Saturday, 5 January 2013
Gosh Boxing Day
seems a long time ago and I did not get much time having full charge of the
livestock that is for sure. On the 27th I managed to fall off Art
while having a lesson over at Moore’s Farm, and landing badly and hard, I
fractured my back. Boy was I lucky, firstly because I am not paralyzed, and
secondly because I have some very special friends and staff. Sam who was
teaching me has actually had a broken back previously so he made me keep still
(not that I felt a great deal like moving I have to say) and Sally was
wonderful, she grabbed the horses, after having stuffed her coat under my head
(we knew I could feel feet by then), and the ambulance was called, a rapid
response car arrived first – and rapid it was, the chap was great, checked me
over, asked questions, gave me some pain killers which helped a little and they
all waited until the ambulance came, but because of the floods and roads being
closed, it took a while. The ground was pretty cold and it started to rain, so
I was covered in a horse rug and my top slice of body was warm, even if the
bottom slice was not. I could not remember how I fell but looking at my riding
britches it looks like I landed slightly off flat which is probably what caused
the fracture.
The ambulance
men were great and Sally (what a hero) came with me in the vehicle, Sam bunged
his horse in a stable and took mine home. I was put in one of those things you
see in Casualty, the back board, with straps everywhere. My feet kept slipping
until I remembered that I was wearing spurs and so they were not helping. I was
X-rayed, and diagnosed with a fracture and admitted to hospital. Started off in
the gynecology ward, but was moved to wherever they put trauma injuries by
about 9.00pm that night. David had come in and they did not leave until 6ish
which was so nice of them, and then Sally came back again with some stuff for
me.
I saw a doctor
Allot on the Friday who said I would have a CT scan to see if the fracture was
stable, I had to stay in bed until that was done and if it was stable I would
be given a brace and could go home. No riding for a year and probably wearing
the brace for three to six months. It’s a bloody good job I was listening to
him as by the end of the stay he was re-dubbed Dr Not-Seen-Allot because that
was the one and only time I saw him. Although he did speak to my sister Anna at
some point.
What can one say
about a stay in hospital, well quite a lot actually, but I am advised I should
not do it publicly, which I have to say goes against the grain somewhat. Let me
just say that I nearly fell off the bed laughing when I heard another doctor tell his
patient that she might have to stay in to recuperate!!! You do NOT recuperate
in hospital, you survive it if you are lucky!
I finally got my
brace on Wednesday and I suspect it was because of another consultant whom I
had collared the previous day just to ask a few questions. He came in again on
Wednesday to see his patient, my across the ward neighbour and came over to see
me asking where the brace was (in language that touched my heart!!) I said it
had not arrived and he went saying he would look into it and the thing arrived
two hours later!! What a star, all the patients who were under his care and the
nurses sang his praises and I was happy to join them. The technician who
brought the brace was great, tried it on, said he had to do a couple of
adjustments but had a meeting and would be back by 1.30. By that time and length of stay
in a hospital you do not believe one word about timings and when people will
come back, so it was with surprise and pleasure I saw him arrive back smack on
1.30. I was not supposed to move with my newly fitted brace until I had seen a physiotherapist so I lay there like
a trussed chicken until 4.30pm, having asked any and every one that if they saw
a physiotherapist to come and help me. They are apparently the people who have
the final say if you can go or not, and who should have shown me how to sit up,
to stand and check I could walk OK.
Well by 4.35pm,
muttering loudly to myself – ‘sod it, I am going to get up’. I did. It was not
that difficult although my legs felt like jelly and would not do a lot of what
I wanted. I hung sensibly onto the bed, then grabbed a chair and sat down, then
got up again – could do all that. So I lay down and waited again. The tolerance
levels by this time were swiftly going from zero into the minuses! Another half
another hour, and Sally and David had phoned to say they could come and pick me
up, and so I said yes please. At that point I needed the loo, which meant for
the first time I did not wait a minimum of half an hour for a bedpan, so off I
trundled to the loo, pretty exciting stuff! Then I packed all my belongings and
left them on the bed, and eventually for probably about the first time all
afternoon a nurse arrived. I think then they finally understood that I meant
what I said about going when I got my brace. She looked concerned when I said I
had not seen a physio, and went and found one, apparently they stop work at
4.30pm! I said I can stand, sit and walk, he said what about stairs, so he took
me to the stairs which I went up and down (down was hard!) I asked him for some
instructions about what I should and should not do, when and how long to wear
the brace etc., but he did not know. And by that time David and Sally had
arrived with a wheelchair and off we went. I left the hospital with pleasure.
Most of the nurses had been great, the A+E people had been great, the CT people
very nice, my doctor – who knows, I saw him for possibly 3 minute, the South
African consultant – first class. However to have someone with a broken back
leave hospital with no advice or instruction is disgraceful. Apart from knowing
I have fractured L2, I have no idea which bit of it, so I will ask for my X
rays if I ever get another appointment to see Mr Not Seen Allot. As I have
lived with back problems for years I do know roughly how to move, and I phoned
a good friend of mine who used to be a physio and she has given me good advice,
so now it is just a matter of time and patience!
My staff and
friends, particularly Sally who is both, have been superb. They rallied round,
looked after the birds and the dogs and horse. They came to see me, they kept
in touch and are still doing so. I am very very lucky in more ways than one.
In the meantime,
the dogs are fine, Leaf has gone off to Richard to see how she does with him
and his dogs, it’s very quiet without her and we miss her dreadfully, but if
she is happy that is the main thing. The vultures have laid and are sitting
nicely. The Grey Buzzard Eagles have laid again! The Tawny Eagle has not laid
yet, but we hope she will. The Fish Eagles are due soon, the weather now I
can’t ride, is lovely and it’s not raining, which is a huge bonus.
Holly is feeding
round, and Ben is here, he and Mike fixed the roof leak (we hope) yesterday. We
have had to take up the carpet in the café as the water table is so high that
it has come through the floor, it is not as bad as I feared, but I hope we stay
dry for the next two years!
Other than that,
I am trying to work out how to swing a lure in a back brace and how to pick up
a falcon!! but maybe not immediately!
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4 comments:
Hope you'll be back on your feet -so to speak- shortly!
I'm glad that you are on the road to recovery and able to see the funny side of things. Get well soon.
Thanks guys, it will be a while before I am back to normal, have to wear the back brace for 12 weeks or more!!!!!!!!
God's sake Mima... I need to read this more regularly! Mary-Catherine ran into Melissa and let us know what had happened. We've spent our fair share of time with the doctors this past year and can certainly sympathize with your hospital experience. Here's hoping the brace doesn't drive you completely bonkers. Gin-n-tonics and toasting your health this evening. Cheers!
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