How To Get To Sleep

Gradually it got better in that we got into a routine and found out what worked and what didn't. Eventually I gave up on the sofa because it was just too hard to get off again - transferring from a high hospital bed to the walking frame was one thing, from a low sofa with saggy cushions quite another. We had a friend who developed MS (who sadly passed away in 2001) and I used to wonder why she just sat in the wheelchair all the time. Now I know - because it was easier.

We perfected the getting the wheelchair at 90 degrees to the base  of the bed, P helping me turn and slide onto the bed and pull myself up technique.

We even managed to work out how to sit with the leg under the table.

Life at the moment still is either lying in bed or sitting in the wheelchair but it's ok, things are moving in the right direction. Today for the first time P pushed me outside and it was lovely to sit in the sun and hear the birds singing and wish I could dead-head the flowers. I've also managed to lower the leg for a while and today I stood, holding onto the walking frame and briefly rested the leg on a cushion on the floor. Rehabilitation is going to be a different journey for me than for most people who would by now be beginning  to try out their crutches but I know God is with me and I'll get there. I feel hugely thankful that the operation was a success because apparently sometimes with injuries like this the bones can't be put back together and the knee-cap has to be removed. That just isn't a very good thought.

When I first got home I felt very sick and dizzy and the pain was bad. Gradually things have improved and I'm off most of the painkillers now, although I still take a couple at night which is when the cast comes into its own as a disruptor of sleep. It is just plain uncomfortable  and every night involves arranging and re-arranging cushions in a desperate attempt to get comfortable and every so often waking P up as well. In the middle of last night, unable  to sleep, I picked up a small book on learning Welsh. I woke up half way through the book with the light still on, I didn't seem to learn any Welsh though which I'd like to do as we visit there quite often. I wonder how many other languages I could not learn in order to get some sleep.