This NSV must be prefaced with the story for why this is so AWESOME. It WILL make sense by the end, I promise!

In October 2009, my very well-meaning, adorable puppy pulled me towards my back door in his excitement to get home from a walk. I slipped on a bunch of wet leaves, fell, and landed with my entire body weight on my left calf/shin. It looked something like this (not my leg, but you get the idea):

My bruise was similar, but mine protruded about an inch from my calf and was baseball sized.

In short, I had a very severe subdural hematoma, yet went to work on my feet as a checker at a grocery store pretty much right after it happened and was in such severe pain I called my chiropractor in tears on my break. He saw me at 7:30PM when my shift was over. Ended up treating me for shock and stabilizing my leg. Found out a few weeks later that he almost personally took me to the ER it was so bad. One inch higher and I would have broken my leg. And one inch lower and I would have been in the ER for sure because it would have cut off blood flow to my ankle and foot. NOT GOOD.

Well, it took MONTHS for the swelling to go down. My chiropractor continued to treat it and saved me from having to have surgery. But once the swelling went down, I still had a hideous looking bruise. And a TON of muscle atrophy in the area where the hemotoma was. My PCP told me the discoloration would never go away and my chiropractor was doubtful that I could ever rebuild the muscle since it's in a weird place.
This is what it looked like from pretty much June 2010 to June 2012 (pictures are from my wedding in October 2011):


YOU CAN STILL SEE IT THRU PANTYHOSE...

Well...to make a long story short(er. Ok this is kinda long...) I usually get questions about my leg all the time since it looked like it just happened yesterday. I usually let people feel the lack of muscle tissue and explain that it was an accident that happened a few years ago and will never heal fully.

OR NOT...I was shaving my legs two nights ago and realized that the GIANT DIVET that used to be in my leg is disappearing and the bruise discoloration is going away. W.T.H. Then I realized that I hadn't gotten any comments on it lately...had my sister and husband look at it and they couldn't believe it, but it actually IS DISAPPEARING and the muscle is returning.

Barely noticable in either of these:



But still visible in some light:


It's hard to tell in these photos, but the atrophy is still present, though it's almost back to NORMAL. I firmly believe that the muscle is growing back because for the first time in my life, I am properly fueling my body. And it is using that fuel to fix itself. I NEVER thought that my leg would return to normal because of EATING. But I am amazed and grateful. And I'm going to KEEP EATING!!!! Maybe all of the muscle will return by springtime. :happy: