Back in action again

[ideasguy]

My apologies for the silence. Ive been incapacitated for 4 weeks now.

When out walking I pushed it a bit too much by taking longer strides than usual.
I managed to overstretch my calf muscles. The left calf began to swell and next day looked quite bad.
I was lucky to get a call back from my GP and he squeezed me in for an appointment.
He didn't think it was a clot but he sent me to A&E for tests. (Fri 22/1/21).
At A&E they took a blood sample and said I would have to come back for a scan.
Meanwhile, they put me on a course of Enoxaparin (an anticoagulant that helps prevent the formation of blood clots), and injection each night.
I finally had that scan on the Wednesday which showed that I had tissue damage, but no clot.
Good news indeed. However the tissue damage had caused a haematoma and the treatment had actually made things worse.
Ive experienced a haematoma before, when I had my appendix removed. Believe me, they cause a LOT of pain.
This one made the calf feel numb and hard as a brick. Attempting to walk was agony!!

4 weeks have now passed and I'm well on the way to recovery. Muscle pain is almost gone but the swelling is still there - gradually subsiding.
I'm now going out for short walks and have able to help Mary with the chores.

Weather has been awful - I can't remember a wetter winter and gardeners notice these things.
I'm counting myself lucky this didn't happen in a good weather period in spring. It would have been intolerable to watch the weeds grow in the busiest time in the gardening calendar.

How are you folk?

[Palustris]

Sorry to hear that. Makes life very hard when even simple things are painful.
The weather has not been conducive to gardening activities either.
Have you had the Vaccination yet? We have had the first one about a month ago so may be slightly more immune. No side effects beyond a sore arm for a few days.
Take care.

[ideasguy]

I need to get out there soon Eric - spring is sprung
Cut some hedge on Wednesday and felt a bit sore that evening. Weather looks like it is picking up so hopefully I will be able to do some pruning and shredding next week.
LOTS of that to do!

Yes, we had our first Vaccination 2 weeks ago today. No side effects. Very relieved to get that job done.
Next one will be administered 10 weeks from first in our clinic.

Stay safe everyone!

[barryl]

Good to hear from you! Really sorry about your "walking accident"....

Been very wet here too which is pretty/very unusual. We have some plants which have been waiting since january to be put in the ground which has been waterlogged.

We have both had our first jab (Dec 24)  with the second scheduled for March 11.

All keep well; light is now definitely showing a glimmer at the end of that tunnel....

[ideasguy]

Update on things

Now walking freely but the swelling is still there and the puffed area at the back of the calf is still a bit "numb".

Good news is Ive been on longer walks and have been doing a bit of gardening.
Started with pruning Roses and some shrubs.
This week I've been down on my knees and weeding. First task each year is to weed the Rhubarb patch and apply fertiliser.
Very pleased that I managed that

Not sure if I will plant any spuds this year. I usually try to do that as near as possible after St Patricks day.
I can definitely notice the effects of global warming - we have a lot of rainy days during the summer here in Ireland and that makes it really difficult to get the spraying done.
Blight is a real worry

[Palustris]

Good to hear from you that things are progressing as they should.
Sadly my back is now so bad that even mild adventures in gardening are getting more and more difficult. For instance today I used the leaf blower to remove the huge depth of leaves from the Drive side bed. I know the received wisdom is to leave them on the soil for the worms to pull in to the soil, but our worms have not read the books. The leaves are choking a lot of the new growth and are home to a billion slugs. Now I can hardly move, the pain is so bad. Bloody annoying it is too.

[ideasguy]

That back complaint is very bad news Eric. The projects you have tackled this past year have absolutely amazed me by your energy, strength and workrate.
I hope this is a temporary setback and you will be able to get back to work again.
Does it help after you have had a nights rest?

The leaves get a regular turning over in my garden by the blackbirds, even out of the borders and onto the lawn. Now you have told us, I imagine they are looking for slugs eggs as well as the many other grubs.