TMI about bruising

Leg latest: I am now permitted to unvelcro the immobilizer briefly and gently bend my knee. The first thing I did was wash my leg. Mmmm, warm water, soap. Mmmm. Not that the leg was grubby or itchy or anything, since the immobilizer breathes quite well, nothing like a cast. But it was good to be clean. It will be some weeks before immersion is possible, or showers, so I'm making the most of the pleasures of the sponge bath. (Wash down as far as possible, then wash up as far as possible, then wash possible.)

The bruises are now yellow and purple, with a particularly vivid saffron and deep rich purple on the back of the thigh, really quite beautiful. (I wonder if it could be tattooed?) The outside of my knee is more drab, with a speckled stripe of brown-purple and green-yellow.
The thigh and calf look almost normal, though the calf is flabby (uck!) and I'm looking for some isometric exercises for it. There's a band of swelling across the knee, so the kneecap is utterly without knobbiness. And the knee is very stiff. I managed a slight bend on Monday, and about a degree more today. I'm hoping it progresses through the week. I tried a cold pack while bending, and that seemed to help.

 Taken the next day - a bit faded, but look at that yellow.

Recent big achievements include figuring out how to lie down on my other side, and going up and down our front and back steps with Mark acting as spotter instead of hoister. 

Other than that, I keep thinking I've got my energy back (after all, I'm not in actual pain), then having to nap for 3 or 4 hours. It's difficult to judge, because I feel quite lively until I fall asleep. Mark has been a hero, bringing me washing water and tea, changing the bed, and nagging me to write. Plus keeping up with his orders, casting more pieces, cooking, washing dishes, and defrosting the fridge (a job both of us put off until the glacier knocks in the cupboard.)

Last week men came and took away two of our upstairs windows to be disassembled, repaired, and returned in about two weeks. So my writing room and Mark's office are without natural light, and much of the furniture has been moved into our bedroom, which was already crowded with my books that have overflowed the available shelving. On the whole, this is probably a good time for me to be confined to downstairs.

Writing is slow but steady. I'm near the point where I should start integrating Storyline Two into Storyline One, which means also majorly revising the timeline of Storyline One. On the one hand, that's going to be a lot of to-and-froing, and on the other hand it will be reworking stuff I've already written, which will be a nice change from actual writing.


Problems one doesn't think of ahead of time: Having (realistically for a modern setting) created an ethnically diverse cast, how do I kill anyone off without falling into 'Black Guy Dies First' or similar? I may have to write in a disposable default character. Sigh.
Oh, yeah - TV Tropes warning for above link!