5.5 MONTHS UPDATE

Wow - five and a bit months ago I was probably just being pushed back to the ward!  What a new lease on life!!!

Quick update. 

• Scars - slightly fading but not that much difference;
• Pins & needles / numbness - still there but not intrusive until I massage my legs and then its noticeable;
• Pain - fine, hardly anything ... unless you drive for six hours with basically a quick leg stretch and a lunch break (like this weekend on my extended weekend up the West Coast).  Even then, nothing that two Stilpayne and a good night's sleep does not ease; 
• Flexibility - really good but would definitely have been much better if I did exercise - any exercise - more regularly than once every few weeks. Went walking on a soft beach and definitely felt uncomfortable afterwards - but as previously mentioned, two tablets and a night's sleep and all's fine, a little stiff, but fine.

Ha ha moment - and lesson learnt a few weeks ago. Did not concentrate when I sat back on the exercise ball ... and it rolled away from me!!! In slow mo, with back support from the ball, I found myself sinking to the ground - my thigh muscles were not ready to support and stop the sink! Next moment I'm on my butt on the floor in my study - no one around and no way I could yank myself up.  Tried to kneel - definitely ouch and not ready. Then a moment of brilliance. Reached for an old garden seat cushion conveniently lying on a footstool, wiggled it under my butt and then wiggled my way out of the study, through the patio door (opening that from a seated position in itself an exercise of endurance), across the patio to the stairs leading down to the garden. Thankfully I could use the stairs to get up!!

Biggest lesson is keep up the exercise, something I have definitely not been doing.  I don't feel like swimming on a cold autumn / winter morning, even if the pool is heated.  Definitely time to hit the stationery bike, eliptical machine and, in a few months, the stairmaster. 

Hopefully I'll stay resolved and be ready to achieve my goal in September / October - 5km walk!!!

Chat soon!!