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.

The pain - to drug or not to drug? That is the question!

In view of the fact that me and my foot are currently getting nowhere with the NHS, I've had to resort to painkillers. 

Over time my GP has prescribed a range of them from simple paracetamol, through to codeine, ibuprofen, and Tramadol.  None of which work very successfully.  I had to stop the ibuprofen as it gave me stomach acid, and the Tramadol just made me feel nauseous.  Codeine for some reason has no effect whatsoever. 

However, I thought I'd found a breakthrough with the paracetamol when one morning while in a hurry to get to work, I inadvertently took two with my coffee instead of water.  I spent all that day being relatively pain free and was overjoyed to think that at last I'd found some temporary relief.

Subsequent doses produced the same level of relief so I thought I was on to a winner, until I did some research.  The long term implications of paracetamol and caffeine look dismal.  I already have CKD3 (chronic kidney disease level 3 which is fairly low level), so I really should be treating any drug I take with extreme caution.  The implications for the liver are even worse.  I've linked HERE to an article in The Daily Mail so you can read for yourselves what happens.  I have to say it makes alarming reading for anyone who has to take pankillers regularly.

I can't possibly spend the rest of my life swallowing pills on a daily basis, and reading that article has highlighted how much of a stink I now need to kick up with the NHS over the lack of treatment of my foot.  Seemingly it's the root cause of a lot of things, beginning with balance problems, the stress it's causing my hip, and before long it will impact my lower back and my knees.  Before the last two things happen I HAVE to get my foot sorted out.

For weeks now I've been having acupuncture in an attempt to control the hip pain.  This is £30 an hour, and as the weeks wear on the cost is eating into my small income; and it's debatable whether it's doing much.  The day of the treatment sees me very comfortable, and with a slight spring in my step waddle, but the following days feel as if I'm back to square one.  I'm sure this is not the fault of the acupuncturist. I think it's because my problems are complex and need trial and error sessions before we hit on the right path.

In the meantime, I met with a friend today who is a sports masseur.  She gave me a thorough going over and suggested that when I have  my hospital appointment next month I explain to the consultant that my Tensor Fasciae Latae (yeah I know, here's a link!) seem to be affected.  We talked at length abut the impact one affected area has on another, and it seems I am lucky that my knees aren't affected already.

So, on this informative note dear readers (I'm assuming you read this far!) I'm off to find you some Simon's Cat on You Tube to release a few endorphins with a good chuckle!