Drugs anyone??

I never was one for obeying the rules!  Show me how to make life comfortable and I'll do it.....

Days #3 to #7 without plaster cast

I had hoped to to a daily diary of life without the cast but it's not worked out that way.  Grumpy Trousers is doing a family timeline thing (to do with his Genealogy research) and has hogged the better of the two computers we have.  That left me with a laptop that not only runs at a snails pace, it also freezes for about 10 minutes at a time.  I'm sure you can imagine the frustration!

Today, Grumpy Trousers has gone out to the dentist so joy of joys, the very efficient desktop computer is free.  Apart from the cat who was enthroned on the office chair. With a little encouragement she moved to alternative accommodation.  Ok, the reality was ....."Gerroff that chair!"  With a filthy look cast in my direction she yawned, stretched, stuck her nose and tail in the air and wandered off to the spare bedroom.  In her own time.  Cats!


So this is the before pic.........

and this is the after pic.......she looks much more comfortable don't you think?

Anyway, I digress. So, days 3 to 7 have been pretty much of a muchness to be honest. Waaaay to much sitting around waiting for painkillers to kick in, but it's necessary. Working through pain in the hope that it would just bugger off of its own accord doesn't work does it? It seems patience wins the day. Combined with Paracetamol and Ibuprofen.  So if I'm planning an outing, I dose myself up, wait around half an hour then seemingly I'm good to go.  My limitations of standing and walking about seem to be around 10 - 15 minutes for now.  Not much, but better than this time last week.

Today, I'm having a lunch outing with my close friend B who is also a neighbour.  She's also retired and we enjoy the occasional lunch and shopping trip.  Seeing as she's just arrived to pick me up, I'll finish this posting later!

10.00pm
We had such a nice day!  I haven't been very far for almost 8 weeks, and last weeks outing to the mall was really tiring and had to be cut short.  Today, I survived much better so clearly I'm getting stronger.  We paid a visit to The Range, which if you live outside the UK is one of those shops full of everything you didn't know you wanted!  I came away with a bunch of silk flowers and some  wallpaper samples.  Bizarre combination of purchases I know, but I have eclectic tastes that are reflected in my shopping habits!  

I'll do a separate posting about why I purloin borrow wallpaper samples from DIY stores.

I bought the silk flowers  as my gift flower supplies have now stopped. I've kind of missed having flowers around  so for the price of a fancy bunch from the supermarket that will last around 2 weeks, I got these from The Range.  I wanted the big Hydrangea heads, and B helped me choose the rest. Looks rather cottage garden doesn't it?

So that was that.  I got back in the car with my foot throbbing and my shoe feeling very tight, and off we went to a Farm Shop for lunch.  I love farm shops; all the veg is tastier than the overpriced crap you get in supermarkets.  The meat is straight off the farm so it's not full of hormones, antibiotics and water.  It's all as it should be.  B and I sat chatting, and generally having a great indulgent time over lunch for an hour, giving my foot a well earned rest, then spent a small fortune on farm shop goodies.

I have to admit I was glad to get home.  I just wanted an ice pack on my foot but I had a great time and (almost) forgot my pain.

Day #2 without plaster cast

Slightly better day today.  Remembered to take the painkillers in plenty of time so gave myself a good start on the day.

• Had another long and satisfying shower!
• Put cream on my ghastly peeling skin.  Lumps of my skin are falling off. I'm like a shedding snake.  I've even resorted to putting cling film over the creamed areas so my skin will shluuuurp it in.  I'll try anything once!

(Not my image I hasten to add.  Credit below)

Image credited tess95.blogspot.com

• Foot and toes still swollen.  I'd post a picture, but I respect your digestion.
• Had an outing to a small shopping mall to visit the opticians so Grumpy could get his eyes tested.
• I figured I could manage the short distance in and out of the mall on the crutches.
• Didn't bargain for needing to make several stops due to people cutting in front of me while mindlessly gabbing on their mobiles.  
• Sat for an hour in opticians so my bum was completely numb.
• Grumpy took me for a coffee and a toasted teacake afterwards
• Had to use the lift to go downstairs to the Ladies.  Very kind person held the toilet door open for me.  I was well impressed with that small act of kindness after being cut up earlier by ignorant mobile-users.
• Headed out of the mall but every step was agony (painkillers were wearing off)
• So happy to get into car and let out a loud squeal of relief.  If anyone else had heard that they may well have been confused with the scene from When Harry Met Sally.

So folks, that made up a big part of my day.  Oh, and I just discovered the cling film that I forgot to take off.  It's been on 10 hours, so a bit overdue for removal.  Nice!

Day #1 without the plaster cast

Oh dear me....where do I start??  I had great hopes for today such as:

1. less pain
2. more mobility
3. stable mood
4. a long and satisfying shower!

So one out of four wasn't brilliant.  In fact it was No. 4 on the list that worked out fine. In fact it was utter bliss.    No's 1-3?  Not so good.

It was probably my own fault for not taking my painkillers soon after getting up.  I left them until mid morning for some stupid reason only known to my sub-conscious.  Result?

1.   Crippling, searing hot pain in my ankle area on both sides, so couldn't put my foot down.
2.   The ortho-sandal from the hospital wasn't helping as it kept coming loose, and the walking stick wasn't keeping me stable,  Reintroduced the zimmer frame, so slightly better.
3.   Mood dropped like a brick due to the pain and spent a good half hour in floods of tears, being a right mardy-bum wondering if I'll ever be able to walk properly again!  

I had to buck myself up after a while as I could see Grumpy was getting a bit upset.  He's not used to me caving in.  I'm the strong one.  The one that keeps everyone else glued together.  So today, he had to be strong for me and it doesn't come easily for him.  I felt drained afterwards, and couldn't concentrate or be interested in very much.  The mid morning painkillers eventually kicked in and I needed to sleep again for a short while.  So having learned from that mistake, I've kept them topped up throughout the day at 4 hour intervals and don't feel in so much pain now.

My next door neighbour kindly loaned me his crutches as his knee is better and he's not using them much now.  I test drove them this afternoon and all was good.  I have them on short term loan now until I get some of my own.  In hindsight, I realised that the hospital never asked me how I was getting around at home, and what I was using.  Neither did they ask to see me walking in the ortho-sandal to make sure I was OK with it.  So what's that all about then?  Reflecting on this has made me quite cross and unhappy.  I need to stop thinking about it now, and just bloody well phone the fracture clinic tomorrow and ask pertinent questions!  You never think of these things at the time do you?

However, I found this fabulous cartoon that I need to conclude my mardy piece of writing with, if only to show that I don't stay down for long.  It appealed to be as not only does she look a bit like me, it's also the sort of daft thing I'd do.  Eventually!

I found the image on https://abodyofhope.wordpress.com/tag/funny/

It's off......Hoo Bloody Ray!!

So the plaster cast came off today!!  Two feet back on the floor, albeit with some weird velcro sandal and not a boot.  No crutches either.  I'm really looking forward to  having a shower in the morning after 6 weeks of topping and tailing.  My foot looks like some old tortoise, and trust me when I say it's absolutely vile.  I've slathered cream all over it and put a sock back on.  I hope it looks more socially acceptable in the morning.  Bluuuurgh!!

All the way through having my cast on I've had no pain whatsoever.  Take the cast off and guess what?  It f*cking hurts now.  And then some!  I've been assured it will settle down.  It better.

Grumpy took me out for my tea to celebrate, just to a local pub where I promptly ordered a very large Pino Grigio in lieu of a starter.  Priorities, fellow Waddlers.  Priorities - they must be got right!  I enjoyed my food a bit too much and now have indigestion.  A small price to pay after being under house arrest for the last 6 weeks.

Tomorrow's another day.  Night all x

The cast comes off tomorrow!

At last, after 6 tortuous weeks my plaster cast is coming off tomorrow.  On goes the sartorially elegant velcro boot, together with the crutches that will turn me into Bambi.  For another 6 weeks.

Still no driving, but at least I will have two feet on the floor.  Grumpy can watch out for himself then!!

Blogs to follow in short supply

Folks, I've noticed that all the blogs I used to follow are a bit like Penguins Waddle, updated sporadically.  It seems like all the stuffing has gone out of us in terms of writing, or writing anything of interest.

I've taken a good look round and it seems blogging comes in waves of whatever is of current interest. The most prolific bloggers have taken to doing reviews of clothing and cosmetics which makes me think there's something it in for them.

OK, so if that's the case I'll stick my hand up for the following:

• Reviewing Caribbean cruises.  I always fancied doing something exotic.  It's not Grumpy Trousers thing, but I don't mind going on my own.  For research purposes you understand.

• Or maybe a couple of weeks holiday in The Maldives? Oh, but then again, Grumpy wouldn't want to travel even that far.  Looks like single room then, again for research purposes.  I could do a cracking review on lone travel to The Maldives. Right?

• Oh, come on, a Monday to Friday in Prague?  Nice little city break, getting ratted on a bar crawl.  I could do a great review on that!  Please note, the image is  not me - I'm not that greedy.

• Not even that?  Oh I get it, nothing short of a whole weekend in Skegness.  In a caravan.

• I can hardly wait.  Bingo anyone?  Oh and it's your round - mine's a Sex On The Beach!