Oh la la! Paris on crutches
So after a bit of humming and haaing about the wisdom of a trip to Paris in hard cast I did decide to go and I’m so glad I did because it was great!
We flew from Luton airport and when we booked the flights we ticked the box for special assistance. This was the best thing ever because we were so well looked after. A whole army was mobilised to get me onto the plane with no problems whatsoever. I felt like a one woman employment creation scheme! I might not be able to walk, but by golly I can jump, queue jump that is!
Wheelchair was waiting for me at Charles de Gaulle and they pushed me past all the immigration queues etc to the train station. After that we were on our own and I was slightly nervous the first time I jumped onto an escalator (!) but I soon got the hang of it and all was well. We did cars/planes/train/underground train/bus/luggage trolley!
We had the most awesome lunch which I wouldn’t have missed for the world - 10 course ‘degustation’ menu (ie. hit us with everything you’ve got, monsieur le chef) which took 4 hours!!!! Then hubby and I strolled/crutched around in the evening before collapsing into hotel for the night.
Next day we went to some of the sights, including some more outrageous queue-jumping at the Louvre. I was totally knackered by the time we got home and two days later my shoulders are stiil aching like mad, but it was really worth it.
So if you are planning to travel while recovering, just call for help (even if you think you can probably cope) because there are loads of people employed to provide help and if we don’t use them then they’ll be taken away. And why just cope when you can smile and wave and glide past all the other poor tourists who have to queue for hours!
Amazed to see the explosion of new people on the site after just a few days away. Have ATRs suddenly got trendy or something?!
Smoley
Filed under Uncategorized | Comments (4)7 weeks post op - Fainting in the plaster room!!
God, I feel like such a sissy!
Turned up at plaster room today for the fortnightly plaster change and foot repositioning. Feeling happy that this will be the last plaster and I’m rounding the bend into the home straight (of the plaster stage at least). Remember I’m on the UK NHS stone-age track where they still think the best plan is to have you NWB in hard cast for 9 weeks!
Then suddenly I’m surprised - “If we can get your foot to 90 degrees we can put you in a walking cast,” says the nice lady. This was unexpected - cool! She doesn’t mean a boot or anything, don’t get too excited, just a hard cast set so you can put your foot down. So they cut off the old cast and, oh dear oh dear oh dear . What a sad sight emerges blinking into the light. Surely to God that’s not my leg? Yes, apparently it is. I could weep with despair (but I don’t - stiff upper lip ). I console myself that winter is coming - all long trousers and boots and thick socks.Very, very thick socks.
So then I have a few minutes to give it a little wiggle, which feels okay, but very feeble. The muscle which runs alongside the shin-bone is just non-existent. The other plaster room lady arrives and they stick a prop/frame under my knee like usual and then we have the routine battle of trying to get my leg to just relax and it really doesn’t want to - less than ever this time. After weeks of nothing, suddenly Mr.Leg is expected to crank into a new position and he says “Foxtrot Oscar!”
We all really want to get my foot to 90 degrees but it soon becomes apparent that it isn’t going to go. They are pushing my foot up and it isn’t exactly hurting but it very tight everywhere and my ankle joint feels just solid, especially at the front bizarrely. Lady no.2 is battling to push the foot into the right position and my leg is refusing to let her. I’m trying so hard to relax and breath and go floppy, when suddenly my ears start to buzz and I feel very faint indeed (I never faint - I’m made of girders). They quickly drop down the back of the couch/table and I lie back which helps the faint feeling and the leg relaxing. Don’t know why I was sitting up in the first place. Eventually the new plaster is on, but we haven’t achieved the magic 90, so it’s another NWB cast. I’m not too gutted because it’s not like I was expecting a walking cast anyway.
We are off to Paris for a 1 night stay next Tuesday and, in an effort to be helpful, the ladies have fitted me in for an extra appointment next Monday to try to get the little bit of extra push so I can have a walking cast. This is very nice of them, but at the moment I think I’ll cancel it, for two reasons. Firstly, I don’t really want to go on a plane in a brand new cast which always feels tight at first so any in-flight swelling, however minimal, really has nowhere to go, and anyway the airline policy says that casts under 48 hours old should be split (although I suppose that could be done as soon as it has set hard). Secondly, I’ve been NWB for so long I am very strong and proficient on the crutches. As and when I’m suddenly allowed to walk a bit, albeit in a hard cast, I probably should not be bounding up and down the boulevards of Paris, but pottering carefully at home. Better the devil you know and all that. But I’ll mull it over in the next couple of days. Of course, if I was in a lovely air-cast boot like my friends states-side none of this would be much of an issue (grumble, grump, mumble).
Despite today not being a total success, I’m still due to come out of cast altogether in 2 weeks. I’ve been told to turn up with 2 shoes, plus heel lifts for the injured side. Blimey! No mention of physios or anything, just my new bezzy mates in the plaster room.
This process is a bit like climbing a mountain - you battle up a steep slope to what you think is the summit, but just as you get there you see it’s not the summit at all, and there’s a whole load more mountain to come. About time somebody installed a nice cable-car on this damn mountain! Preferably one with an on-board bar!
Love to all,
Smoley
Filed under Uncategorized | Comments (11)5 weeks post op - Yet another cast!
Haven’t really had much to say recently because I’m just doing time, ticking off the weeks in the hard cast. The good bit is that I am now over half way through.
It’s now five weeks since the injury and the op. Can’t remember what it feels like to just walk normally from A to B! I have developed a really bad habit at looking at people with their lovely “normal” legs and wondering what it must be like to not have to spare a thought for your achilles tendons. Sad or what? I’m forced to watch “Strictly Come Dancing” with my children and by the end I’m seething with hatred for all the dancers!
But today I chalked off another waymaker - it was back to the plaster room for a new cast. I didn’t need a consultation so it was straight to the ladies in the plaster room. They have a very gently gently approach, so as soon as I felt the stretch they didn’t push anymore. The fibreglass bandages take a few minutes to dry and the foot tends to relax down again while they are still soft so the ladies held it up gently until the stuff dried hard so I’d fix in the right position. That was about it. Hubby came in this time and agreed that the scar looks very neat and didn’t think my calf had withered too badly.
I was able to flex my foot quite well by myself which was satisfying. It’s a long and deathly dull process being in hard cast but it does seem to be working. I have asked my ortho consultant friend (he works at the same hospital) why they don’t make more use of the boot and I told him about all the US bloggers who get booted up very quickly. His answer was a bit vague and frankly I don’t think he has an especially high opinion of US orthopaedic practises generally (sorry). He did mention patient compliance as one reason - i.e., we stick you in a cast and you can’t go and do anything too stupid! I thought this was a bit of a lame (sorry again) excuse. His argument really boiled down to, “Look, this way works so just shut up and get on with it”. Fair enough.
Feeling a bit detached from the rest of the world. I do miss the stuff I’d previously have said was quite dull, like taking the kids to and from school, but that’s when you meet the other Mums and have a natter and find out what’s going on. So have been making the effort to crutch down the road into the village occasionally. But this week is very wet and cold so there hasn’t been too much of that. I’ve been making curtains and cushions etc like a mad woman so at least I feel productive. Still really miss walking the dog in the woods but that is still a long way off.
I have just re-read what I’ve written and if you’ve got to this point with out dying of boredom then you are made of strong stuff! I will try and get round to recording “My night in the orthopaedic ward” soon because that’s much more entertaining (as long as you’re not easily offended)!
Smoley
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