Here's my leg in the brace which I'm now wearing some of the time. (It actually has another strap and goes up to the top of my thigh) I can't 'walk' at all without it and like the extra support when out in the car or the wheelchair but when lounging around at home it comes off. My leg looks pretty weird when I take it off as it has bulges where the gaps between the straps were. Took some photos but they don't look very nice really.
Went to physio yesterday. She didn't look all that impressed with my attempt at walking which ok is perhaps more like me leaning on the frame and dragging my feet along the floor but hey I'm impressed with it. Don't think she thought much of my quads either which are not exactly bulging, more like barely visible. I need to keep working at building them up (ouch) because apparently they help with walking. However she was pleased with my knee bending which has gone up to 40 degrees. Yay!
After all that exercise my knee was complaining a bit. At about 3 am dosed up with naproxen and cocodamol and still in pain I gave in and took some of the oral morphine I brought home from hospital. That worked.
Think I need a little nap.
It was back to the fracture clinic yesterday. My appointment was bang in the middle of visiting time so we knew we had to get there early. P had arranged to do some gardening for a neighbour for a couple of hours after school drop-off then come back and get me to the bathroom to get ready then a quick sandwich and head for the hospital.
As soon as they'd left for school Mavis (as in elderly lady at previous church whom we help out quite a lot) phoned:
"Can you get me a new belt for my hoover?"
"Yes, but I don't honestly know if we can manage it today, I've got an appointment at the hospital and it could be a long time."
"Oh" sounding bit humpy "well can you get it by next Friday when my cleaner comes?"
"Yes we can definitely do that."
Anyway we got to the hospital an hour and a quarter early and got one of the last few spaces left in the car park. Went to the office to get my insurance form (which pays £11 for each night I was in hospital) stamped and they charged £10! £10 to put a rubber stamp on it. That's almost a whole night in hospital's worth.
We hung out in the coffee shop for a while then decided to register half an hour early. A few minutes later my name appeared on the screen so we headed to the clinic where I got into conversation with another woman in a wheelchair who had been on the same three wards as I had and had been in a room down the corridor from mine. This was cut short when I was told to go to x-ray where we waited for ages. When I got to see the consultant it was good news - the fracture has healed completely so I just need to work (hard) in getting the knee to bend and I can put weight on the leg. I can also take the brace off when I want.
Yippee! Thank you Lord!
I went home and with the brace still on and leaning on the walking frame I walked a few steps! I didn't think my feet would remember how to walk but they did.
I took the brace off while I slouched on the sofa and it felt so comfortable that I left it off in bed. I woke up in the early hours with my back and leg muscles complaining. I was awake for quite a long time waiting for the painkillers to work but it was ok - it was Saturday we could sleep late.
Mavis phoned at 7.30: had we got her hoover belt?
I tried to get back to sleep but couldn't so I got P to get me the laptop and ordered the wretched hoover belt from ebay.
I did some knee bending and P measured the angle (which he seems to enjoy) and said it was 34 degrees. Wow!
I think I'll put the brace on when I'm in the car or out in the wheelchair to protect my leg from bumps and try and keep it off at home.
I have an ambition: to manage to get from the bedroom to the bathroom by myself. That would be wonderful.
J's uni application has been occupying our thoughts quite a lot recently as it has to be sent in soon. He's decided on his course - and is applying to Cambridge, two London colleges (cost of accommodation is a concern) amd two non-London colleges. He has been working on his personal statement which has been submitted to the Head of 6th form for the second time having made some corrections. He's filled in most of the details on the form now - there's a lot to enter especially as you have to list every exam module result.
Just need to get references from teachers and then he has to have an interview with the 6th form Head then it's time to send it off. In a couple of weeks he could be getting offers coming through. He's having to study for some entrance exams. He is working hard for these and he has to really. He's also getting quite a lot homework this year. His school got excellent GCSE results but the A-level results were so poor they weren't even mentioned on the school website. Normally the headteacher somehow manages to put a positive spin on things but this year he just couldn't manage it and P said when he went in for the Invigilator's training day there just seemed to be a general air of despondency when it came to the summary of the A-level results. So what they want the Year 13s to be doing is working hard. I feel sorry for the Head of 6th form because she's just back from maternity leave so she's dealing with trying to get them all to work harder, processing uni applications plus teaching then going home to take care of a baby. Hope it sleeps at night.
Was just reading previous post about spending nights arranging pillows just trying to get comfortable with the cast and ending up in tears and realised that the brace is definitely better. Most nights I do actually sleep quite well and can sleep on my right side if I lift my left leg over the right one and rest it on a pillow. One night I tried rolling over so I could sleep on my (preferred) left side but there was a horrible klunk of bones grinding together from my knee. Euuurgh!
I'm still working at trying to get my knee to bend but it's not going all that well really. I got it to 20 degrees with (P bullying me a bit) but the next day it really hurt a lot and the next and the next so I felt I needed to rest it for a couple of days. It was a lot less painful after that but it's only bending to 10 degrees now.
The operation wound has now turned into a scar and is healing very well.
I'm still trusting God that's it all going to be ok in the end.
Back blogging again. Have been absent due to laptop going in for repair. For reasons that are probably mainly to do with my ineptitude with computers I'm only easily able to log on to blog from the laptop. For reasons that are beyond comprehension the laptop spent almost three weeks in the courier's depot and a few hours in the repair centre. It just needed the fan replacing and now no longer feels like a cooker after using it for 10 minutes.
Anyway things are going ok-ish. I'm still not meant to put weight on my right leg so still going around in a wheelchair with my leg sticking out like a battering ram. When I went to the Fracture Clinic 3 weeks ago they took off the plaster and put it in a metal brace. Trying to work out if this is better than the plaster - it's lighter and I can scratch most of my itches now but it's still not all that comfortable. Have had a physio appointment and been given exercises to do at home to try and get knee to bend but so far with not a great deal of success - or is getting to a bend of 15 degrees in 3 weeks good? Tried forcing it to 20 degrees then ended up in a load of pain. Feel a bit concerned about it really but going back to the clinic this week and will see what they say.
Need to go now - J needs laptop.
