Cast off!

I have been counting down the days to tomorrow when I finally get this darn cast off.

Getting back to normal won't be a breeze: there is a fair bit of swelling, comparatively, above the cast, and its been noticeably tight and uncomfortable under there for the last week, so I'm expecting it to actually swell a bit more once it's released.

But I can hear Eunice Jeffs in my mind... and it will all be about paying attention to the key basics:

• Compression - I shall wear my "younger" sleeves, and see about getting a few more from Barts


• Exercise (the Compliance part, as some call it) - Lymphoedema routine morning and night, without fail, and build the weights back in very gradually. Fitness training with Tim can get back to normal but we will not do arm exercises for a couple of weeks, just to see how it goes.


• Be healthy generally. It is no surprise that when I go on holiday, and go diving, I drink less, eat healthily, sleep plenty, relax, and spend lots of time outside - and even though I only wear my sleeve evenings and night, and even with long flights - my swelling is always the same or less than when I went away. There's a lesson there!

On which point, it's time I was in bed

The itching catches up

Finally, its itching. Everyone has been asking, how do I cope with the itching? To which I say, it doesn't itch.

Until today, that is.

I suspect part of the trouble is the fact that I have started jogging again the last few weeks - only two sessions a week, and I don't exactly do much, but obviously I sweat, and I guess it builds up.

The lymphoedema swelling comes and goes, and I imagine is also a key contributing factor - it tends to swell to fit the cast, which means there is no room for the skin to breathe. Heaven knows what state my skin will be in come October 15th when the cast comes off - I keep imagining it all rotting underneath. It certainly smells a bit now - like cheesy feet. Not very pleasant.

I have just taken a couple of paracetemol/codeine capsules in the hope it will ease things: it was also twinging a bit - not sure whether that's down to the tendons or not, but maybe I've pushed it a bit too hard the last few days. It certainly took a lot more than usual when we were babysitting young Alfers on Saturday (as did most of the muscles in my body, I felt like I'd spent ten rounds in the ring not a few hours with a baby nearly ten months old!)

So, doing my normal lymphoedema exercises morning and night is more or less back on track - I have been really shocked how easy it is to lose the habit though, after - what - eight or nine years I would have thought it was pretty ingrained, but in the first week of breaking my arm it hurt to do anything, and after that I found I just kept forgetting - didn't even think about it! I've had to really work at it - if I get to the office and realise I forgot to exercise, I make myself go into the corridor and do it.

Hmm, arm under cast does feel hot and sweaty (and still very itchy around the wrist, maybe it is the bone healing?), though fingers are not too swollen at the moment. Painkillers have kicked in - I guess it just needs a rest. Time for bed then :-)