Beannachd

A long two days later, it is now Friday evening. I am moving around but my step more resembles Quasimoto than Fred Astaire. I am to keep my leg up as much as possible to help reduce the swelling and when it is up, there is now little pain.

But when I stand I discover that my blood cells have been laced with shards of glass. I give it a moment and most of the pain subsides and I am then able to move around. I question, however, how well I will do when I have to return to work on Monday.

This morning I removed my bandages and had a nice close look at my leg. It is quite swollen (I will have to be more aggressive with my ice packs), and a large purple and yellow bruise surrounds the knee itself. Even more striking, are the two sets of staples.

Not much different than those from a household staple gun, they draw two quarter-inch wide mountain ranges out of my leg. Down the length of each range runs a thin plateau of congealed blood out of which the occasional spring seeps.

I remember the last time I saw these staples: five years ago after my first surgery. I had hoped that I would never see them again. But here they are. They will be removed in two weeks time but will return six weeks thereafter when my ACL is reconstructed again.

Tags: blood, cells, pain