Hitting the Road

 

Full throttle in Tescos 

With a bit of planning Danielle drove me in my car to Tesco. It felt like a grand day out as it was the furthest I had been since the operation. Tesco is no big deal but just like COVID times it represented a change of scene. I was determined not to have a wheelchair to get round the shop. To me this would be a sign of giving in to failure. To start with it was a bit tricky with two crutches and a trolley but soon realised I could hop, hang onto the trolley and put the crutches on top of the shopping. The wheels moved freely so through doing that I could get up a bit of speed up and down the aisles.

Danielle walked beside me with Mattaya in another trolley giving me a spotter in case I fell. I managed quite well considering. I limited my route around the shop by getting all the veg at the same time and then all the dairy stuff so I did not need to cover my tracks. However, by the time I reached the checkout I was done in. I never imagined shopping to be so exhausting. On my way round the shop so many people offered their support and asked what I had done. It was quite a social outing, even en route to the exit, I was asked if I wanted help with the trolley. The world really is a lovely place. Danielle brought the car round to the door and by that time I was really thankful I did not have to get to the parked car. Perhaps a Tesco Express would have been more manageable in retrospect. 

The way home was fraught. Mattaya was hungry and let us know - constantly. There was loads of shopping to be brought in but most importantly we needed to get a starving soul fed. We managed it. Once you have a happy baby, everything else is possible. The big downside of my grand day out was that I had hurt my other heel so much I could not stand up. I spent two days walking on my hands and knees for the most part and even now it is more painful than my bad leg. Silly me!

When I was getting in the car to set off to the shop my neighbour ran out to me. He thought I had fallen off my bike. I always say what a lovely village I live in. He offered to help if I needed anything. Even the pub jokingly said they could wheel me home in a wheelbarrow. 

A full set of crutches plus

Diane and Jeremy came round on Friday for coffee and then a trip to the pub. Before this op I never considered popping to the pub as part of my training regimen but now I realise how much effort I need to garner to get through the door, I’ll certainly include it in my new training programme when I am back on two feet. 

And so, this coming week I am off to hospital once more and this means I will be able to put weight on my bad leg. I can’t wait. I imagine life to be so much better on two legs however dodgy they may be. The biggest problem with this operation is fear of rupturing the repair of the tendon. That is why it takes so long. Patience is something I don’t possess in any quantity, unfortunately. 

Ups and Downs

Highlight of the week. Trip to the Barley Mow 

Nearly two weeks since the op and here I am still sitting on the sofa. My world is tragically small but I know that is not going to be that way for long. I am filling my time writing a book about Naser and Syria. So far, so good on that front. I think I’m ready to do Syria as my Mastermind speciality. Google has a record of the strange trail of things I have checked up on by now. I just wonder how those algorithms work in cases such as mine.

I titled this blog; Ups and Downs as this is what I take so much time doing. I am getting pretty nippy on the stairs. I go up on one leg and two hands. I can reach down to pick things up on one crutch and I can get my evening glass of wine from the kitchen to the coffee table by crawling and moving it along the floor in front of me. I continue to show Mattaya how to crawl – I hope she is impressed! Some things have just become routine as my new way of existing.

There have been a few blips though, I fell into the wardrobe. Easily done! I was balancing on a crutch on my left side and holding the doorknob with my right hand… Oops, no hands. I needed a t-shirt so I flung the crutch backwards onto the bed, leaned in to grab the t-shirt when the knob fell off the door! I fell in headfirst – silly me. Narnia revisited!

Diane and Jeremy said there are adverts on television advertising aids to help the elderly around the home. The particular one they say I should try and emulate is  the one where a sprightly, middle-aged woman enters the shower with a fixed smile and wrapped in a towel. Apparently, the towel remains wrapped around the body and dry throughout the shower. Handy! I have been working on the fixed smile as I perch on the stall in the shower (no towel needed). However, a soap on a rope would be a useful addition to my routine. Showering with a plastic bag tied on the cast tied up with a pink ribbon has been easy. This technique has been 100% successful so far.

I am also getting creative in finding ways to get myself clad with just one hand while balancing on a crutch. Putting knickers on is my biggest challenge. I also only wear jumpers that have a front pouch so I can carry my phone. Sleeping has caused the most problems for me. I started off with a pillow under my poorly leg. This pillow always ended up on the floor so I gave up. Then after a week, the strapping around the cast began to disintegrate overnight. The fluffy cushioning pushed through the bandages. Danielle brought Shadow’s bandages over to do a repair job. This lasted one night and now that strapping is also falling off after a night’s sleep. I have nearly two more weeks before the cast gets changed. I can see a big apology coming on about the state of my dressing when I see the doctor.

Ezra-Mae is very concerned about my poorly leg. I told her a doctor cut it open to make it better. She has promised to look after me. So far, so good – just a bit more training needed to get her to do some chores… child labour!

Meanwhile, I have visitors who come and see me, make coffee and sort themselves out. I got to the pub in the rain with Danielle as my spotter. It is a bloody long way on one leg. My standards are slipping on all fronts. The house hasn’t been cleaned for two weeks and I am OK with that as I know I’ll be more mobile once I have a new cast - not long to wait now… Yippee!

 

Me getting my shoe off after a trip to the Barley Mow- Danielle likes these compromising pics

Ouch

I set off to Kent this week to have my heel hacked. Literally. The surgeon has sawn off a chunk of bone and reattached a cleaned-up achilles tendon. Dave from the Community Orchard asked for the bonemeal to help the plants grow but the surgeon said that wasn’t possible. I left a bit of me behind. The hospital I used is amazing and it was NHS. It is a calm haven where everything runs so smoothly. There I was answering the questions of the anaesthetist and then a nurse was asking me if I wanted to sit up. Marvellous stuff. All done. A lady phoned me up the morning following the operation to ask if I was OK. She seemed genuinely interested in my welfare – how unusual!

Jane and Cliff – friends from long, long ago – looked after me, ran me around and made me feel really comfortable. It is always lovely catching up with them. They are my “go to” place as they live close to Benenden – sadly, they have been stuck with me imposing myself on them.

Getting sorted out was nothing short of a military campaign. Sammi is on my car insurance now so he got the train to Appledore on the marshes and then cycled to Tenterden after he had finished his lecture. When he got to Tenterden he was a bit lost so he called up. Cliff inadvertently redirected him – so he did a bit of a tour of the town in the dark. No problems – he found me eventually.

So with the bike, the crutches and paraphernalia packed in my car we set off for Cosgrove. We got home about half eleven. Poor old Sammi was exhausted. Now he is looking after me. Coffee on tap being my biggest demand, but I still manage to get up in the morning before him. 

This bit is especially for Sam’s friends who don’t know what he is doing. I understand that his commitment to keeping in touch is pretty low. Extenuating circumstances can be blamed such on uncle duties and a Nokia 3310 – no joke!

Meanwhile, I am captive to my heel, and just hopping around the house as I can’t do any weight-bearing on my right leg for two weeks – that will get faster – I am in training. I have a Zimmer frame, thanks to Diane on the top floor, my crutches on the middle floor and Diane’s four-pronged walking stick in the basement. I get up and down stairs on my knees or bottom. Currently, I totter on one leg and a crutch to pull my knickers up after a visit to the loo or get in a bridge on one leg on the bed to get myself dressed. Not a pretty picture. The biggest problem is carrying anything. I haven’t worked that bit out yet. Next challenge - the pub done and dusted!

Returning from the Pub!

Letting things Slip

A while ago Sophie gave me a flavoured gin she didn’t like. It is apple and cinnamon flavoured. I put it in the boot of my car and wrapped it in a cloth bag to protect it. I remembered it was there but every time I thought about bringing it indoors, I had too many bags to carry. Enough was enough… my hands were laden with sports stuff and shopping but even so, I thought I had just enough space to pop it into my shopping bag that also had my handbag in it. I brought it indoors.

I smelled gin! The lid had popped off and about an inch of gin had soaked through my handbag and puddled at the bottom of my shopping bag. I washed the handbag and rinsed the inside of the shopping bag but still there was a distinct smell of gin. On my more recent outing to Tesco I was well aware that I exuded an odour of gin!! All I needed to make the image of a lush total was fluffy bedroom slippers and hair rollers. Hic!

I need not worry about the smell anymore. The bag that had the gin leak now smells of toilet bleach. The bottle I bought at Tesco had a pin-prick hole in it. This is not exactly a wholesome smell but rinsing the bag out has resulted in my shower smelling really clean.

I can also report that I no longer need to wobble on the loo. A long time ago Ezra-Mae stood on the seat cover and reached for the tap. This dislodged the fittings that helped the lid stay in place. Sammi then "fixed" it... a temporary solution actually. The rubber bungs had slipped inside so the lid became totally unstable. Jeremy has now saved me from future wobbles and slips. Thanks to his nifty repair job, I can poo without fear!

Toilet seat sorted so I have no fears when I am on one leg. Over this week I have been making a pile of things I need to take to the hospital – medication, baggy clothes, letter,  a big plastic bag to cover the cast and I have made a garter to seal the top of the plastic bag for showering. It reminded me of my school days and wearing fat elastic garters to keep knee-length hockey socks up over the pads. Life has gone full circle.

I went to IKEA with Danielle to get some stuff to make life potentially easier when I become a hop-a-long. As Danielle had Mattaya in the stroller, we went up in the lift in the store. Sharing the lift, a lady had both her children in a trolley sitting on a car rug. I asked if they were expensive. She said yes, very. I asked were they flat-pack. She laughed and said yes and very high maintenance. I just wonder which aisle she picked them up in. They are probably named Sven and Helga so I could look them up, I suppose. So onto the shopping, along with a basket to put toiletries in in the shower – that is so I don’t need to bend down on one leg -  I bought plants and plant pots – these are things I cannot resist. I wanted a stool to rest my knee on but I forgot that. I looked but I just couldn't decide. I can’t even remember the names of the things I looked at. I didn't even look for Sven or Helga. This means I am back to square one on the stool search. At least I already have one in the shower. 

This week, I went to visit Nicolas, who lives in Towcester, with Naser. Nataliia is in Odessa with Philip, the baby. so it was a boys’ night in and I tagged along! There are a few English jokes I just love besides Eric, the horse. The ones that start, “What’s the difference between…..” My favourite for English teachers is – What is the difference between a sentence and a cat? This led to scrolling Google and then asking ever more silly jokes that just don’t translate. To me, that makes them even funnier. I should have taken the gin that night!

Mattaya the Marmite eater

Mattaya laughs at everything - probably even my jokes. That makes me laugh. Danielle brought her over for lunch and she sat at the table and had Marmite on my sourdough. Thank Goodness she likes Marmite. I am not sure I could cope with a grandchild who refused to eat it. Danielle reckons I’ll be able to lean on the stroller and rock Mattaya back and forth while standing on one leg. These are Danielle’s future plans for my babysitting. I'll probably need a pain killer in a bottle if I do that. Let’s see! 

My we world