Putting a boot into our original Easter plans… COMPLETED 5/3 - Page 4 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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I remember following all of the trauma of the surgery. I'm so glad that it is now moving behind you, albeit slower than you had anticipated in the beginning. I'm hoping the impact on your trip won't be too much, but I'm not so sure of that.
I remember following all of the trauma of the surgery. I'm so glad that it is now moving behind you, albeit slower than you had anticipated in the beginning. I'm hoping the impact on your trip won't be too much, but I'm not so sure of that.
I think you'd be right with your assessment of the situation... sadly.
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Too bad you couldn't have the surgery done on the first visit! Just crazy with all the snow as no way of them informing you beforehand of which staff would or wouldn't be there that day. That's like one of our snowstorms in CT and get used to them. Looks nice falling but are a nuisance as not a fan of cold weather in any way!
Glad all seemed to go well on the second attempt with a lot of inconvenience of not being able to drive for two weeks. Looking forward to hearing how your recovery goes and hope no complications involved.
Mark is certainly the trooper and is always by your side for everything. You are one lucky lady to have a husband like Mark!
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October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
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Too bad you couldn't have the surgery done on the first visit! Just crazy with all the snow as no way of them informing you beforehand of which staff would or wouldn't be there that day.
The problem was I don't think they knew until staff called in and they ask patients to get there for 7:30am, so by then, they wouldn't necessarily have known who was in and who wasn't.
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That's like one of our snowstorms in CT and get used to them. Looks nice falling but are a nuisance as not a fan of cold weather in any way!
It was pretty crazy, especially for a country not used to them!
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Glad all seemed to go well on the second attempt with a lot of inconvenience of not being able to drive for two weeks. Looking forward to hearing how your recovery goes and hope no complications involved.
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Mark is certainly the trooper and is always by your side for everything. You are one lucky lady to have a husband like Mark!
Oh my goodness I am and I know I am all the time, but even more so over the last couple of weeks.
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Pre-trip report – part five: some very fetching post op fashion
When we got to the hospital for my follow-up appointment to see if they’d be removing the plaster cast, I have to say it didn’t go well, although the end result was Ok. For starters, when you’re a nervous patient, being made to wait 25 minutes beyond your appointment time is not a good idea. Then it’s not great when you get told that your consultant will remove your plaster cast and a nurse does it. You get the idea…
Finally the cast was off and my consultant took a very cursory glance at it and said it was healing well, so that was good. After some debate about the size of protective boot I should have, I left kitted out with one, still with my two crutches. Some very fetching post op fashion I feel…
So now you can see how I got the title of this trip report…
I need to be honest here. The instructions from the hospital weren’t that great. “What happens if I feel unsure about getting up and down stairs in my boot?” Thankfully I didn’t, but just in case. “Oh you can go up and down without it”. Fine. Then a few minutes’ later “don’t walk anywhere without your boot until your physio tells you that you can”. Really. It was a tough one for a bear with very little brain, let’s put it that way.
It was also tough going, suddenly being able to walk around, after not moving much for two weeks, even with the protection of the boot. Ironically, the whole way through this thing, the problem has not been my ankle. It’s been the rest of my body. My right shoulder was screaming at me towards the end of my time in the cast, as I was relying so much on the crutches. Now it was my right calf that made me cry, as it felt as if it had seized up so much.
I ended up ringing the hospital, as three days after going into the boot, there was no sign of a physio appointment and I felt I needed one. I was told I hadn’t been referred yet by my consultant but they’d get on the case straightaway. A physio called me back in the meantime to give me some advice on exercises to do to help with my calf problems.
I managed to get off the crutches within a couple of days, as they had predicted, although whenever I did any longer walks, I would take one with me, just to be on the safe side. I decided to install a pedometer on my phone to see how much I was walking. On Saturday, it was just under 1,000 steps, but by Sunday, I was up to 3,500 steps and by Monday, over 4,000, so I’m not doing badly. However, of course, those are all small journeys, generally around the house. The longest I’ve managed in one go was 700 steps, which took me about one tenth of a mile, so I still can’t walk any long distance in one go.
So what did all this mean for our Easter weekend away? Well, in short, a radical change to it. The hotels remained the same, as they were all booked on a no-change basis, and of course the Donkey Sanctuary was a no-brainer, although I did have to check whether they had wheelchairs to borrow to get around the site. Thankfully they did, so I emailed them to explain that we were coming down and asking if I could reserve one of their wheelchairs. They were the first to get back to me to confirm that the wheelchair had been reserved, which was such a huge weight off my mind, because frankly let’s face it, the donkeys are the priority here!
I know it sounds stupid, but honestly those donkeys and their antics on the webcams have kept me entertained, both as I waited for surgery (I tend to get worked up and any time I did, Mark would just get the webcams on the phone for me! ) and as I recovered. My favourites are the miniatures in the beach boxes, or as I now call them, the “minis”. My beloved adopted donkey Gareth, who sadly passed away in October, was a “mini” and because it’s a small group of them (only eight now), you get to know all their names and their personalities. And trust me, they all have real personalities! They are so entertaining whenever anyone turns up to feed up and as for their play fighting, well sometimes you’re not sure if it’s playing or not. My favourite is how excited they get when they’re let out into a paddock or a field after some time indoors. A few days ago, they were let into their paddock and they were charging up and down like mad idiots. It was so much fun to watch.
Anyway, I digress. I did look at renting a wheelchair and I found a site that I thought would be perfect. A wheelchair was Ł17.50 for the week, with a battery (for any hills we needed to go up) was another Ł35. Ok, Ł50 – great, not too outrageous. What a joke that site was. When I went to check out, the price had rocketed to Ł200! I couldn’t believe it. They do a two week minimum rental, which is in very small print and then there’s a Ł30 charge per item. I still couldn’t work out how they got a total of Ł200 from that, so I gave up with them.
We also tried a couple of local places and charities, but it became a nightmare, with one of them open from 10:00am – 2:00pm on weekdays and you had to pick up your wheelchair from them and return it, which would’ve meant Mark taking more time off. I don’t think so. Then another one didn’t have specific opening hours – you had to call them to find out when they were open. You get the idea…
Sounds like you’re coming along, but I know it can feel so slow-going now.
So it ends up being good that you didn’t have a bigger trip planned over the Easter holiday.
If those donkeys made you feel better on the cameras, seeing them in person should be even better!
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I know it's tough, but you sound like you are right where you should be with your recovery. It's a good thing you changed your plans. I bet you will enjoy seeing those donkeys and they'll be just what you need!! I honestly believe that healing is both physical and mental.
I know it's tough, but you sound like you are right where you should be with your recovery.
Aw thanks, that helps me to hear something like that.
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It's a good thing you changed your plans. I bet you will enjoy seeing those donkeys and they'll be just what you need!!
They will be!
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I honestly believe that healing is both physical and mental.
You are so right. A lot of my recovery has been about believing I can do things. Until I get my head in the right place, I've been unable to achieve things. I didn't think about going up the stairs on crutches when I came home from the hospital and managed fine. The next day, I thought about it and convinced myself it was a big deal. Couldn't do it and had to drag myself upstairs. That went on for three nights, until I thought "this is crazy" and put my mind to it, reminding myself I'd done it on night one and, after that, I was fine going upstairs on my crutches.
Ahhh yes, recovery. Pre-surgery on my knee, I got all nervous for the actual thing, but didn't think much about what happens after.... I guess thinking all would be good again. But in those first few days, it's overwhelming. Such a slow process that feels like it's taking forever, but it's slow for a reason. Glad to see your progress once the cast came off, that's awesome!
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Ahhh yes, recovery. Pre-surgery on my knee, I got all nervous for the actual thing, but didn't think much about what happens after.... I guess thinking all would be good again. But in those first few days, it's overwhelming. Such a slow process that feels like it's taking forever, but it's slow for a reason.
You are so right. You just don't think about it. You just fixate on the surgery and that's as far as you get...
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Glad to see your progress once the cast came off, that's awesome!
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Just crazy with all the snow as no way of them informing you beforehand of which staff would or wouldn't be there that day. That's like one of our snowstorms in CT and get used to them. Looks nice falling but are a nuisance as not a fan of cold weather in any way! 
You are one lucky lady to have a husband like Mark! 
It was a tough one for a bear with very little brain, let’s put it that way. 
I couldn’t believe it. They do a two week minimum rental, which is in very small print and then there’s a Ł30 charge per item. I still couldn’t work out how they got a total of Ł200 from that, so I gave up with them. 
You get the idea… 
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