June - July 2022

 I wasn’t sure it was worth doing an update this month as on the face of it, nothing has changed. I’m still mostly stuck in bed. The wounds to my revisions are healing well but this bloody skin graft is taking forever!.

So as I say, nothing to report. Nothing extraordinary has happened.

But wait a second…Didn’t we say that was the aim of this blog? To show the everyday, mundane and boring experiences of an amputee.

There are many people with disabilities doing amazing things to raise awareness in the wider community, and I wish I was in a position to do the same. Hiking up a mountain. Jumping from a plane. Swimming across open water. ( Okay, maybe not the open water thing because (a) I can’t swim and (b) I never liked be in water deeper than being able to put my feet on the bottom. Now I have no feet, how’s that going to work 🤔)…but you get my drift..But being stuck in bed, im not able to do much at all. Again, nothing Extraordinary has happened.

Not being up and about, gives you much more time to think and reflect but thankfully also talk. In the course of our chatting we realised that one of the definitions of Extraordinary is …unusual, outside the normal course of events…Well this prolonged period of inactivity is unusual for me now. 

Since coming out of hospital and getting up onto my legs, laying around in one room most of the time isn’t my usual course of events. I’m supposed to be up and walking. I’m supposed to be increasing my strength and balance. I’m supposed to be moving forward.To not be doing this now feels unusual. Extraordinary, but not in a good way.

So what’s preventing the shift back to my ordinary? Well apart from this bloody skin graft ( not known now simply as skin graft !) I suppose it’s What ifs. What if putting legs back on damages my revision sites? What if the straps damage my new and improved “90 degree rotated” knee? What if my bloody skin graft breaks down again and I have another 18 months of daily dressing changes by the District nurses?

I also see the extra strain this puts on David , on top of his 12 hour shifts at work and I see how tired he looks. What if this makes him really ill? What if he’s involved in a car accident on his 2 hour commute each day through tiredness. I see how many partnerships have suffered as a result of life changing events.What if he decides this isn’t what he signed up for?

The last 10 weeks or so have prompted a lot of talking with each other, with family and, for both of us, Counsellors. We have to recognise the What ifs but we can’t be afraid of them. What if my revisions give me the best fit for my prosthetics so far? What if the ops succeed in giving me a greater sense of touch in my arms? What if I gain more independence as a result ( which is obviously the whole point of the revisions)

So as an update, it’s been an extraordinary month😂..Here’s to a bit more ordinary one next month 🙂