I have a secret
I think that somewhere briefly mentioned that after moving into my new apartment I was ‘housebound’ (well, ‘apartment bound’ for that matter… Do you want to know WHY?
Do you want the simple truth?
I think it is confession time!
I have had an accident!
Recap:
April 2007 – my house went on the market
June 2007 – someone made me an offer to good to be true and experienced the The Stresses of Moving House.
July 2007 – Contracts were signed and NOT that I am superstitious, but the ONLY available date for moving my things was Friday 13th. Friday 13th has always been my lucky day, so I was happy 
…and not only that, the ‘timing’ was right, as I had booked a ticket to go to Peru in May, not even thinking my house would sell before. It was all happening!
October 16th 2007 – I moved into my new apartment (after my return from Peru), which is very close to the sea/beach.
11 days later:
October 27th 2007 – As usual I went for my early morning walk along the beach at about 7.15AM. I didn’t walk as far as I normally do, as I had blisters on both my heels from my new hiking boots. To keep a long, painful story short, ” I had a fall”! YES, ME who walks ALL of the time!
I have NO re-collection of what happened, no evidence of how it happened or even WHY it happened… HIGHER powers, that to me is obvious.
At the time of my fall I didn’t even feel any pain… I don’t want to sound to dramatic, but for sure the pain has come and is still going after almost 4 months ( and they say it takes 18 months for me to recover…AS IF!!)
Laying on the pavement at 7.45 AM in the morning, your foot pointing the other way, unable to get up or even move, cars going past (I stopped counting after 10) trying to get eye contact, but all you see is faces turning the other way doesn’t make you feel any better. I was grateful for my mobile phone. The Ambulance came (after quite some time), put my foot back into place (OUTCH!!!!), somehow shifted me into the ambulance and off we were to A&E. My old work collegue Allan (I used to work at A&E) injected Morphine. I felt better, even though the pain doesn’t really ease off, you just don’t care as much being drugged up. My right ankle was x-rayed, and I was told by the consultant that I ‘snapped’ both ankle bones of my right ankle….and when you think it can’t get any worse…
October 28th 2007 – I had surgery!
* Outside ankle: Plate with 7 screws
* Inside ankle: Double screw and almost 30 stitches (not enough skin to hold it all together)……
October 31st 2007 – HOME
After 6 weeks in a wheelchair (had to buy my own with elevated leg rest), use of zimmerframe at home and now on crutches, life seems to be a little more ‘normal’, even though, I still cannot drive (YET), do my usual shopping (can’t carry anything),do much domestic stuff at home, stand on a chair, bend my foot, kneel on the floor (very, very stiff and tight, swollen and bruised – up to my knee cap), sleep on my tummy, go swimming, cycling, dancing or wear high heels etc…it is ‘slow’ going, and even if my physio has been quite negative (which makes me work harder on my ankle), I feel that I am making GOOD progress. A lot of my progress I put that down to being positive towards what happened as well as my recovery. I have learned a lot about myself, others, who your friends are, who you can rely on (in times of need), that the pavements are uneven and not easy to use, especially when you are in a wheelchair and not to forget, even when you see the ‘wheelchair’ or ‘disabled’ sign, access is NEVER easy and sometimes quite impossible.
My secret is out now and I hope that I am forgiven, but I did not want to go on about my pains, the treatments and of course the ocassional loneliness.
