" .. my legs were still not really strong enough .."
By this time, in February 2011, I had spent 10 months in hospital with a brief 'moment' at home. The regular daily grind of the hospital routine had chipped away at my sanity for many an hour.
My mobility at this stage was moving from a gutter frame to crutches, a strenuous and bold move considering my legs were still not really strong enough to support my weakened frame. Bringing crutches in to the equation was demanding on my balance and strength but, working tirelessly and through determination, I was able to succeed at making a little headway.
My next major goal I set myself was to begin to manage stairs. Again, another action that the totally mobile masses take for granted on a daily basis; going upstairs in their home to a bathroom, the bedroom or study. As the stairwell was still a distance for me from my ward bed, the physios took me by wheelchair, often my wife in tow to observe my progress.
I guess that, psychologically, the fear of falling was a duanting prospect for me. Having broken the majority of my bones in one singular event, I didn't want to stumble and cause more injuries by careering down the stairs.
To begin with we worked on a single step, using my 'good leg' to step up first and, pulling on the bannister, driving through the other hand on the crutch, I managed it. This triumph drove me on to two steps, then three, four, and then six. Tiring though it was, I was not going to let this beat me.
" ..I had spent 11 months in 2 hospitals (and) 11 different ward environments .."
Having this new ileostomy proved, once more, a factor to be considered into the timings of my physio. I was still unable to care for it myself as the range of movement in my left arm was still restrictive. Pain still racked my limbs and the many different oral pain killers I was taking did little to remove the sensation.
When I was finally discharged from full time NHS care in March 2011, I had spent 11 months in 2 hospitals ranging from the coma in Critical Care, High Dependancy, Liver, Trauma and Colorectal totalling 11 different ward environments. But my time was far from over! I still had a further 5 surgeries planned in the coming months. So far, I had endured 19 operations, all under General Anaesthetic, not counting the minor ones I had in CT and Ultrasound.
Its funny but, the other month, I was attending a clinic in hospital and had decided to visit one of the old wards I had been 'resident' in, catching the lift with a lady and ambulance staff. The lady was somewhat annoyed, explaining to the ambulance crew that she had been in hospital 3 weeks, which made me smile internally to my self. Obviously, the three weeks to this unknown woman was subjective to her, coupled with the reason for her stay, but to me, it didn't seem like a long time at all.
My next operation, the 20th, was the waiting for me in May.
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