Road to Recovery...

So I haven't been blogging recently due to other commitments with hospital appointments, college work and my work in Subway. 

So last year (Feb 2014) I fell downstairs and because of the pain and the way I fell, my uncle decided it was best to stay still and wait for an ambulance. I lay on the floor crying in pain (and insulting everyone) and was texting my friends what had just happened. I was screaming to everyone 'I've broke it, I've broke it!' But knowing me it would just be a sprain. 45 minutes later, the ambulance arrived and they had move me from the house to the ambulance without causing pain. Therefore, they gave me gas and air. Once I was inside the ambulance and all strapped up the 2 ambulance staff did lots of checks (such as; my details and what had happened, blood pressure, heart rate and the circulation level of blood around the foot.) At this point, all my neighbours being nosy had came out, looking confused as to what had happened. 






















When I got to the hospital it was full of drunks (as it was a Saturday night) and I was started to feel hyperactive yet sleepy (from the gas and air.) After going for several scans the doctors explained to me it was just a sprain, but didnt want me to cause more damage so gave me crutches and told me to keep my weight off my ankle for a few days. I then made an appointment for a check up for the following Wednesday. 



















On the Monday, I went into Sixth Form and everyone was shocked to see me on crutches and were asking me what had happened. But, on the Wednesday, the doctors removed the bandages to find that my foot had been swelling (and due to the bandages being a barrier, it had made slits into the skin, making my skin bruised and 'slit-looking' lines all over my ankle and leg) and fracture blisters from where the carpet had grazed the skin and had been rubbing against the bandages. They rushed me into the scanning room for several scans and found that I had 3 broken bones. Due to the damage (and the amount of swelling) I was not allowed to be put into a cast straight away, therefore I was put into a backslab. But whilst the doctor was putting me into the backslad he had to realign my foot slightly. Which killed that much, I had to go back on the gas and air. I felt like I was in labour!!

Before the operation

On the 20th March 2015 (13 months later) I went into hospital for the operation. I was really scared and nervous by was trying my best not to be and was telling everyone I was fine. I got to the hospital at 7am but did not have to go down to the theatre til 2pm. There was me, my mum and my dad and there was 1 other patient too. We were able to watch the eclipse and we read magazines and just gossiped. But as I was not allowed to eat, my mum and dad thought it would be funny to eat chips and chocolate in front of me and drink lots of tea and coffee. Not nice! At 1:30, I got asked to change into my hospital gown and that oe of the staff from the theatre will come up shortly. 

At 2pm, one of the staff came up and collected me and I said bye to my mum and dad. When I got down there, I seen one of my friends outside of the room as her mum was in another operation theatre room. Small world. When I got in the room, I was talking to 1 of the Nurse Anesthetist whilst the other Anesthetist injected the general anaesthetic into my hand. They were also attaching electrodes to my chest to keep an eye on my levels. The operation was suppose to be 40 minutes long (especially for a small foot.) However, it took 1 hour and 22 minutes! Even though, they avoided putting me in a cast and crutches, they did more work that they had originally intended on doing. When I got back from the recovery unit (5pm) my dad had left to pick kids up from school and my mum stayed for about half an hour until she left. However, the morphine had kicked in and I started being sick and feeling tired so they had to keep me on monitoring and then they realised that my blood pressure had lowered. My nan, grandad, 2 brothers and sister turned up with McDonalds, card, teddy and chocolates to cheer me up. Which it did. I then facetimed 1 of my friends for a bit (and gave her a little tour of the hospital room, ahaha.) It was a bit annoying though, because everytime I needed the toilet I had to press a buzzer and wait for them to bring my wheelchair and then they had to help me onto the toilet (but they did wait outside) The food wasn't that bad. They brought me toast and ice cream, but because of the morphine I did struggle.) But the next day, they amde me bangers and mash and ice cream with 4 cup of teas and biscuits with each cuppa. Who knew you had to have so many needles? I had the anaesthetic, drip and an injection to thin my blood (to prevent clots)

After the operation

The next day after the operation

I was discharged from the hospital about 2ish - It was supposed to be 11am but due to my blood pressure they had to keep me on monitoring. When my mum and dad turned up I just had the biggest cry ever, because I was just scared and really upset, still felt sick from the morphine (from the previous day) and I was just in pain and wanted to go to my own bed. 

On the 10th April, I went back to the hospital to get my stitches out...FINALLY! And even though it still hurts I know I am on the mend. Cant believe I am saying this though but I cant wait to go back to Sixth Form as I have had 4 weeks off and it feels like its been the summer holidays (2 weeks off for recovery and then 2 weeks off for the Easter half term) I do have to keep going for minor check ups just to make sure everything is okay and just so they can monitor my blood pressure but hopefully I'm nearly done.