home, very weak and very tired, which is expected, and I can't do anything or drive for the next 24 hours.

And it is my daughter's birthday tomorrow. Only tomorrow is already here for her, and she is starting her birthday. I spoke to her this evening, and she is fine and happy. I cannot believe that she is 28 already. Well, she will be tomorrow. Today. It is confusing. She was born on Friday 13th, and so it is an incredibly happy and joyful day for us, and this year, her birthday falls on Friday too. Maybe the Bump will come on her Auntie's birthday??? Who knows. And that brings me neatly round in a circle, to where I started.

The end.