Goosebumps

To say I've had some numbness in my right thigh since surgery would only be half the story. While going through chemo I experienced some numbness in my thigh and more noticeably in my finger tips. The numbness in my finger tips became a frequent occurrence that came and went. It was most apparent directly after a round of chemo and would last for a week or so and then slowly fade away; only to return after the next round. The numbness in my thigh was less obvious and I only really noticed it when I would intentionally run my hand along it. (side note: numbness can be a side effect of chemo)

Following surgery the upper half of my right leg, along with the right side of my butt, was all numb to some degree. Part of this was due to the morphine epidural (I had it in for 3 or 4 days), some was from having so many nerves moved around and stretched during surgery, and some of this was from the chemo. The feeling came back to most areas while I was still in the hospital recovering. To all areas but my right thigh. I was hoping that it too just needed time and that eventually the feeling would return there as well. So far, no luck. The numb area has not really effected my day to day, it is more of an annoyance. I can still feel pressure applied to that area of my leg, it seems to be just the skin that has no feeling. It can be a little uncomfortable or just odd feeling to have something sitting on my lap, like my laptop. And when I have an itch, it's impossible to scratch. Somehow I can feel the itch but not my nails scratching it. Also, it can be dangerous for me to use electric heating pads on this area because I wouldn't notice if my skin was over heating or even burning. As a result, I've been using heating bags you warm in the microwave instead because they cool down naturally as you use them.

Now for my discovery.

The other day I had goosebumps as a chill ran through my body. You may be thinking, "So what? We all get goosebumps once in a while." Agreed! Sometimes you'll get them from a chill. Other times they'll be the result of a high level of emotion such as fear or romance. The thing that caught my eye was what happened on my leg. Or rather, what didn't happen. As the goosebumps appeared I had a nearly perfect outline of the numb area on my leg. There wasn't a single goosebump within the area. I understand that this makes perfect sense, I had just never thought about it before seeing it that day. I sat there for a moment and traced the outline of the area, back and forth, just to see if it really was the edge of the numbness. That might seem a bit silly but it was interesting to see that the line was not straight or more clear cut, it was like a wave with some peaks / indents. On one hand it was really neat to see but at the same time, it was somewhat unsettling to have the visual.

I'm still hopeful that the feeling will return to the area but it seems a little less likely as each day goes by.