August - December 2022

 Well where did those 5 months go? A long time since the last update and so much has happened since then but don’t worry, this isn’t a blow by blow account. I just wanted to revisit the blog and bring you up to speed with where we have been and where we are heading 🙂

You may remember in the last blog that I had hit a bit of a bump in the road. Being stuck in bed for months had knocked both my progress and confidence. My revisions were a worry. Well there was nothing else to do but to just get out and put them to the test!

I spent from August to the end of the year doing just that. I fulfilled one of my aims of being able to dance one more time at a Coldplay concert in Wembley. I braved rail travel and the London Underground for the first time in a wheelchair. I carried on the dancing by attending Peter Kay’s Dance for Life in Liverpool and boogied away to ABBAs Voyage experience. My dancing was very conservative and short lived by my previous standards but I did it!

I say I but of course, I mean we. David was by my side throughout and as tiring and challenging as it was for me, I feared it was just as wearing for him. We took a much need holiday, our first trip abroad since becoming an amputee. I still wasn’t walking much on my prosthetics so transferring was still a challenge but after a couple of days we had worked out our way of getting around and spent the rest of the holiday resting and recharging.

Throughout all of this we have always said that we are a team and that’s how we approach each challenge. As I mentioned in my last post, David was still working 12 hour shifts and getting up in the middle of the night to drive to work. It was definitely taking its toll. Finally, he suggested that if we were going to concentrate on my rehabilitation and move forward together, he should become my full time carer. 

So after discussions with the relevant authorities and submissions to a panel for approval (?)  it was agreed. This of course meant that David would have to give up his job. A job that he loved. 

While I loved the idea of us being together and was relieved that he wouldn’t be stretching himself so much, I felt so guilty that he was having to make this decision because of me. He said that he wasn’t making the decision because of me. He was choosing to do it for us. We both want to use our experience of this to help inform and promote both Sepsis and Disability awareness and that would be better served doing it side by side…….Oh and talking about side by side, he also proposed!

So there we are! A busy 5 months. Lots of new experiences. Guest speaking at the UK Sepsis Nurses Annual Forum. Measurements for new legs. Fittings for my Bionic Hero arm which I should be collecting later this month 🦾 and the early start of wedding plans 🙂

https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMF3GNPuH/

I’m hoping we will have more time to keep you up to date with things as the year progresses but in the meantime can I thank everyone for their constant support and wish you all the very best for what will hopefully be a fabulous 2023.