March 2023

 Hello all. Just a very brief update this time ( don’t I say that every time?😂)

March is a very special month for me as it is the month that I was discharged from hospital, finally coming home after almost 14 months . Inevitably, that anniversary always makes me reflect on the massive changes that homecoming brought and my progress in that time.

It’s 2 years since my rehabilitation in my home environment started proper and I can’t help feeling that I should be further on than I am, doing bigger and better things than I do. We took a holiday in Fuertaventura and we spent a lot of time talking about it. I say it’s 2 years since I came out of hospital but David says it’s ONLY two years since I came out of hospital. I’m obviously a little more impatient than he is. And as we realised, there we were on a foreign holiday discussing what I should and shouldn’t be doing. Somewhere I could never have seen myself being when I first came home.

So what’s holding me back? What’s preventing me from climbing mountains and jumping out of planes to raise awareness? I know that I have physical limitations but what makes me disabled? Does my not having hands and feet or being a wheelchair user make me less able to do certain things ( obviously, I hear you thinking) or is it that the environment and facilities around me aren’t sufficient or suitable enough to enable me to do things?

Now stick with me here because this isn’t a militant disability activist rant or a poor me cry. It’s a conversation David and I had while we were away prompted by an episode of Desert island discs with actress Liz Carr from Silent Witness. It’s a very entertaining and, for us, thought provoking interview. I won’t pick apart our whole conversation about it but I’ll include the link to let you hear for yourselves and form your own thoughts.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001k7ks?partner=uk.co.bbc&origin=share-mobile

Liz makes some excellent points and gave us a little more perspective on what it is that limits my abilities to enjoy everyday things. In truth, it’s a multitude of things. How I’m feeling. Where I am in my healing process as well as what facilities are around me. Not an easy one to nail down really. 

So, in the meantime, I’m going to concentrate on things that do enable me. I’m determined to walk down the aisle without sticks on my wedding day and the only way to do that is to keep improving my core strength. Only five weeks to go so Leila is pushing me hard at Pilates. 😓

Wedding plans coming along at quite a pace now so hopefully my next blog will be a chance to share some of the big day with you all 🙂. Until then, take care all.