Home days 231- 272. November 9th - December 21st 2021

 Another lengthy gap since my last update and again, another very busy couple of weeks. I realised that the posts were getting a little lengthy so I’ll concentrate on just a couple of key things.

Lots going on with my rehabilitation and I continue to have problems with the healing of the skin graft site on my left leg. It’s taking a long time to heal and is constantly becoming infected. That said, little by little I am managing to wean myself off the high doses of painkillers. Hopefully this will help blow away some of the Brain fog I seem to have.

I mentioned in my last post that I had been in touch with @openbionics. Well at the beginning of this month I had my first Face to face appointment. The Prosthetist, Kameron, was so informative and patient and the afternoon just flew by. By the end, initial scans of my arm had been taken and the muscle contact sites identified so that we could be sure that I had the ability to operate the Hero arm. Thankfully, I could 🙂

https://vm.tiktok.com/ZM83bfnbA/

We have been looking at the Hero arm since my initial amputations and David has been a huge advocate of both it and the company, but it wasn’t until I actually tried it that I appreciated the possibilities it offered and the change it could bring. I’m at the very start of my Bionic journey and I’ll keep you up to date as we move toward making it happen.

The visit to Bristol included my return to Air travel after almost 2 years and my first as an amputee. I have to thank everyone at Newcastle and Bristol airports who made it so manageable. It also included further examples of how inaccessible city centres can be. I always thought that the UK had opened up to Disabilities and that wheelchair access was much more available than I have actually found it to be. It appears that Wheelchair friendly, like any friendship, can range from Nodding acquaintance to Best friend with unfortunately the norm being the nod 😞

And finally ( I said I’d try and keep this one shorter) I visited my usual Hairdresser this week for my pre Christmas do. A far cry from a year ago with David racing down to London to visit me in hospital before they locked the capital down ….hmmm, wait a minute🤔…..Anyway, while he was waiting for me, two little girls came into the salon and were waiting for their mother. As per Social distancing there were limited seats in the waiting area so David offered his seat to one of the sisters and moved himself into my wheelchair. They soon struck up a conversation and as a result David says that his knowledge of the Pokemon universe is much clearer.

Eventually the little girl asked why David was in the wheelchair? He explained that it wasn’t for him and he pointed to me, draped in my apron with my prosthetic legs sticking out of the bottom. Then followed a conversation as to why I had prosthetic legs. David was very good and avoided the Shark attack story, instead explaining that I had been poorly and Doctors had had to remove my legs. The little girl nodded solemnly then quickly turned, smiled and said “Well at least she’s still got her arms 🙂” David had to say “ Well actually….”….. and proceeded to explain that underneath the apron my hands were missing too.

Once again she listened intently and asked lots of questions. Once all of her questions were exhausted she thought for a little while more and then exclaimed “ Well at least she’s still got her head!” 

And that Pearl of wisdom from the mouth of a little girl we’d never met before is a mantra for moving forward. No matter what has happened over these last 12 months, even though it’s a little fuzzier than previously, I’ve still got my head!🙂