Back we go

A bit of news today. As I mentioned yesterday I had a follow up appointment with Dr Hewitt my surgeon today.

It was always going to be an interesting session. I have had renewed swelling at the end of my scar for a week or so. This is an issue that I have been dealing with for about 4 weeks and so in many ways today was crunch time. Last time I saw Dr Hewitt he said that if I was still having issues he would go back into the scar and excise the tissue that was causing the problems. Well, today I was still having problems and so the decision has been made to go back to surgery. All this means that I will be having a nice little mini break, relaxing in Bethesda Hospital for a day and night starting Thursday. Should be a good time, a bit of heavy sleeping early on and then 24 hours or so of lying in bed. Sounds relaxing.


In many ways today's outcome makes a lot of sense. What I have seen for the last month has followed the pattern of: Wound healing very well for a week while I am on antibiotics. Wound going nasty once antibiotics have finished. Rinse and repeat. Today Dr Hewitt said that based on that he thinks there is a mild infection somewhere deep in the scar. Mild, because the swelling and infection have never appeared that bad (no puss if you must know). But deep in because it keeps coming back. The minor operation on Thursday will aim to get rid of the infection once and for all by cleaning out the wound down to the plate and then sealing everything back up. Hopefully the surgery combined with a antibiotic bombardment on Thursday night will do just that.

So all that is good for my peace of mind. Quite frankly I would have liked a less surgeryery solution, but I will take what I can at this stage. This swelling has been playing on my mind for nearly a month now and if this gets rid of it then I will grab the chance with both hands. The fact that this wound has refused to heal properly has had me second guessing everything for too long. Am I over doing it? Was that session too much? Why is it swelling again? On and on. It has had me training on egg shells. Having this issue sorted will be a big mental relief.

On top of the relief that will come from having this sorted, Dr Hewitt also gave me a bit more mental relief today by telling me that the infection has probably come about by just plain bad luck. As I said, I have been obsessing over just what I have been doing wrong to derail my recovery. Knowing that I probably haven't done anything other than be unlucky makes me feel a lot better. Not as good as I would feel if I had no issues at all, but I will take whatever small victories are on offer.

As weird as it sounds, the surgery gives me the first little silver lining I have had for a while. The pain I have in my shoulder (unrelated to the infection) has continued to reduce. Today the shoulder pain is the least it has been since it first flared up in early January. After my surgery I will obviously have to have more time off while the wound heals. Hopefully the week or so that I am resting will give my shoulder pain time to reduce further. If that happens and I hit a point where the wound is healed and my shoulder isn't hurting that much... Well imagine the possibilities. I might even be able to train again. Reaching for a silver lining perhaps? You best and I am planning on stretching as far as I can.