Rehab week 2

It's nearly a week after visiting Joe my physiotherapist and there is nothing much to report because I've done virtually nothing. I have a bed set up in the middle of my living room with everything I need to hand and with the help of my wife, daughter and son I can stay comfortable but more importantly I have control of the remote of my Sky+, a real bonus. I have a ton of Star Trek episodes amongst over things as well as the Tour Down Under to watch so for most of the time I'm not bored.

I did actually manage to go out last Saturday for the North Cheshire Clarions first annual awards dinner and that was only achievable because I've mastered the art of swivelling on my good leg to get from the wheelchair into the car seat and out again. I'm glad I made the effort as it was a great evening with great company. We had a 'Sportsmans' meal which I think means a menu with only 2 or 3 choices for each course and that worked out just right, next we had a very interesting speech from Denise Hampson who is a recent past member of the team GB track team, next the club awards one of which I received, then a raffle, then another speech from Ian Clark who talked mostly about the history of the Clarion and then a disco which of course was not for me. What got to me about the whole evening was the clapping and cheering I received when I was wheeled in from the 70+ people there, highly unexpected but very moving I can tell you. After an hour though the pain started to get to me, sat in the wheelchair I was sitting on all the bruising and no matter how much I shifted around the pain wouldn't go away but I managed 3 hours or until 11:30 pm before we set off for home.

This week I'm having a lot of pain mostly in my elbow, every night I'm woken up by this pain, I think the reason is that if my arm is static for an extended period of time it gets very stiff and starts to throb, I've been given strong co-codamols for the pain but I'm reluctant to take them as they give me bad nightmares which result in me jerking awake with my arms and legs flying everywhere and believe me that hurts, really hurts.

Another problem I'm having occurs during one of the exercises I've been given for my elbow in where I have to bend my elbow to 90' and rotate my wrist is that at midpoint rotation there is an audible click accompanied by a sharp stab of pain in my elbow. I don't know what it is, I can only guess, could it be the excess of bone protruding from my broken Radius catching on my Ulna or possibly even that the break is not healed and I'm just making it worse. A question to ask Joe next time I see her.

My leg is doing OK, virtually no pain except at night, I have a lot more strength and am able to move it around with the exception of moving my leg inwards towards the other - it's still weak. When I was getting ready to go out for last Saturdays dinner I momentarily forgot and stood on my bad leg resulting in an immediate jolt of pain, I'm 3 weeks post break and in another 3 weeks I'm expected to walk, I'm worried, I really am, I would have thought that by now I would have at least managed to put some weight on it without loads of pain.

So that's it for now, this is where I'm up to...