Tuesday 29 March 2011

BritMitFit - Broke Me

So started to get myself fit on Shrove Tuesday, beautiful morning, sun shining, down on the beach, up and down the shingle medicine balls up and down in and out the water throwing stones, jump, jump. run, run. Warm up over.

Off we go, the ones in blue vests, those not as fit, or newcomers, jumped 2ft off a breakwater, perfect, and again and what have you got, a broken ankle and a lardy arse stuck on the shingle.

Anyway without going into detail of what happened next, the fun started at A&E where the Emergency Nurse Practitioner, also an ex marine thinks too, that i have just pulled something. i only have gone to hospital as i think they will be able to give me more pain relief than at the local chemist, but i did hear a snap, and hope that on one will notice.

The marine that i have arrived with wheels me round to xray and sure enough its broken in three places, and something is shifted which means an operation and worse an admittance to the ward.

i start to panic, i can't, i have children and a life, i have to go home, just put it in a cast, it will heal.
"you can either get it fixed or be a cripple for the rest of your life", says the ENP, so, this is what they learn on the Breaking Bad News Course, but, it is an option in my mind at least i can go and get dinner on the table and get home to where surely the nightmare will all end.

But no, into A&E proper where my marine apologies and i ask him to leave as he has done all he can and i can cry my little eyes out with the pain and the disbelieve. They give me entinox and position the leg in an open back slab and tell me that i can't have my op today as the fucking swelling has to go down and that might take a day or two. so i inhale with all my might to get as bombed as possible and disappear in to the land of out of it.

Can't Sleep
This is on the ward in the middle of the night finishing my eldest daughters scarf that took all of 10 minutes. Nil by mouth from midnight for op on the Wednesday, didn't matter i got cancelled at 4 in the afternoon. More crying and managed a peppermint tea and a couple of shortbreads before going nil again from midnight
i have to say that i tried everything to get up the op list, including pleading that i was still feeding my baby, which didn't wash when they found out that she is well over one.

OP Done, Got a New Boot
They weren't sure if i would get my surgery on the Thursday, i was number 4 to go down and at 2pm they still were working on number 1, but i felt that they would run out of time to do 2 and 3 and sure enough that's what happened. G and I had decided that it wasn't going to go ahead so he had gone home and so i went down on my own trying not think of dying at the hands of the gas man.

The Consultant Anesthetist said he had heard that i was feeding my baby and he could use a special cocktail which would enable me to continue, they didn't use it very often, she hadn't had a feed since Monday night, she'll be fine, I'll take the regular that everyone else has.
He also said that despite it being a smallish repair it was likely to be very painful and he would try and give me a nerve block but he couldn't guarantee that it would work and i should be ready for that.
No matter, just get me through it and out the other side

2 hours to come round after op, felt like i was sleeping with a concrete block on my leg, and no, the nerve block didn't really work.

Through the Night Thursday

This is me through the night, oramorph, IV paracetamol, oxygen and anything else i could get down.
By the way, worse than all of this was having my bottom wiped by a lovely nurse who i am likely to see at the local park.
Physio Friday, got a zimmer, off painkillers by night fall, home to see my children on Saturday, thanks to family for stepping in an giving them a great time. A proper wash too. Lovely.
G picked me up and took me home like all good boyfriends should, just as well because my cards were shuffled under the anesthetic and i couldn't cope on the ward anymore, i was the youngest there by a good forty years and i didn't mind the dementia or the organic smells but the constant coming and going of visitors and staff was sending me over the edge. Edna, the Kathleen's, Celia, love ya, but i was ready to start screaming
 
Home - Close to the Toilet
I can do nothing, everything has to be brought to me and its a difficult lesson to learn.

G Brings Breakfast
Second Cast, I hated the Boot
After 11 days back up to fracture clinic, they gave me this lovely cast and my friend a few years ago gave me those cashmere socks both nice to look at. i will be in this for 4 weeks and after 2 weeks i might be able to put some weight on it. In the meantime, toes to nose, to get the swelling down. But at least i can shuffle around on my arse maybe i will get that work out after all.

Keep you posted, things are all over the place
Regards CM

1 comment:

  1. Right, me and Catherine have just sorted (hopefully) the crappy comment bit. You should now be able to leave comments without having to sign into anything. Oh and I did all this from my IPad 2!
    Gareth

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