A midday encounter

I lay face up on a couch in the middle of the room, my feet pointing towards the door. The two women entered silently. They were younger than I expected. Both were tall and slim, one brunette, the other blonde. I was trembling slightly, not because it was cold but with nervous anticipation. The brunette walked over and stood on my left just centimetres from my face. The blonde took a similar position on my right. The blonde was the first to start working. I closed my eyes as she slowly reached over with both hands. It's the natural thing to do when someone is thrusting a long needle towards your face.

The first jab of the unaesthetic - right at the base of the nose - was bad enough. But jabs three, four and five along the side of the bridge were the worst. Compared to these the jabs into the side of my neck, from where they were taking the skin for the graft, were relatively painless. I kept my eyes firmly closed for the next hour or so as I listened to the inane conversation the two surgeons kept up in an effort to keep me relaxed. From time to time they asked me questions, and I mumbled replies, scared that talking would cause my head to move resulting in a scalpel or needle missing its target and ending up in my eye.

Several hours later I have a bit of sore nose but otherwise I feel OK. Hopefully they removed all of the carcinoma and hopefully the graft will "take". I'll know in ten days or so. In the meantime, I don't think I'll be doing a lot of training.

Distance walked today: 0km
Total distance walked since Tokaido training began: 149.5km
Days left until departure: 41