Ireland day 0538. Monday 20 March 2023- Out And About *

Ireland day 0538. Monday 20 March 2023- Out And About

Today’s summary	Val wasn’t working and I continued to make a steady recovery. Removed the dressing from my wound (TMI!) and went on a walk. In the evening Val returned to London for a meeting and I accompanied her on the bus
Today’s weather	Drizzly and overcast much of the day, though some brighter intervals around lunchtime. Moderate blustery southerly wind. Feeling pleasantly mild at appx 13C

Today’s overview location (The blue mark shows the location of our route)		Close-up location (The blue line shows where we walked) (Click button below to download GPX of today’s walk as recorded, or see interactive map at bottom with elevations corrected): Faster Demesne walk on crutches

Commentary

(Summary blog only. Last full blog was Day 0368).

Got up relatively early – and of our own volition this time – no imminent visit from the boiler serviceman was required to drag us into the land of wakefulness. The main development of the morning was the final removal of the dressing on my operation scar. The wound itself doesn’t seem to have changed much, actually, since the physiotherapist changed the dressing a week ago. Which I take to be a good sign.

Once Nurse Val had done her stuff on the bandage and we had had breakfast, we decided to head out to the Demesne again and attempt a slightly faster, albeit shorter, clockwise loop walk. It seemed to go well and I think was my fastest-paced post-operative walk so far.

Once back in the flat we enjoyed a delicious lunch which Val pulled together, of Serrano ham, tomatoes and salad leaves which we bought at the farmers’ market last Saturday. A delicious combination and the salad – with horseradish-hot mustard leaves – felt like it was full of goodness.

After lunch and our customary old-peoply snooze, I accompanied Val on the 102 (note – first bus ride since the operation) to the airport where she had an evening flight back to the UK. She has a meeting she needs to attend tomorrow and will be back here again tomorrow evening.

I successfully negotiated the journey back to Malahide and am now going to reheat some of the chicken casserole that I made a few weeks ago and which has been lurking in the freezer ever since. Then perhaps a bit of reading and an early night, assuming I can stay awake long enough.

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)


Doesn’t look to have changed much since last week when the dressing was changed, in all honesty. I take that to be a good thing. Now going without the dressing over it as it is supposed to heal quicker that way, even if it doesn’t look very nice. Probably means I won’t be able to wear my thong ( 🙂 ) for a while, sadly	Up by the boules pitch (or is it a court)

Sunshine at lunchtime actually feeling very springlike (though as usual whenever it seems like we might have turned the corner from winter, the weathermen have gloomily started predicting that another icy blast is on its way)	The demesne is well-supplied with daffodils and they are beautiful at the moment



I have to say I think my face actually looks a bit less podgy than it did before the operation. The surgeon said my hip was badly inflamed and “angry” when he did the operation, so perhaps the the inflammation was having a systemic effect and making me generally feel a bit under the weather? Anyway, I do think I feel a lot better now, and it’s not just because of the reduction in pain in my left hip. I hope it’s a lasting phenomenon.