Is The Tide Turning At Long Last?

It's 22 months since I started the physio for my hips, back and core. It's 17 months since I started hydrotherapy. And, I think I'm finally getting to the phase in rehabilitation where my body and mind are learning to once again put on muscle! Over the past 2 weeks I have been able to tolerate eating 2500+ calories a day (with the aim of putting on 0.5lbs per week). For the last 2 days, it has felt noticeably easier to accommodate that amount of food which is something that's not happened previously. At various points along the way I have tried to eat more calories but even giving it 4-6 weeks to adjust, I've not really been able to tolerate it. Now, it seems my body/mind are ready.

There have been other significant indicators. On Tuesday, I played 80 mins of table tennis and for the first time, since I started 8 months ago, I didn't come home and immediately need to ice my rotator cuff. Normally the muscles sting and I have little strains through the ribs under my arm but, this week, it felt 'ok' enough not to bother icing it. On Wednesday, the pool work felt good and the swimming at the end actually felt easier. I managed an extra length, making it 11 (275m). I would have loved to have done more but I didn't want to push it and I had cramp in my left calf and foot.

After the bike work last Sunday, during my short walk (25 mins) on Monday, my legs felt as light as feathers! It was a qualitative shift in how I experience my body. My legs felt strong and powerful. That aspect of things has stayed with me all week which is superb. Generally, I'm feeling more substantial; recovery time after exercise is improving and muscle/nerve pain is reducing. It feels like this is the start of a new phase in recovery and, dare I hope, an increase in the rate of progress.

In terms of aches and pains, I've been regularly icing my left glutes/hip this week. It's still twingey and painful and causing pain at times through the knee and ankle when walking. It also seems to affect the coordination of the leg so that sometimes, it feels like I'm having to consciously recruit the right muscles to move it. My left calf has been crampy all week. I've been putting a hot water bottle under it when I go to bed but so far that's not had any beneficial effect. The LHS lower back tightness/pain is generally a lot better but flares up in connection with the left hip/glutes. My shoulders continue to need a fair amount of TLC - icing and the hot water bottle at night.

Overall, I'm quietly relishing these subtle but qualitative improvements and tentatively hoping they will blossom into substantial changes for the better. I dare not presume.

[The photo was taken at Barton-on-Sea, Hampshire, during my first summer holiday in 10+ years, in 2007. It was during this holiday that I was pretty ill with the undiagnosed iron deficiency and was prompted to see my GP when I got home. The rest, as they say, is history]