FOOTNOTE to Off we go to the Magic Wood

APRIL 15th 2009 Return to the posting 'Off we go to the Magic Wood' and find the asterisk to which this footnote belongs!

FOOTNOTE

HAHA just realised what I have written!!! The operation was about 5 weeks ago. Today I returned to the chirugien. We shake hands on arrival and shake hands on departure. He exclaimed that my foot was"tres jolie" and indeed it is and I am so very pleased with it that I thanked him but he owed the success to us working together. How very French! He speaks loudly and we talk about his workload because I refer to how much energy he has. He obviously loves his work. The foot is still swollen and I feel I have to be careful about shoes and socks but he is confident my foot will not present a problem next winter. Such positivity is again very French. At the moment I can only wear the TEVA walking sandals with socks so I don't feel terribly glamorous! The surgeon says that if I walk more the swelling will go down, so that is what I will now do and build my stamina back to the 12km walks I was used to doing about once a week. It's just a bit difficult to work in the garden with the wet soil and I am afraid of wearing wellies because that is what exacerbated the problem each year.

The other point I would like to make is that whilst I was waiting to collect my foot xray-image to take to the surgeon, I discovered that the post op recovery room is called the 'Salle de Reveil'. I was describing this again to Captain S and referring to the fact that several nurses male and female would all be attending to the patients one by one, making sure they woke up nicely, that the wound was good, that they were prepared for their recuperation ward. I described them as being like worker bees around the queen bee, or like worker ants, working in a team to help and protect their species. Isn't the human race a marvellous group when they work together to treat, help, administer love and care? Thank you to everyone who has cared for me in the complicated process of preparing me for the op and in the aftercare.