Today I had my now regular Saturday morning Physio appointment. This came on the back of a 45 minutes appointment yesterday.

I’m ramping up my contact time so my progress can be more closely monitored.

Today was the first time we’ve had time to do a complete review of all my exercises, which was at it turns out very helpful for both the Physio and myself.

My discharge orders from hospital have been closely followed and because my physio was not part of that original process it was important for her to become aware of them. (we’d discussed them briefly last week, but hadn’t gone through them step by step)

Today was a great consult, with assessment review and goal setting for the week. I now have a current history letter which will be important as I return to exercise.

I am now cleared for a return to non weight bearing exercise which I will do under supervision with my personal trainer.

I’m in the process of re-engaging an exercise physiologist to review my home and gym exercises. This consult will be the last consult of a previous Medicare Enhanced Care Plan.

This week I’m also going to further investigate creating a small gym at home. For starters it will just be a flat weights bench and a few dumbbells.

I don’t see the point in adding too much more as I already have quite a bit of fitness gear. Plus I do have access to gym facilities at work and a commercial gym as well.

My physio is really happy with my progress, I’m very dedicated to what I’m doing and while I maybe slightly annoyed at my progress it really is now tangible.

My range of movement (ROM) is the best its been in months. I still have a lot of work to do, but Team Pilko is working harder then ever to get me literally back on my feet.

I can’t begin to explain how awesome it is to work with this group of dedicated professionals.

One work mate jokes about “it’s all about me” well for the moment it is all about me, it must, should and needs to be.

In the past 48 hours I like to think that I’ve turned a huge stone and that its onwards and upwards from here. In the summarized words of my physio today “if you keep going like your doing you’ll be fine”

As hard as it has been, it’s as simple at that.

So today has been a real mixed bag.

Started after having virtually no sleep, headed and saw my GP it’s kinda funny his first name is Ian too.

The GP works out of one of the Primary health care clinics which are a big one stop shop medical practice.

I’m very lucky when it comes to this GP as he will always allow me to skip the queue. Today I only had to wait about 10 minutes before I consulted with him and we spoke for about 20 minutes.

This particular GP is a new addition to “Team Pilko” has a slightly different perspective on things which is useful. Thankfully he was brought in well before surgery so he’s been one of my stable places of advise.

I’m fighting a bit of a sea saw at the moment and my emotions are still running a bit high, my plan is to take one more week off work and then pending clearance from my Surgeon and Physio I should be set.

It seems a bit daunting right now but it’s just over a week since I’ve had surgery and I’m miles improved to where I’ve come from.

As much as there are still struggles and obstacles in the way I have a clear goal ahead and for the first time in months I know it’s achievable.

By the end of tomorrow I will have had almost 3 hours of consult with my Physio and with the addition of home exercises I’m really coming along well. I have 2 hours booked next week with the hope of adding a third.

Physio is really happy with my progress, it’s continual gradual improvement. When people say “take the advise of your medical team it’s for your benefit” they aren’t wrong!

I cherish my professional associations and my physio is right up there. We have a lot of contact time and that makes for some great focused rehab.

After I got home from the GP visit this morning I crashed, while I largely remain positive there is still a battle going on. I had about 5 hours of downtime until I had to head to the Physio.

This morning at home was a little hectic, I had one expected courier delivery and do deliveries from Australia post.

Part of my planning is making sure that my return to work is timed to ensure it is successful. Work have been very understanding but I need to ensure when I return I’m fit for work. Part of that is being able to be at my desk at work and well work!

One of the deliveries today was for a foot rest. In the past I tried to use an Ikea footstall and that just wasn’t working (it’s miles too high)

The new footrest is a great little unit that can be adjusted while I’m seated. The plan for me is to increase my time in front of the computer next week so I can return to work and be comfortable and safe.

Headed to the Physio this afternoon it was going to be a bit different this time around as my Mum was able to drop me off but was unable to pick me up. Managed to organise a taxi and got home safely.

Jumping back for a moment to the Physio consult it was a great review, we’ve spent a lot of time on other priories and today we finally manged to do a review of my home based exercises. It’s really important to get this right. It proved very helpful as there were some corrections to my technique that were needed.

My GP is calling this major surgery (it’s major to the ankle joint) and to give myself the best chance of recovery I’m doing all I can to aid it. For me this means  frequent supervision where possible. If I was an inpatient I’d have daily visits from the Physio, while I can’t afford to do that right now, I can have three visits a week.

It’s great to have that level of contact.

Next week I will have one 1/2 PT session and I’ve lined up some counseling. I have some very clear goals which I need to achieve and I just need a little help with some strategies to help me over the line.

I watched the movie “Crackerjack” today it was such a hoot. I’m going to make an effort to watch at least one move a day, it’s proven to be a good little escape from reality.

I just wanted to write about how wonderful Allan Hicks has been from HES.

Currently I have three pieces of equipment on hire from them and they have made a world of difference to me.

Without a fuss and within two hours of my call on two separation occasions I’ve had Allan deliver and setup equipment for me.

I get the impression that Alan’s business is a lot smaller than the one I’m using for my crutches but his attention to detail, care and efficiency is impressive.

If you need Healthcare Equipment hire or sales, use Allan he’s a top friendly bloke.

http://hes.org.au/

The past few months has shaken me to my core. Not being able to walk and get around and have to ask other people to do things for me (just really basic things) doesn’t come naturally to me. People are usually fairly obliging but it does get frustrating when you can’t do simple things yourself.

I accept I’m a big lad and have been ever since I stopped ridding my bike when I was a teenager.

Yet not being able to climb stairs and unable to walk for more than a few minutes is quite a challenge in this modern world.

Using crutches and not having a stable foot means you constantly have to be hyper aware of your surroundings. At the moment I’m one big slip and trip hazard.

I continually have to risk access my surroundings to ensure I’m safe. Today I was in Kmart and missed seeing a small piece of loose cardboard on the floor, my crutch compressed it hard on the floor and the crutchslipped. As I was NWB at the time I had a minor slip.  You can get away with doing that now it’s called a warning sign, you really have to watch of for those. I’ve come close to stacking it a few too many times. But as long as I only come close I’m happy.

It’s the risk you take, stay at home = cabin fever, get out a bit =  chance falling on your arse and feel stupid.

These past few months has brought me closer to my father who has lived with disability since his mid teens. Rather than just walking you are continually conscious of your environment.

Because my father and I have traveled a lot in the past couple of years, I’ve done my best to work out what his needs are. I’ve done a fairly good job I think as the feedback I have has been positive, however now through my own personal experience it gives me a great understanding of what he deals with on a daily bases. While it frustrates me I take strength in for me it’s only short term.

Things like the slopes from footpaths to doorways, Cafe de Vill’s main entrance is a too high gradient for me to manage easily, the proximity to the door is also a problem, as in your not standing even when you try and open the door. On crutches even PWB it’s very hard to not “crash” through the door as your trying to balance yourself and hold open a door at the same time. I know I’m a bloke and multitasking isn’t natural, but if your not balanced and you try and do something extra it’s when you fall.

The weight of doors and the strength behind door closure devices. There is nothing wrong with a heavy door, I can get it open, I normally have to hip and shoulder it to get it open and your generally can’t keep a heavy door open with a single crutch, especially if some fool hast put a strong door closure on it which is need, you do and I’m gone! Light weight doors even with closures on them are great, I can use one of the crutches to hold the door open, so I can pass through without needing help to keep the door open it amazes people how I’ve figured that one out!

One big one I had at work was access controlled doors, if the card reader was too far away from card which was on a retractable lanyard, the door strike would re arm before I could hold the door open.

Door handles! Those little buggers, trying to support (steady) yourself and get the door open partially if it’s a knob is a real bugger!

Flow of people in and around buildings / footpaths, nothing like getting caught in the way!

Yesterday I was using a scooter in a shopping centre and getting the speed right so you didn’t scare the living hell out of people was important, plus physically getting in and around aisles and displays was hard. I’ve not seen too many scooters reverse in a supermarket, as regular users know how to get around and not get stuck and have to go backwards! I’m still a beginner so I suck at it!

So yeah, put up with that for a few months and you’ll soon work out why I’m so rattled! Not to mention doing all of the above in chronic and unstable pain!

I wanted to blog on this as it’s going to prove useful in the future.

So I’ve got the time and comittment right now to blog daily, once I get back to work I’ll see how I go.

Today was a lot more layed back, I’ve been pushing myself fairly hard and I am meant to be taking it easy.

I spent the morning resting at home and the only two things I needed to do this afternoon  was have a massage and see my GP.

For massage I’m quite particular about what I like and I use a good friends business Body Line Health Internatinal, run by my long term friend Holly Hicks.

Holly is away this week at a conference in Melbourne and so one of her new staff Amy filled in. Wow what a job she did, I had a massage only two days ago but there are still parts of me that are insandly tight. Amy did an amazing job and found a new way to release pressure out of some muscle groups. What really surprised me is the referral down various limbs. I suspect I’ll be seing more of Amy in the future.

One thing I’ve not mentioned is at my last physio consult I was taught how to safely use a chair as a prop to get onto the floor safely and return. My ankle is actually a lot better than it has been, however it is still a little unstable. I certannly can not fully weight bare on it right now.

So trying to manage the “normal way” is actually dumb, my physio showed me a way using my upper body strength to no put any weight on the injured limb.

This was really cool as I am always keen to ensure I do things safely.

Today I wanted to re-engage an exercise physiogist. While I do work with three great PTs (yes I’m a gluton for punishiment) I wanted to bring in yet another great mind. I have consulted with him previously and I look forward to his input.

The E.P last saw me when I was a lot larger so he will know that I’ve been doing good 🙂

The GP clinic I use dosn’t take appointments, I called this morning to ensure my doctor was working and he was until 5pm

Sadly I forgot to ring to check he was still working so when we arrived at 3:45 he had already gone, bugger! Will try again tomorrow morning.

I’ve had bandaging on continously since surgery and I’m ready to have it changed, tomorrow will be the day!

I’ve finally got some addtional home health care products to me it easier for me to rest. The first is a bed cradle the second is a pillow support, meaning I can now comfortably sit in bed and not have the bedding touch my foot which causes discomfort, plus I now get support on my back.

There are two things I could have done with last week, oh well you learn.

Got a long physio consult tomorrow that should smart 🙂 It’s an in joke with my Physio, I gave her a copy of a NWB survival checklist and it said you had to be careful when it came to medical appointments as they tend to “smart” 🙂 so now we use it in both contexts.

In the past twenty four hours I’ve sent two significant thank you emails, they have been well recieved and I think it’s always nice to take a moment and let people know the impact they are having on peoples life.

The weather today is terrible, thankfully I missed getting caught in it.

Time for me to do my last round of exercises and iceing then it’s off to bed.

I have a new ice therapy device being delivered tomorrow, look forward to trying it. It was created by a gold medal winning olympic aerial skiier, be nice to get some decent impact.

I was about to close this blog post but realised I hadn’t kept within the topic of the post.

Guess I really should address that before I sign off.

At the moment I’m spending a lot of time and money on rehab, work have been very understanding about this who process but there comes a point where you have to call it.

So I have just over a week of full time rehab available to me and I should be work ready. So while i have full time rehab available i’m making the most of it.

Apart from one exception I have worked with all the health care professionals in recent time and they are familar with where I’m at. It makes my rehab very easy. I’m getting better at doing my exercise but also resting to.

If you get it wrong you cause yourself literally a world of pain, get it right and it is poetery in motion.

Even though my ablity to exercise my ankle changes on a daily bases I’m getting better at listening to my body and working out where it is at.

It’s this point you get to that I describe as poetery, everything is in harmeony and the world in a happier place (or should be)

Looking forward to tomorrow, sorting out some things with my GP and a good review to come with my Physio.

Keep warm it’s cold and wet out there!

So today has been a really interesting day.

I actually went grocery shopping in a supermarket and managed to select everything myself from the aisles.

Now given the fact that I can still barely walk, how the hell did I pull that off you ask?

Simple, I gave in, let my pride drop a little and borrowed a scooter from Westfield.

So I feel a bit like a grandpa, but wow what a difference it felt being able to do things for myself, such independence.

Sure I needed a little help to reach things on high shelves and I may have dropped a couple of things (which bounced) but being able to get into a supermarket, browse the aisles what a moral boost.

Caught up with the HR manager via phone today and sorted through some work issues which was great to get that sorted out. I’d been feeling really bad as although I’ve blogged a bit over the past few days I really haven’t been well enough to discuss my situation and needs in a logical and concise way.

So I’m about to write out a final vent about all the stuff that has annoyed the living #$#$ out of me these past few months and then it’s turn a page and only look forward.

I’m not going to miss:-

• working out if the weather is fine, being NWB or even PWB on crutches on wet surfaces is dangerous! plus when you walk slow you get really wet!
• factoring in what sort of car parking they have
• what sort of gradient the road and footpath are
• if there are any substantial obstacles are in the way
• how far away the parking is
• what sort of door and doorstep am I dealing with can I safely hold it open with a crutch or do I have to “hip and shoulder the door”
• can I carry everything or do I have to make multiple return trips to the car (if I was silly enough to try and go grocery shopping I could only buy what I could carry, with crutches you can’t use a trolly or hand basket.
• working out how long I’m likely to be somewhere and factor in my pain medication (I have about a 2-3 hours tops, window of maximum therapeutic value out of my pain medication).
• If there was a chance I’d need to go to the toilet
• stopping for a break to rest after 5 minutes
• my favorite for the past week, not being able to drive! your killing me, I’m having to ring family to help me attend appointments, we’re over it!
• calling on friends and family to do the most basic things for me
• having to use a shower stool to sit and shower
• spending 10 minutes plus covering and uncovering my foot to keep the dressings dry.
• having exercise restrictions, I’ve not done weight bearing exercises in about 8 weeks
• spending 10 minutes covering and uncovering my leg so my dressings don’t get wet
• being in continuous pain
• putting my foot down and getting sharp stinging pain
• putting my foot down and not know if it will load bare
• not being able to walk
• not being able to jog
• not being able to run
• having to visit my GP regularly to re-fill non repeatable prescriptions and jump through dispensing red tape

I could go on, but I’m tired, that’s enough, I’ve said my peace, now it’s rehab central

In the next 10 days I have:-

• four hours of Physio consultation
• 30 minutes of personal training – YAY!
• two hours of counseling
• three, hour long massages
• one post op surgical review
• two GP visits

back on my feet and on with life 😉

bring it on 🙂

So I’ve been trying to work out why my ankle injury has totally consumed me.

It’s partly because I’m obsessive, but when you reliase what I’ve been working on these past few months you’ll understand why.

They say blogging can be therapeutic, here I go.

After traveling overseas twice in about five months, I was frustrated at how unfit I was. I’m actually in my early 30s despite what my bio line says on the blog, I’m 34.

In December of 2010 I took a cruise to the south pacific, and in April of 2011 I spent a week in Singapore. On both trips there were many things I would have loved to have tried, embrace the spirit of adventure if you like. My weight mainly but also my fitness level of lack of it meant that many things were just not possible.

In 2011 I had both a cardic scare where I had severe chest pain which didn’t ease up for many hours. Now it probally wasn’t a heart attack, but it was likely chronic chest pain brought on my hear burn and anxitety. I did a stress test and cleared, but they had to stop the test half way through as I was unable to complete it. For my age I was incredibly unfit.

This prompted my GP to run a complete set of blood tests.

In a surprise to no one it showed an impaired glucose tolerance. This means that my sugar levels were quite high, so high in fact that I was knocking at the door of type II diabetes. The above was actually confirmed with a glucose tolerance test, it’s where you fast overnight, have one lot of blood taken, get given a sugary drink, sit in the clinic for two hours then get more blood taken. It’s actually a rather unpleasant experience. This confirmed that unless I undertook lifestyle changes rapidly within a year I’d have type two diabetes.

At that point I also had very high blood pressure, so much so I was close to having to be medicated for it. I have a close friend who is on blood pressure medication and he tells me that once you go on it it’s virtually impossible to get off it. He has also experienced occasions where he has actually had diabetic episodes and had to massive change his diet.

So all of that put together made me think that at at 33 I’d better do something.

I already had some potential contacts, I just had to make use of them.

I’m not going to go into graphic detail about how my journey started from there, I’m going to summarize, otherwise this entry will be in the thousands of words rather than hundreds!

So from October 2011 to mid January 2012 I was doing an hour of personal training a week, a 90 minute group Pilates class, 3 x 45 minute aqua classes and in the end I also added one 55 minute group boxing x-train class.

I built it as part of my routine, it meant I was doing a lot of exercise, the KG’s were dropping off rapidly, people were noticing massive loss I loved the exercise and I got hooked on the fitness bug, the adrenaline wasn’t too bad either!

In early January I did a couple of things in the pool which brought about the start of my ankle trouble.

I’m badly flat footed and have worn orthodontics in my shoes in both my work and casual shoes for years. I actually have two pairs.

When I walk in the water I roll my ankle/foot significatley and I was starting to experience to minor sprains.

It got progressively worse and I needed to slow down and modify my exercise.

There was one aqua  class I remember jumping up and down in the water and while at the time it seemed ok, in hindsight I think that was a really dumb thing to do.

The lateral process of the talus fracture I had is more commonly known as “snowboarder’s ankle” a condition seen when snowboarders land badly on jumps.

From what I understand I can’t think of any other way I could have caused this fracture.

My surgeon tells me it’s possible you can just land oddly just walking but I think the pool is more likely a cause.

Anyhow a few days later I had the busiest few days of the year. We host an international education workshop for 3-4 days and I’m the ICT  / AV Lead. It means I need to be in about 3-4 places at once. Because of a change in staff this year I took a more “all rounder” approach too. It meant that I was covering about 10KM a day and it was a lot of up and down stairs.

By the end of the three days I could hardly walk. Yet I still wanted to exercise so I continued into the pool on the Saturday morning to undertake a heavily modified aqua class.

I was in pain from the start and should have stopped, yet I continued on and slowed down.

This still wasn’t enough, in the end I was in so much pain I had to leave the class early and gingerly walk out of the pool.

A mix of still wanting to exercise, keep fit and lose weight saw me continue and push to continue to do exercise.

In the end on advise from my Physio I stopped all exercise and then started a gradual return to exercise. It was soon clear that most forms of weight bearing exercise was problematic and there was something seriously wrong.

I was very quick in getting scans done as my gut feeling told me that something was really wrong. X-Ray , Ultrasound and then MRI.

I consulted a orthopedic surgeon who gave me a base diagnosis but he couldn’t explain why I was in so much pain. In the end he put me in a pneumatic foam walker (moon boot) which was in hope of reducing the pain by imoblization. This gave me false hope as it really didn’t fix the problem. It did mean I could get around more and with less pain, but it didn’t fix the underlying problem.

The surgeon couldn’t explain the pain level and so the next stage was surgery. Ankle Arthoscopy is now quite common. Sometimes it is used for diagnosis purposes, but never having had surgery before I was concerned that I would be asked to consent and go under for my surgeon to “go hunting”. I didn’t have a lot of confidence in this surgen so I reached out to my long term podiatrist about who she would recommend.

I took her advise and made a booking, I had to wait a couple of weeks to get in which seemed liked dead time. The pain was getting worse, my range of moment was reducing but also fluctuating and my ability to sleep and deal with work diminished as the pain I was it made in untenable.

I finally managed to see the surgeon and had a date for about two weeks later for surgery.

In the end I had to take leave from work as I was unable to cope and function at work. It was one of the hardest things I’ve had to justify to myself. I managed to back myself into a situation where I was unable to cope until I had surgery.

This was largely due to the chronic pain I was in and how drawn out it was.

Thankfully now I’ve had surgery and my rehab while slow is coming along well. This day last week was the day of surgery and while I am no where near recovered (recovery is around 4-6 weeks) I actually am a lot better.

So that is the journey to now, unable to work, unable to do anything but seated exercise it’s really gut wrenching, not only in pain but frustration.

So I felt and enjoyed the highs that a change of diet and exercise brought, but that largely fell down and I was left to convalesce. In the end I did “pre-hab” to get back ankle strength and prepare for surgery.

It was one big rug pulled out from under me. While it might seem over dramatic when you’ve the lightest and healthiest you’ve been in years and everyone notices and comments. To be left virtually a cripple depdant on help it’s damn hard.

I’m just lucky the journey to rehab will be relatively short, it’s expected to only be a matter of a few weeks.

So once again I still somehow remain positive, it doesn’t mean I’ve kept it together all the time, but now more than ever I’m motivated for change.

It was around this time last week I was quite worried and concerned. I was leaving for hospital to have day surgery to repair and fix the damage I’d done to my ankle.

With the support of family and friends I’m working to re-build myself, re-build strength, move onwards and upwards, literally get back on my feet.

To those of you who I’ve confided in, those who have provided support and to those who’ve offered messages of support and visited me, Thank you.

While the path ahead still looks daunting I know I can do this and the way everyone has rallied, particularly my family to my help is amazing. I look forward to the time when this is a distant memory.

Around October 2011 I began the journey to get my life back, being in fitness and health. In time this will just be a bump on the road.

Thank you for being part of it.

So I’ve been a little divided about how much to share on my blog.

I don’t want to post any “ick” photos but at the same time the point is to share my journey with my followers.

Below is a photo of my feet about 24 hours old, this is about a day short of a week after surgery.

So let me explain to you what your looking at, the left is obviously the operated foot, it’s still quite swollen when compared to my good foot. The bruising you see at the start of my toes is to do with blood, I thought it may have been from a clamp used in surgery.

As I’ve had a bone fragment removed from my body it bleeds more than a standard ankle Arthroscopy procedure. The blood has to go somewhere and in my case it’s gone down to my feet.

Pink! Why the hell are my toe nails pink? No I haven’t had a pedicure with pink nail polish!

Simple! before surgery they use a disinfectant dye, not only to clean the area (hence why it’s between my toes) but I’m guessing also to clearly mark “this foot” I’ve got a good friend who had the wrong limb operated on and the result is horrific.

I’ve waited until now to post photos of my feet as my entire lower leg and whole foot were a bright pink. It’s slowly coming off.

I want to give you another perspective of just how much my foot is bandaged. It’s something that while I understand frustrates me.

Why do I say it’s frustrates me? Simple I can’t wear normal shoes plus I can’t walk “normally” it’s making rehab just that more difficult. The bandaging has to remain intact for two weeks after surgery, if I hadn’t had the bone fragment issue I could have had the bandaging on for just two days after surgery.

I do consider myself very lucky though, I haven’t had screws inserted nor have I had to wear a cast or use a Pneumatic Walker (Moon Boot)

While the Moon Boot makes it easier to get around by immobilizing your foot, it comes at a cost. I think I’ve written before about how I used a Moon Boot under the guidance of my original orthopedic surgeon. While it meant I was more mobile it weakened my ankle and it took a good couple of weeks of rehab to rebuild the lost strength .

Anyhow below is a photo which shoes you the bandaging, they’ve done a very good job, a week on it still feels quite right, although I think I will make an appointment to get it changed later in the week. I’m happy to keep the dressings in tact but I’d like my foot to get more of a wash and the bandaging changed, smelly feet anyone?

I’ve been a bit slack and not had the bandage and foot covered when walking around home at various times. I looked at what I could see of the sole of my foot and it was black! Finally managed to get down and clean it tonight, my mum would be so proud I even washed and dried between my toes!

So over the past few days my left leg (operated leg) has been really painful.

Inittially I put it down to over doing it while the nerve block was in place so I rested over the weekend and spent a lot of time in bed.

I still got up every couple of hours to move around and still did my home exercises 4 times a day as prescribed.

Yesturday my leg got so sore I was worried something was wrong, one of the things you risk with surgery and sitting a lot it DVT.

I took some medical advise and it was unlikely that I did have DVT but it was worth checknig out.

So I had two paths forward deal with my surgen or deal with my GP. I chose to do both. As a result I’ve learnt more about whats happen, whats going on and the path ahead.

Spoke to the Ortohopedic Nurse who queried my symptons and said that either her or my surgeon would call me back. If it was her it would be within the hour, if the surgen it would be after the morning clinic.

About an hour later my phone rang and is was a “blocked number” I don’t get many blocked calls and I don’t normally answer them.

I was so please to hear my surgon’s voice, I hadn’t spoken with him since being in first stage recovery in hospital. I shared my concern about my leg and he said it probally wasn’t anything, but if it didn’t settle down in a day I should head in for a scan. I had a whle pile of other questions for him and he answered those.

I’m still concerned about how long recovery is taking as I really want t get back on my feet and back to work. I asked the surgeon how long he thought people in jobs like mine should be off work and he said that the two weeks is normal. (There is a two week time frame from surgery to post surgery consult) So I feel comfortable with that.

The complication I have is I’ve not just had a ankle arthoscopy I’ve had a ostectomy (surgical removal of bone) This means that rather only being bandaged for 48 hours, I’m bandaged for 2 weeks, it also means more pain, swelling and brusing.

I think it’s this latter part I wasn’t that well prepared for.

Anyhow I was happy to have had my barrage of questions answered and I knew in my head what I needed to do.

I rang my GP’s surgery and advised her next available appointment would be on Monday of next week. I advised what the problem was and got an appointment. The Dr I ended out seeing kept me waiting for about 35 minutes which was hard. At the moment I have to keep my leg elevated otherwise it really throbs.

Finally got into see the Dr and out comes my iPad with Evernote.

Had a list of things to cover, which the Dr took the time to cover very well.

I’m still rather banged up, my foot is still bruised, swollen and painful. The Dr checked out my leg and said she didn’t think it was DVT but wanted to be 100% being over weight and post surgery and “laid up” the risk of DVT is high.

So it was set that I needed to go have an ultrasound.

Headed out to reception and they made the time for me.

I had a little time to kill before the appointment so as I’m still not cleared to drive. I visited a local cafe and had lunch with my mum.

Initialy we were going to do takeaway but the sun was out and given I’d been stuck at home these past few days I wanted to take a moment to enjoy being outside.

So we had lunch outside and I had a great chicken salad.

I had about 1/2 hour to go to the scan so it was well and truly time to get home. I needed to ice my ankle and doss up on pain killers.

I’d let them lapse and that was a really, really dumb thing to do.

I’ve set reminders on an app for most of my meds and it’s really wise to take them as scheduled.

So I got home and it a lot of pain, for the moment I’ve gone NWB so I can cope with getting around.

When I got home I tried to walk over the front doorstep and couldn’t manage it.

Got in ice up the ankle and dosed up.

Headed up for the ultrasound and even though I’d only been to this place once before the receptionist remembered me.

Guess I stand out a bit!

Got the ultrasound done and was told they couldn’t see a clot but we’d have to wait for the report.

Headed back home to rest.

Got home and waited about 2 hours before calling the surgery (report was meant to take an hour) Called the surgery and they didn’t have the report had to wait 20 minutes then call them back. Called them back still no report. FInally the conceeded to calling me back. The finally called me back and they had the report. I had to see the Dr to get the report so the reffering Dr wasn’t available so saw the first avilable. The receptionist had pre organised me to skip the wait so I only had to wait a few minutes.

Sat down at was told that the reason the report took so long as they were being careful. I was happy, most indicators were that it probally wasn’t DVT but we needed to make 100%. The report came back all clear.

So after the Drs it was time to go the chemist, I’ve been after some additional ice packs for a while as I’m having to use ice packs every few hours and they don’t freeze enough in that time. I’ve had one of my sisters trying to track down the ice pack for me for the past couple of days without luck.

Thankfully the chemist I went to had the ice packs I wanted, it also allowed me to fill a couple of scripts.

I’m a little too familar with my local chemist right now, all the staff know me and I know them, we’re on first name terms and they generally will have an idea what I”m after before I ask.

I don’t even get the little chat from the Pharmacist as they know my situation.

The only thing that really surprised them was the fact that I was visiting the chemist myself as they could see I was still struggling.

Got my scripts, got my ice packs and it was time to head for home.

Got home and heated up a Lite ‘n’ Ezy lamb korma which was really nice.

I’ve now got my feet up after icing my ankle with a spare (non preferred ice pack)

Tomorow is still going to be a busy day but I’m going to take it a hell of a lot easier.

Plan is for a 1 hour massage with an old friend who’s a really good masser and is my “back up” massuer, then I have a break for a couple of hours, then it’s another hour with my Physio.

I’d better spend some time later tonight preapring for that consult, while I’m a litle more relaxed I still have a long way to go!

Day by day is where it’s at.

I’ve been NWB all day today and it’s brutal, even though I’m wearing cycling gloves I’m already blistering my right hand.

Hopefully tomorrow I can rest a bit better.

I only got about 4 hours of sleep last night, I was having real problems resting. Was in a lot of pain and discomfort.

Hopefully it will settle down tonight as I should naturally be really tired.

Even if it dosn’t, I should be ok after tomorrow as I always seem to sleep well after massage.

Until tomorrow.