Weekends That Were - February 2017

3.2.17

Update 6

OK, time for another update...

They're starting to talk about sending me home. 

Not this week and, most likely, not next week, but definitely on the horizon. As I want to go 'home' to my own place  - not a halfway house, like Kara's place - I need to be able to deal with 31 steps up to my front door, so..... (not that there is anything wrong with Kara's place, but it would only complicate matters and as she has no stairs/steps how would I ever practice?)

So - this week I have been walking with crutches and have now progressed to a single crutch. I have been going up and down steps in the gym with a stick and, separately, a crutch and, according to my physio 'coming along in leaps and bounds' - not literally, but she is impressed apparently.

How do I feel? I'm knackered after a morning and afternoon session, each lasting approximately an hour, so that I spend the rest of the afternoon in bed, resting. It's not hurting my leg or my pelvis, but my muscles are so wasted they are aching, much as anyone's would once they started using them after 7 weeks rest!

Generally I'm fine. The burn on my right leg requires dressing changes every day and is still some distance away from being healed, however, Lillian, my dressings nurse, reckons it'll be much better in a couple of weeks or so.

I stood up to pee two days ago for the first time in 7 weeks and stood up to shower this morning - also for the first time since the accident - both major progress points. I can walk short distances alone so long as I have something to hang onto, just in case, but am supposed to use the walking frame, crutch or stick for support so I am coming along well - even I think that. But it is frustrating when my muscles hurt and my legs stiffen up when I lie in bed and seemingly simple things are so freaking difficult.
Going home, too, is a weird feeling. I've become so used to lying in bed all day, having people look after my every need - seriously - its a strange thought that I will need to be at home, more or less alone, in the foreseeable future. I wonder will I be able to drive? Will I be able to walk any distance? How will I get my leg dressed, assuming it still needs it when I go? I've had some discussions with Occupational Therapy and they are working on a solution. It will all depend, of course, on when I am released back into the wild and how I am then - still unclear.