Physio diagnosis

Caroline tested my knee ligaments and cartilage and said they were fine. Her conclusion this morning was that I have Baker's Cyst - not really a cyst at all, more a sac:

She gave me some ultrasound and I go back again next week. I have to keep on doing the knee exercises, and ice the back of the knee, but no real need for any more Ibuprofen, which I'd stopped taking this week, without any noticeable difference. She said that these things normally disappear themselves between 6-12 weeks after the op, but the ice, ultrasound and exercises should give the healing process a nudge forward. She checked for DVT but no signs present.

I also asked if there was anything I shouldn't be doing, but she confirmed that cycling, walking and golf are all OK, and any of these will not cause any more damage to the knee - the same answer as the surgeon gave me - that's encouraging.

Deeside hotter than the Algarve!

What a great week it's been - more or less wall to wall sunshine and with the temperature getting in to the 20's - just!Comforting to note as well that the Algarve, where I was sweltering in 34 C last week, is down in the teens - and raining! Good timing for a change.

We're still suffering from this bug - lots of coughing in the house, and sleep has been difficult unless propped up. My voice went yesterday as well, which is why I haven't got round to getting my new phone yet - it needs a call to Vodafone and I couldn't risk doing that with my squeak. I had to miss our cycling group's outing to Aboyne and Tarland this morning on probably the best day of the year so far - I definitely wasn't up to any strenuous exercise.

It's been the school Easter holidays as well and Luca has been out every day playing with the kids in number one. Jo has been working in the garden and I've caught up with all my admin, and this afternoon I decided it was time to wash and clean both cars - inside and out. Hot work - especially as I rather suspect this was the first time Jo's had her car cleaned since she got it.

Jo found this in the garden:

It's tiny - poor little thing must have flown in to the windows.

It's the physio for me tomorrow - fingers crossed.

Easter and beyond

Ross, Gary & Luca, and then Carole - in that order - all arrived over on a hot sunny Sunday afternoon, with the promise of Jo's roast beef dinner. Lured by the opportunity to have a cigarette, Carole and Ross - yes, he's started again - were first out on the balcony, with Gary and Luca eventually joining them:

By now, Luca was in possession of his Easter Egg. Earlier he had been sent on an Egg Hunt in the back garden - Jo had hidden all our eggs out there:

Where are they?

Found some!

Where's mine Grannie?

Gary and Carole went home, leaving Luca here during the first week of the school holidays. He's a good boy and is no trouble - certainly not to me. He and Jo sit and chat away like Jack and Victor (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Still_Game). It's just a pity that Jo - and now me as well - are suffering a little from a bit of a bug, so we're not exactly full of beans.

The great weather continued on Monday and Tuesday. I was golfing with the Seniors down at Ballater yesterday but this morning I had to go back to the dentist due to toothache. He did a bit of tidying up which will hopefully relieve the pain for a while, but he gave me a tough choice - have the tooth extracted or undergo root canal work. Any other tooth, I would have said take it out, but it's right next to the one that was extracted a few months ago and would leave a wide gap there, so I opted for the root canal treatment.

Anyway, Jo and Luca came in to Aberdeen with me and walked from Holburn St., along the Dee, and through Duthie Park to the Vue Cinema to see a film Luca was keen to see - again. Whilst they were watching that, I went over to my old work at Bridge of Don and got my car tyres changed over from winter to summer. It was a little weird walking in there again - especially seeing my old office locked up and empty. Next thing to tidy up is our mobile phones which are still on the company contract. They don't make it easy to change over - I'd tried before I went to the Algarve, but failed - and I didn't quite succeed today either - but we've made some progress. A combination of little techies trying to baffle old codgers like me, plus the Data Protection Act - and probably Health and Safety as well - are amongst the barriers to change.

Reverting to medical matters once more - I seem to have spent a lot of my retirement on these - I've got my first physio appointment for my knee this Friday. I've still got some pain and swelling - although it seems a little easier today - and ultrasound and massage have been prescribed. I've tried light compression stockings and tight elastic bandages, but these resulted in my leg looking like this at the end of the day:

You can see where my short socks stopped and pushed the fluid up to my calf and knee.