It comes as a bit of a surprise to remember that for monthly meetings I attend I am submitting my 2nd apology. I really hope I shall not need to submit a 3rd one.
I had a chat last night with the duty nurse about, what is to me, the stupidity of ordering an ambulance to take me 260m to the Fracture Clinic. She says just to sit back and accept that this is the way it is done; I just can't imagine the £m that are being wasted. I asked what the procedure really is on Monday and have been advised that I must get myself ready to go by 07:30 but I may not not leave my room until the ambulance is at the door - that could be any time between 07:30 and 09:30. I can so easily wheel myself in the wheelchair I currently have access to, leaving at say 09:00 and be there by 09:15 but that's not permitted. No wonder the NHS is running a budget deficit. I am sure there are patients who do need an ambulance transfer for such small distances but there must be many hundreds a day who don't and could contribute to significant savings for the NHS.
A fairly quiet day so far (15:00) but one big excitement is that an electric wheelchair has been delivered - I'd prefer not, at this stage, to say from whence it came but I am delighted to be able to use it until such time as I am able to walk reasonable distances on my own and the wheelchair goes off to do the job it was purchased for. It is just so comfortable and my bum does not look big in it! I'll give it a good try out at all the events that are taking place in Stoke Bruerne on Saturday 12-December and Sunday 13-December.
I should be at the South East Waterways quarterly meeting in Banbury tomorrow evening but, sadly, that's a non-starter for me - goodness only knows what a wheelchair taxi would cost to get to Banbury and back again and then I don't know what the disabled facilities would be like when I get there. This broken hip has made me acutely aware of the challenges one faces when disabled - I am, with any luck, going to be able to walk away from this (until I do the same thing again!) but there are so many people who can't and I must say that being disabled in modern Britain, whilst hugely better than ever it was, is still not as good as it could be in my opinion.
Very helpful visits this evening from Mike P who brought some Amazon parcels for me and Sarah from CRT who had kindly pressed my cross stitch backing.
A long text discussion with my friend Sue has made me realise how challenging the next few months could be because a broken hip is, in reality, quite a 'traumatic' injury with the potential to go quite wrong. I am apprehensive (I think understandably) about Monday's Fracture Clinic appointment because I now think I understand what could go wrong and I just hope that they find everything is in order with my hip. I have done my best with the exercises and each day things seem to become easier and the range of movement does improve however small that improvement is - I can almost get my right leg onto a handle in the shower which means I could wash my foot more easily!
A fairly quiet day so far (15:00) but one big excitement is that an electric wheelchair has been delivered - I'd prefer not, at this stage, to say from whence it came but I am delighted to be able to use it until such time as I am able to walk reasonable distances on my own and the wheelchair goes off to do the job it was purchased for. It is just so comfortable and my bum does not look big in it! I'll give it a good try out at all the events that are taking place in Stoke Bruerne on Saturday 12-December and Sunday 13-December.
I should be at the South East Waterways quarterly meeting in Banbury tomorrow evening but, sadly, that's a non-starter for me - goodness only knows what a wheelchair taxi would cost to get to Banbury and back again and then I don't know what the disabled facilities would be like when I get there. This broken hip has made me acutely aware of the challenges one faces when disabled - I am, with any luck, going to be able to walk away from this (until I do the same thing again!) but there are so many people who can't and I must say that being disabled in modern Britain, whilst hugely better than ever it was, is still not as good as it could be in my opinion.
Very helpful visits this evening from Mike P who brought some Amazon parcels for me and Sarah from CRT who had kindly pressed my cross stitch backing.
A long text discussion with my friend Sue has made me realise how challenging the next few months could be because a broken hip is, in reality, quite a 'traumatic' injury with the potential to go quite wrong. I am apprehensive (I think understandably) about Monday's Fracture Clinic appointment because I now think I understand what could go wrong and I just hope that they find everything is in order with my hip. I have done my best with the exercises and each day things seem to become easier and the range of movement does improve however small that improvement is - I can almost get my right leg onto a handle in the shower which means I could wash my foot more easily!
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