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I managed to slip over on 6-November-2015 and fracture the femoral head of my right hip. This blog is just to keep friends and relatives up-to-date with my recovery. It also will show where the NHS is good and where there is opportunity to improve. If you click the images tab (above) there are a few images of the break before and after the repair.

Update 10-June-2016 - sadly the femoral head has avascular necrosis and a total hip replacement will be carried out on 15-June-2016

I am home in Stoke Bruerne

Friday 18 December 2015

Day 43

It is six weeks today since I broke my hip - where does the time go to?  Co-incidentally is is also 5 years today since mother died. I think we all felt it was the right time and I am pleased she no longer has to put up with a world she increasingly failed to understand.  She made it to the grand old age of 96½.

I just feel so much more settled now that I have some clarity about what the future holds.  It has taken a seemingly inordinate amount of time to get to the stage I am now at and the just over four weeks I have spent in Cliftonville does seem time that's not been used very productively but in reality the hip has been repairing itself I suppose. Knowing that I will move on to intensive physio and confidence building work is really helpful; there's some clarity now to the immediate future. I also now have more clarity about when I shall be able to return home as I have been told that I would not be offered the move to intensive physio if it were considered I could not be fit for home within six weeks.  The six weeks is the limit for which the County Council (Northamptonshire in  this case) will underwrite the costs of me being in rehab care.

Although my preference is to go to Turn Furlong on the outskirts of Northampton at Kingsthorp I understand there is a long waiting list with three people in Cliftonville already ahead of me on the waiting list. I have agreed to go to either Corby or Rushden as my head has over-ruled my heart and it is in my best interests, I believe, to go wherever I can get on with becoming 100% fit again in the shortest possible time. I am aiming to be home by the end of January-2016. Hanging on for Turn Furlong whilst remaining in Cliftonville will not do me any good and blocks a non acute bed for someone who may need it more than I do. It seems that Rushden and Corby offer exactly the same facilities as Turn Furlong.

This morning I have an assessment by Ram the Physio to confirm I am fit to go into long term rehab - I hope that will be nothing more than a formality.

The other thing that's rambling around in my mind is how I will cope with returning home to a lovely house with challenging stairs.  I am hopeful the stairs won't be an issue but this is the first real 'wake up' call I have had and I need to think seriously what reduced mobility would mean in future years - it's really not something I want to think about but my parents did, when it was their time, and it was such a successful move for them to a retirement village called Oakwoods.

09:30 - Just had Ram and his assistant take me out into the corridor on the crutches - I am now to use crutches during the day and the zimmer is reserved for attending to mother nature at night! I walked and down a stair (the rise was I think less than my house) but I managed it quite well I think.  Going down was a wee bit painful but I suspect that was muscular and not the underlying bone structure. I shall continue my exercises and walking up and down the corridor over the weekend and Ram will check me out on the stairs again on Monday morning.  There is a new 'process' which means if I can do the stairs without too much pain I may be allowed to go home so that's an incentive to work towards - otherwise it's Rushden or Corby - home sounds great and I'll do all I can to make that happen if at all possible - then I can order an evening meal from the Spice of Bruerne.

11:30 - Just had a lovely visit from my cousin John and his wife Fiona - haven't seen them for ages and I have a little box of flapjacks and, it seems, a Christmas present, how very kind of them.

Norman and Debra the Zebra
17:00 - Another lovely visit today from my days of 2CVing - Norman and Judith - I haven't seen them for years but it was as if we had last seen each other a week or so ago - true friends. They were telling me about all their children and the children of mutual friends to whom I used to read stories at 2CV camps - these children now have children of their own - where does the time go to. Bless you Norman and Judith for a lovely afternoon.  I managed to walk (on crutches) down to the front door to see Norman's and Judith's infamous 2CV 'Debra the Zebra' - a white 2CV with black Zebra marks on it or is it a black 2CV with white Zebra marks.

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