Panic! - Microdiscectomy +4

It didn't seem like there would be much to report today. In fact, a get well card from Mick and Julie (quiz team buddies) looked for a long time like being the most noteworthy aspect of the day.

For the first time my pain was such that I was able to manage on nurofen alone.  That would perhaps be worthy of toppling a get well card from its pedestal.

During the day I finished watching Utopia. An excellent series that didn't quite reach the truly great heights it threatened to, but nonetheless was enjoyable enough for me to watch 6 episodes in 24 hours. I also started watching the Sopranos. 2 episodes in and I'm starting to see what the fuss was about.

Then when J returned home from work I asked her to check on my wound. It was then that she spotted some discolouration that hadn't been there earlier in the day.

Discoloured patches below the wound

Mindful that any inflammation could be a sign of an infection, but also thinking in all likelihod it was bruising, I called the hospital. They advised me to call my doctor's out of hours service. Before I knew it I was in the car heading to Dunstable. Thankfully the doctor confirmed what I had suspected; the marks were post operative bruising/bleeding. However she said I was right to be vigilant. We discussed what to look out for (tenderness, spreading redness from the wound, oozing from the wound, a temperature), and she advised me to keep taking photos so I can compare and contrast from day to day.

The journey home caused my back some pain so I did relent and take a tramadol to ease me towards a peaceful night's sleep.

Tomorrow I plan to do a bit more walking. The amount of sitting and watching tv I did today might have caused the pooling of blood and this evening's mini panic.I might even walk into central Flitwick, though as the walk is all uphill I will play that one by ear.

In other news I was amused at the BBC website showing live streaming footage of the Vatican chimney at night. Quite how you distinguish between different coloured smoke at night I'm not sure. But in this day and age shouldn't the new Pope just tweet the news?

"In your face #conclave, I'm the new @pontifex, now kiss my ring"

So at the end of day 4:

• The pain was pretty low until my dash to Dunstable made it feel sore
• The pill count was Nurofen x 4 and tramadol x1 (see above)
• I need to be more mindful of not sitting still for too long.