It’s been a while since my last post. Eight days in hospital with hardly any sleep
due to pain and being on a noisy ward plus not being able to eat much took its
toll on me. It’s taken a few weeks for
me to feel half human again and to have the strength to do daily things that
normally I wouldn’t even have to think about.
My operation went to plan, but it was hard not seeing my
family very much over the 8 days I was in hospital. I didn’t see my youngest son for the whole
time, as he was traumatised after my hospital stay in March and didn’t want to
see me hooked up to cannulas, drips etc.
I totally understand as I’m not great with hospitals and so know how
scary things like that can be to an eight year old. Fortunately, I could facetime him without him
seeing the drips etc. Although he did
remark I didn’t look too good!!! I do
love my ASD kids honesty, even though it may not have been what I wanted to
hear at that moment in time! My eldest
two kids did come in and visit me on a couple of occasions and texted me
several times a day.
Timing for my operation was not great, as our daughter had
only been at her new school for three weeks and she was still settling in. However, like in March when I was in
hospital, she has grown in strength as a result of me not being around
24/7. The cycle of ringing me each day,
sometimes multiple times to tell me she wanted to come home stopped, as she
knew I couldn’t drive from the hospital.
The biggest change was that she confided in her form tutor, something
that normally takes months for her to do with a new member of staff and so
although I had already told her teacher that I would be in hospital, our
daughter told her as well and so had someone she could talk to at school if
needed. That is a huge breakthrough and
now she seems more settled at school.
I had expected my recovery to take 2-3 months, but the
consultant broke the news to me when I was discharged that it is more likely to
take 3-6 months for me to fully heal.
This was not what I wanted to hear as I’m an active person, who rarely
sits down, unless Strictly Come Dancing is on tv!! I’m always on the go whether I’m out in the
garden, walking our dog, decorating, making something or studying. For the first couple of weeks at home, I didn’t
want to do much other than sleep or sit down, so I could adjust to not doing a lot. After that boredom set in and
I’ve used the time to order all our Christmas presents online. I’ve never been so organised as everything is
bought and wrapped. Last week I decided
I needed to start walking again, so that I could walk our youngest son to and
from school each day, once the kids returned from half term this week.
Normally I walk anywhere from 12,000 – 15,000 steps a day,
but for the first 3-4 weeks after my operation, I barely went above 1,000 steps
in a day. Last week I managed to walk 5,000 steps on two days and paid the price for it at the weekend as I was totally
wiped out and suffering with pain.
However, with our GP’s advice I have managed to do the school run two
days this week. I’m not allowed to do
more walking than this for the time being, as a couple of my scars are
unfortunately in the same place as my core muscles and so walking is
aggravating the scars and scar tissue that is developing. I will continue to do the school run each day
though as I feel better in myself for going back into the outside world. I don’t like being confined to the four walls
of home and unfortunately can’t drive for another month, so I am restricted by
what I can do each day.
There is a positive in all of this though, as I’ve lost
nearly 10lbs in weight due to the low residue diet I have to be on for the next
couple of months. My husband
keeps tempting me with his thai/chinese cooking, but unfortunately I've got to resist it for the time being.
I will have to listen to advice and take my recovery slowly.
Spending 17 days in hospital this year is more than enough for me and I don’t
want to be going back there anytime soon.
My goal now is to build myself up and fully recover so that I can enjoy
the things we have planned for next year, as well as a trip to Harry Potter
Studios on Christmas Eve in 8 weeks time.
Both of our ASD children have a Harry Potter obsession and during half
term, Sky had a Harry Potter channel on tv, so that’s all I’ve heard for the
past week!! They can’t wait to go wand,
broomstick and anything Dobby related shopping in the gift shop!
It’s our eldest son’s birthday in 3 weeks time and although I’m
not up to hosting the party he would like this year, I know he will be happy
when he comes home later and sees the treat I’ve booked for him today - a rugby
training camp with his heroes at Saracens a week before his birthday.
Going to Harry Potter Studios/rugby camp is all about making
memories for our kids and although I haven’t been 100% for the majority of the
year, we have still tried to ensure we have created a lot of memories with our
holidays, our youngest son being an animal keeper for the day, day trips to
London etc. Our kids may look back and think 2016 was the year when Mummy was ill and had to go into hospital,
but they will also remember the good things we have done as a family.
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