I’m on my way ......

 On Wednesday I woke up knowing that after all of the measuring and preliminary fitting the team would be bringing my completed prosthetic  Hooks  for me to try for the first time. It didn't matter how much I'd prepared myself, having them there in front of me and then putting them on for the first time, reality really did hit home 🙁 I'd discussed "my Hooks" a number of times but here I had the stark realisation that these were now "my Arms". I  had had a similar experience when I saw my prosthetic legs for the first time and, like them, I'm sure I'll get used to the Hooks but I just found it upsetting. I know that they are supposed to be extremely functional but, superficial as it seems, body image  is still a huge thing. On a practical level, I found that the left arm was really uncomfortable and I wasn't able to wear or use it. The right was okay though and with some practice I was able to open the split hook, although closing it was more...

 After the flurry of activity and successes of last week, and in the aftermath of the fall, the weekend found me feeling very low. It was the worst I had been for a very long time and felt as if it was me grieving for my old life and what I had anticipated it to be as I started out in a new job. Talking it through, maybe the lack of activity over the weekends gives me more time to contemplate so I’ve resolved to try and fill them more by looking for puzzles and mental exercises to keep me occupied and kick start my brain. There are only so many Box sets you can watch 😵 I decided Monday morning the best thing to do was to throw myself straight back into it and started with a good upper body workout using resistance bands. This was followed up with more Seated to stands and a personal best of 60 metres of uninterrupted walking. This left me feeling a lot more energised and positive. Today I found Seated to stands a lot easier and I’m managing to do more  on first attempt. We th...

 Things seem to have gathered pace this week with lots of ups and one very literal down. A great start to Monday when I found out during my dressing change that my right backside was almost fully healed and would soon be dressing free 🙂. This is great news as these wounds have been hampering my progress on so many levels. Later in the gym after managing a 20 metre walk with the pulpit, we finished of the session with the team setting me a challenge. There is a corridor that they had measured as being 50 metres long. They wanted to gauge my progress and set my onward goals by asking me to see how far along I could make on my own. Well that was me! I set off with my eyes fixed firmly on the end of the corridor. By midway I was starting to struggle and by the end I was hanging on to the pulpit for dear life with my feet going off in all directions but I completed the full 50 metres! The team were really pleased and as well as being able to gauge my strength we were able to assess thi...

 A good start on Tuesday when I was able to join a  group class in the gym concentrating on core strength. Just being back in the company of others was a nice change.  Wednesday I hit a significant milestone when I managed to get myself up from a sitting to a standing position unaided🙂. It felt good that I had managed to achieve a goal that had been had set for last week without too much delay. The ability to get myself up is going to be key in gaining my own independence and not always relying on the help of others. I followed straight on from this  with another group exercise class. Thursday....Shower day. The team decided not to proceed with trying out my wash arms but rather concentrate on standing on my legs in the shower. We had to be very careful with the water over my wounds, especially my left leg which is causing me some pain at the moment, but it was lovely to finally get under the shower after so long and I’m extremely grateful to the team for helping me...

 On Friday afternoon, having gotten over the worst of the infection and receiving a negative Covid test that cleared me to be transported off the ward, I finally transferred back to Queen Marys.  While it was good to be  "home" and to enjoy the warm welcome back from everyone, I woke up on Saturday feeling very down. I was missing my actual home and also really feeling the sense of physical distance from my loved ones. The break to my rehabilitation regime as a result of my time in St. Georges had also affected my confidence in getting up onto my legs. There were probably other factors but these were foremost in my mind. I decided the best thing was to rest up, continue my side-lying and spend time speaking with my family so that I was both physically and emotionally ready to get back to things on Monday. On Monday I was feeling more settled and felt better still when I was able to get myself up onto my legs. Having had my dressings changed, my right leg had finally heale...

 After finishing 2020 on a high, 2021 hasn’t gotten off to the start I was hoping for 🙁. Unfortunately I’ve succumbed to an infection and it’s knocked me for six! On New Year’s Day I woke up feeling cold but thought it was due to a window being left open overnight. I also had a headache but apart from that I thought I felt fine. By the evening however while we were FaceTiming, David had noticed that I was having difficulty holding a conversation for more than a couple of words at a time and asked if I could be checked over. Feeling cold, aches and pains, confusion could be symptoms of Sepsis and he was concerned it might be serious. It turned out that I was in fact running a temperature and I was very disoriented but I honestly didn’t realise. Given the current situation with Covid, they wanted to avoid moving me off the ward and started me off on antibiotics but by the following day my condition had deteriorated and I had to be transferred to St George’s where I have spent the la...