A week of ups and downs

Last Friday I went in to outpatients to get my leg checked out. All was fine. It still looked bruised and sore as he'll when the consultant moved my foot. Overall he seemed happy with progress. A new cast went on. Fibreglass this time and I was back on crutches. Next appointment is the 27th November. The cast is lighter but feels strong, I feel more confident with this cast. I will be self injecting Fragmin until the cast comes off. I am basically off painkillers now. My wife bought me fitbit device so I have been monitoring my health over the last few days. I have been making a big effort to walk further on crutches. Yesterday I walked a total of 3.3 miles. I am proud of this, but today I ache so will be taking it easier so let my body catch up. Not sure it's a good idea to push too hard, I am meant to be allowing my achiellies tendon to heal. It is half-term so the kids are at home. For the last two days Isaac has been to an activity centre. Tilly has been swimming with the au pair, whilst I have been reviewing and sending feedback on articles.

I guess the downside is that I am still very limited in terms of mobility and have less interaction with people. Sure, people feel sorry for me etc and often offer help, but what I really need is the occasional conversation. Georgina is very busy at work and by the time she comes home and gets the children into bed she's basically done. I feel sorry about this, because it's my fault. I am they're putting the family through extra pressure. I am determined to increase my independence to help this. However, today I need to rest.

Day out

Well I was glad that the back seart had been fittted. We drove To Foot Fell in the Lakes so meet the Ridgeways and Dom and Jude. The idea was to canoe. Sadly I was in a cast so I was mainly in the van. Still getting out was better than being at home alone. The kids went into Sam's boat and Georgina went in her kayak. Beautiful scenery. After a while Dom and Jude arrive with their canoe. G convinced me to walk towards the water front, but it was a bit to far for my liking. I made it too a picnic bench where we had coffee and snacks. Afterwards Sam drove me and the little ones to the pub whilst everyone went by canoe. Couple of pints and a Sunday roast ticked all the boxes. Fully enjoyed the day. On Monday I did some reading and writing through the day. James travelled over for a game of snooker. Hopping around the snooker table was hard work. I won the first game and then James won the second with a break of 21. I was knackered. I woke this morning feeling I'd over done it. Needed pain killers at 3.30 am. Maybe that'll teach me to rest a bit more....

In cast at home

Getting around at home is not too bad. The banister annoyingly ends too soon near the half way point which makes climbing up the stairs slightly more scary than it should be.  Find myself mainly using the sofa and foot stool - most comfortable situation. The children are mostly helpful. Frustration comes when I can't stop bad behaviour or can't help with an activity which I think I should be able to do.

I can't carry cups or glasses of drinks. Need to solve this with a travel cup! The family and au pair have been great though. On Friday I went to the children's harvest service at Burnsall church with Heather. Lovely to get out, but wow it was tiring on crutches. I then went with them to the swimming pool.  They have lesson. Again, I'm not used to so much walking yet. I was knackered. Did too much. It's Sunday today and I'm still tired. I didn't know I was so unfit.

I have decided that I need to schedule out my days to include reading, writing, Uke practice, and exercise. I will start that program on Monday.

Today my family are going canoeing. I will join them ( in the van not boat!). I am looking forward to the trip out.

Final day in hospital

Ward 9 in Airedale has its routine and I had become part of it.  I had hoped that I would have been sent home a few hours after the operation, but in reality, I think the night in hospital was for the best. For one it delayed me needing to self inject fragmin (blood thinner). Breakfast was disappointing. Remember the previous day I had only eaten a pastry for breakfast then nil by mouth until maybe 8pm. The breakfast was porridge and toast with a choice of drinks.  Not particularly nice porridge either. Never mind. Painkillers where given at about 8 am.  After breakfast the consultant visited with an army of junior doctors.  Clear instruction to the staff was "Get him up." At around 9am the physio was on call.  They seemed keen to check that I will be able to manage at home.  The first task was to walk on crutches.  Given that I walked into the hospital on crutches this didn't seem too bad.  However, it was tiring. I was also feeling pain from my wound ( never had this before). Next task was to go up and down 3 steps.  I managed somewhat in clumsy fashion and the physio seemed happy that I would cope at home.  My bathroom is upstairs at home so climbing and descending stairs was important. He told me the nurse would see me.  The others in the room had various exercises to build them up to managing at home.  I felt proud of my fellow patients. They had nasty injuries and would potentially have a longer and more difficult road to recovery than I had. Time rolled by. It got to noon before the nurse told me they were waiting for medication from pharmacy to arrive before I could be discharged. That seemed fine. Lunch was chicken pie and chips with gravy.  It was ok. By 3pm I was getting fed up. I called the nurse. She said she'd get back to me. By 5pm Georgina had called the ward to find out what was happening.  At 6 pm I was finally discharged.  Heather came to pick me up.  I got wheeled to the front door by the porter. Unfortunately Heather went the wrong place and the porter had to go and find her.  Home at last!  The children drew on my cast and I could rest....

Sleeping was easy, the painkillers helped with that.  Only problem was that my dreams were nightmares induced by the strong painkillers.

Back seat

A little out of order but this was completed on the Saturday, the day of my Tendon injury....  

So at last I had a go at the back seat.  This required a red safety bar to be installed under the van.  To do this I had to remove the spare wheel and assembly.  It was easy to mark out the position of the bar.  I cut wood to size and wedged them in place to hold the bar up.  I marked out the four bolt holes and then got ready to drill.  Oh no. I don't have a big enough drill bit.  I needed a 10 mm.  That meant halting until midweek.  Georgina picked a bit up from Leeds during the week.  On the Wednesday in the pouring rain, I drilled out the holes and bolted in the red bar.  Once tight I was then able to drill upwards through the two holes in the bar, straight through the floor.  Two holes where made.  The rain was heavy and it was dark. I had a inspection light on and this helped position the seat frame over the holes in the van.  It looked snug, but the bolts went through.  Georgina was like, "It's not straight."  I was sad about that, but it was too late to do more now.  A weekend job it would be.

On Saturday morning I straightened out the seat (had a bit of play), marked out the remaining 5 holes from the top and drilled them out.  My drill bit went blunt by the 4th hole and G had to pick up another drill bit.  The nuts and usher plates were a nightmare to fit.  Took me hours to fit it.  I needed help from within the van to tighten the nuts and bolts up whilst I lay underneath in the dirt.  It took about 5 hours.

Eventually it was all on and fitted!!  Nat and Anna arrived just as I finished.  They seemed to like the seat.  Seems a bit funny because at 5'6 I cannot touch the floor with my feet.  I also think a tall person could not travel in the back!  But for us, it is perfect.  How exciting.  We now just need the units and the appliances.

Tendon back

I had a restless night, but thankfully no pain. Georgina took the day off to take me to the outpatients.  We waited no more than 15 minutes when Mr Ravindran  met me for a consultation. He explained that if the gap between the tendon and heel was small no surgery would be needed. A larger gap and it would need surgery. They arranged for the cast to come off in the plaster room. Whilst lying on my back the consultant had no doubt the gap was too big. Surgery required. I was in shock. I had still been hoping it was all a mistake.

 

I was booked into surgery that afternoon. They put a new cast on and wheeled me up to ward 14.  By 3pm I was going into theatre. Georgina said surgery was 2 hours. I remember being in the recovery room and being told I could have one pain relief pill, but another one would make me go loopy!

 

They wheeled me to ward 9 and shuffled me across to my ward bed. I was told surgery went OK. All I wanted was toast and a cup of tea.

It took a while, they wanted me to only have water, but eventually they were convinced I would not be sick. Blood samples, painkillers, and blood pressure tests where made throughout the rest of the evening.  Eventually I was allowed toast and a yogurt with a nice cup of tea. Last pain killers came at 11pm and then it was time to sleep.  I was tried but sleeping was not easy on a ward.

I spent a lot of the night listening to the radio using Georgina's phone- I tended to drop off during these shows.  I was surprised by how little pain I felt, but then I was on a cocktail of painkillers.  I refrained from getting up and used only bottles for passing water.

Tendon gone

Sam was short of players for his new Sunday league. I've never been a great footballer but enjoy a kick around. Went to Skipton to buy some boots, socks, shorts, and shim pads. Felt nervous but good. Sam collected me at 1725 ready for 1830 kick-off. The team had been named the half-time oranges. We had a good warm up, passing the ball around, occasion shot at goal. Once Tony arrived we were only short of one player. So one of the lads from the other team played for us. We were a primary school dad's team, they were a pub team. Both joined the league at the last minute.

I played on the right. It work quite well. I occasionally found space. I even had a shot but never really connected. By the end of the first half I was knackered. We had no subs. I think the score was 0-0 and we'd had the better chances.

We lost a goal right at the beginning of the 2nd half.  Maybe 10 minutes into the second half I found myself near the goal area withheld ball out wide. Suddenly I felt a pain in the back of my left leg. The ball must have been drilled into my leg, I thought. I fell and then picked myself up but then fell again.  I dragged myself to behind the goal line. I was in pain. I was still trying to get myself fit to go back on and help out.  I even walked back on and hoped I could help evening I could not run. It was too bad and I came off again. The game ended 3-3. I was in pain, but it was suggested that we go for a pint. That felt like a good idea.

When I got home my leg had swollen up. I had ice, then a cold bath, then a gin and tonic. The next day I had a course in Skipton. I worked out I could drive using my heal on the clutch. I phoned the doctors and got a call back. They suspected a ruptured tendon and that I should come in.  I headed over. The GP quickly identified it as a ruptured achiellies tendon and told me to go to casualty. I got a taxi and was a pound short for the fare.  Within 2 hours they had diagnosed my ruptured tendon and had put me in a cast. I had an appointment for the next day at 10am. Heather (mother-in-law) drove me home. I was on crutches and by now was feeling very sorry for myself.

Campervan (in the making) summer

Last May we bought a Vw T5 panel van. We had a crazy idea that we would get a van converted within a couple of weeks and spend our summer vacation luxury camping (well compared to camping in our tent it is). Bizarrely, since Fenia (our ex au pair) was visiting we were determined that we would have a campervan ready so that we could have weekends away.  The van was great albeit a panel van that had been previously a works van. But at only 3 years old, we felt it would have lots of life. We drove around many fitters and invested a lot of time figuring out how to go about the conversation. It soon became apparent that there was two problems. A) the waiting time for the fitters to fit our van and B) the cost was escalating beyond what we felt was sensible. We stopped and thought for quite some time. The van remained a panel van.....