A BREAK IN MY LIFE…DEC 2009/JAN/FEB 2010

As with most things in life, the eventual break came with no warning, no lightening strike, no premonitions – crack! Quickly followed by shock, fear and total disbelief!!

My hip had broken…or, to be more precise..it was the top of my right femur, just below the ‘knuckle’ part that fits into the hip socket which had snapped.

And who do I blame? The owner of the dog which had shit on the pavement…I am not going to beat about the bush – it wasn’t poo, nor a’ mess’, it was shit…fresh and loose. And I had slipped on it.

Read on…to view a letter I had published in one of Gibraltar"s newspapers – a mornings shopping? I think not, not on that day

 
"I address this letter to the dog owners of Gibraltar…please clean up the s..t (mess) left by your animals…BUT in particular I am addressing the owner of the dog who walked their animal along the pavement on the opposite side of the road behind Morrison’s’ Petrol Station.  I crossed the road using the pedestrian traffic-light system, reached the other side and slipped on some rather fresh s..t, breaking the top of my femur and putting the hip out. DATE Friday 11th December 2009 TIME approximately 10.15am/10.30am.
 
Because of your sheer irresponsibility my quite active life has gone on hold – NO walking for 6 weeks minimum for a start, having to conduct my life hopping on one leg, using a walking frame and sitting in a wheelchair, knowing that I have only a 65% of complete healing.  I am normally in control of a few businesses…acting as a ‘fixer’ between clients, I am a freelance photographer, plus co-managing weekly Craft markets.  None of these activities can be successfully achieved hopping around for five minutes maximum on my left leg.
 
I trust YOU will have had a very merry Christmas and will be looking forward to a very healthy New Year!
 
To conclude, I want to publicly praise and say thank you to 1) the three women who rang for the ambulance: 2) the man who wiped the s..t (mess) from my trousers: 3) Jenny and partner, the crew of the ambulance and last, but most certainly not least, to the staff of St. Bernards Hospital and to give praise for the expertise of the A & E Unit, but especially to the surgeons and staff of Dudley Toomey Ward for taking care of me – an active 67 years old female, who lives a two hour drive away in Spain, who only came down to Gibraltar for a mornings shopping.  And finally – to thank my life partner who is going way beyond his call of duty!!"

6 WEEKS LATER…..and no weight has gone down on that right leg…the left leg has got much stronger and likewise my upper body strength. I have been using a walking frame and also a wheelchair…and many other adventures and incidents have happened.  Three days after I arrived home…well not quite home as our house has two flights of stairs in it and no use when hopping on one leg and maneuvering a walking frame. So instead I moved downstairs into my rental house CASA SANDRA (see www.Spanish-hols.com) as this is all only one level and easier.  In the first couple of weeks I had to have 10 injections to stop thrombosis…….luckily we have a friend who worked in the UK as a nurse and he came every day to administer these (the Health centre thought John could have done this….they may have thought but I certainly didn’t!). Then Xmas Day arrived..otherwise known as the Day of the Wimp..which was D Day for taking staples out of my leg. I was terrified and all to nothing.I didn’t feel a thing!…and apparently I have ‘a lovely scar, the surgeon did a brilliant, clean and neat job! Maybe I should show it off at a couple of euros a time!

I took to the wheelchair like a duck to water….to well in fact..I broke a rib doing handbrake turns and speeding!!  Still, one battles on and a couple of weeks ago we went out a couple of  hours drive inland (no, not totally in the wheelchair!) to have lunch with some of J’s friends who he met while covering a week of hard running which his son did…J acted as one of the stage controllers. It was lovely weather when we set out but after an hours driving we were into snowy fields and icy roads. On the return journey we hit a blizzard and the car came off the road into a ditch!  No harm done to the car or J or me…we were pulled out backwards which was when I lost control and became a total whimpering heap…..heading backwards towards the other side of the road which had a unguarded drop of god knows how many feet was staring me in the face and was not where I wanted to be! All the shock of the unresolved breaking of the leg plus heading backwards to who knows where had finally got to me…I was a whimpering mess.  We eventually arrived home some 5 hours later having hit a tailback of at least 1 1/2 hours on the motorway.  I can assure you that it took 4 duvets and 2 pairs of socks to get that leg warm again!

Any road up, all is on the mend now, ribs on the mend and hip coping.

The main problem has been getting out of the house and up a very steep cul de sac in the wheelchair.  It is impossible for J to do it alone which means someone has to asked to give him a hand……my local nurse is mostly on hand for this and it then becomes hilarious as I am giggling all the time. The SMART car can be got to the top of the cul-de-sac which is brilliant and once in it the world then becomes my oyster again and IKEA in Malaga has once again become my stamping ground.

If ever you want to learn how to cope with being in a wheelchair then get yourself to any IKEA…it is the best shop to take yourself shopping…wide isles, good for turning, helpful staff, wide lifts, large toilets for the disabled….

A couple of things I have noticed about being wheelchair bound and they are…..most people DO NOT look where they are going, they DO NOT notice you and sometimes when they do they still keep coming and even resent the fact that YOU are in THEIR way. Many people are just the opposite, they are helpful, reach things for you, pick things up for you, smile and open doors.

And I have noticed that in some of the disabled toilets, yes the facilities are really good, BUT the doors are so heavy to open to get in and the same when you want to come out…because the chair itself gets in the way, you have to try and push the door at the same time as propel the chair and it becomes impossible.  

Many places, like restaurants, do not cater for disabled toilet goers….the door frames ain’t wide enough. Some shops, if you want to pay by card, can’t lower the card machine to you to tap in your PIN number and some shops don’t tidy up, leaving bits and pieces all over the floor.

Plus..things to think on when you break your leg…… wear something with pockets in as you can always pop bits and pieces into them when hopping around on the other leg and using your walking frame……..always put your knickers on the broken leg first, then onto the good leg and when taking the knickers off, the good leg comes first and then the broken leg…and the same with trousers!

Always (if you are female) wear your makeup, especially the old eye shadow etc………..flirty eyes and a smile works wonders and makes miracles happen.

I have a doctors appointment tomorrow to arrange the 6 weeks x ray to see how it is healing and what minimum exercise (if any yet) can be done.  I WILL KEEP YOU INFORMED.
 

‘LOCO’ LOCUM (Doctor)…21 January 2010

My recommended 6 weeks of complete rest for the broken hip is up this week so an appointment needed for the first xray..and this calls for a meeting with my own doctor, who is lovely but is also a training doctor and takes loads of students.

It was one of these students that I saw…I was sitting in the wheelchair before her desk and on stating that I had come to make the appointment for the xray was asked WHY? Well, like Why I have broke my leg and had an operation. Again, Why the xray? Because I have pins in the leg. Again, WHY? You don’t need an xray. Yes I do, No, you don’t. Just get up and walk!!!!!! More or less, take up thy bed and walk………..like NO I have pins in the leg. So, walk and stop being silly you have only had an operation!!!!! Is she mad or what?

Anyway, just as she had done with the four patients before me, she rushed out the room, carrying the paper I had had from the surgeon in the Gibraltar hospital and went downstairs. We came to the decision that she was a really rookie doctor and had to keep asking advice from a doctor on duty downstairs in the Accident Department of the Health Centre. Also, I am certain that also on duty downstairs was the ParaMedic who speaks and reads English…the one J saw when he went down there to arrange for them to take over control of my treatment. We are certain that this ParaMedic told this loco locum to arrange an xray and stop acting as God telling people to ‘Take up their beds’ etc.

Her attitude had changed on coming back into the room and she reluctantly said that she would give us the number of the Nerja Health Centre who do the xrays for Torrox and I now have an appointment for two days time. But she ended up with saying that the plates of the xray have to come back to HER and SHE will then decide if I can see the Trauma (bone) Specialist at the local hospital.

If I lived in the UK I would certainly be putting in a complaint against her, but not worth the hassle here  BUT a complaint will certainly be going in to my own doctor when I next see her.

Keep reading……when I will disclose the results of the xray! (I didn’t think it was worth mentioning to this mad woman that I also had a broken rib (and why) plus I would need xrays at 6 months and also after one year!!!

THE 9 WEEKS SITUATION…February 14th, 2010

The 6 weeks xray was taken and low and behold I have TWO, rather LARGE, like at least 5" long screws in my leg! These go in from the scar on the outside of my right leg and head diagonally towards the groin where they are screwed in… like large screws going into a piece of wood, or something like a builder would use in the construction of a house!

Years ago I worked in a hospital Theatre and know all about the use of Black and Decker drills and super glue..I now have the aftermath of the use of these things in my hip! It’s amazing!

Anyway, on February 8th I had an appointment with my own doctor.and guess who was sitting side of her? Yes, the Loco Locum! Different attitude altogether, yes she could speak English, yes, she was caring and yes she was really nice!!

I have osteoporosis.

The xray showed not only the screws, it showed very clearly that the right hip/leg is transparent..no bone density. The left hip/leg? Fine, at the moment it is as it should be.

Osteoporosis? The invisible disease. I have been avoiding this issue for 4 years. Pushing it to the back of my mind, something that affects other people . I broke my left forearm four years ago and was told then that I had this ‘invisable desease’. I NOW know I have. The xray cannot be ignored. The further risks of accidents, limbs giving way under me cannot be ignored. I left the doctor feeling this is it and this is where I am at.  I can now accept it. It is not going to change my mind on how I deal with the rest of my life. I am still going to have adventures, traipsing round Morocco, returning to Israel, even still hoping to get into the Gaza Strip. I just have to change the ways of doing it. Have you ever read Frank Gardner’s account of what happened when he was shot in cold blood on the streets of Saudi Arabia and how he deals with two useless legs? Brilliant and powering. If he can cope, then so can I…..I only have Osteoporosis, so bring life on. What  I still find hard to accept is the way it happened…..not falling off a horse, not sky diving, not on the front line in a war zone. No, it was dog shit.

The situation now?  I am walking quite good, with one foot in front of the other, using the walking frame. Weight  is starting to go down on the injured leg, I can go up and down two steps,  AND I can do two or three steps using only one hand on the frame. I am doing daily exercises (found on the net written by The Chelsea and Westminster Hospital. PLUS I have an appointment to see the Orthopedic Surgeon at Velez Malaga Hospital on 8th March and I have been put on VERY strong weekly doses of Calcium for at least the next 4 years.

And my next ‘step’! We live at the bottom of a very steep cul-de-sac so when I get out I have get pushed up it in the wheelchair and then get into the SMART car which can get up the steep village streets and can be put at the top of the said cul-de-sac. It is my aim to walk up that cul-de-sac….sideways to start with, holding onto the handrails… looking like a frog! But get up it I will……..Frank would and so will I.

Look in again in a week or so.

end of April 2010

A lot has gone on in the past few weeks – slowly, slowly and sometimes excruciatingly painful and so slow a snail would have rushed past me. But the challenge I set myself at the end of the last entry – getting up the cul-de-sac – got achieved – painfully walking sideways like a crab but ACHIEVED!  It became the first of many personal goals reached….moving back into my own home, tackling to sets of rather steep stairs, getting onto the terrace, pegging the washing out, standing in the shower……… and flying to Morocco!

Moving back upstairs became somewhat of a self-imposed necessity – I decided because I had been living downstairs, that walls needed re plastering/painted/new boiler installed/changing bits and pieces and overhauling the cottage and giving it a fresh and slightly different image – some pink walls here and there and lots of wrought iron work hung around ….Moroccan!!

I had arranged for the builder and  therefore had set myself a deadline – I also wanted a shower! Strip down washes are all very well and just meant reverting to my childhood days spent during the 1940/1950s…no bathrooms, no indoor toilets and not a lot of hot water but no problem either BUT i wanted to feel water running down my back!!, So, jimjams on, out front door,grasp hold of handle on the wall, haul myself up, in our front door, haul self up the first flight of stairs, generally collapse in the bathroom and get under the shower. Oh, the bliss, bliss, bliss it was sheer delight!

And day by day things have been improving. I have now had 3 meetings with the Orthopedic Consultant (each within 4 weeks of each other). I was told to keep weight totally of the leg/hip for another month..and how difficult was that after been used to doing my own thing and trying weight out.  On my next visit I was prescribed a pair of elbow crutches and on the last visit he witnessed me walking with just one crutch (I am a danger to myself and everyone around me if I use th pair).  Early days he said, just now will take time and go easy. Next appointment made for 6 months time..in October 2020.  AND not only do I have two large screws in the hip/leg..I have THREE!! I sometimes say they are breeding and that it is sometimes SO SORE that I think they will BURST out – and make their escape by flying, with all attached blood and gore, over the village!!

Morocco was a great moment – not the first visit for us, more like the sixth – but this time I went in the wheelchair.Great time. Ryanair from Seville to Marrakesh. Help every inch of the way – from the moment I went inside Seville Airport to leaving Marrakesh Airport on our return – security/passports dealt with/total assistance from boarding gates to being carried on and off the aircraft.  Couldn’t have had more proof that you can do anything IF that is what you want to do. I have not found any problems to which I couldn’t find a solution.

So, now I am making a closure on the time since I slipped on that dog shit back at the start of December 2009 AND opening the next phase and chapter of my life …UPRIGHT AND ONWARDS anyway but DOWNWARDS…join me?