On Tuesday the 28th August - 9 days after the crash, 5 days after skin graft 1- It had been a rough weekend. I had my skin graft on the friday and then it was bank holiday weekend, now what most people (including myself back then) don't realise is doctors and consultants don't really work bank holidays. Technically they do but where there will be the exact same number of nurses on duty day and night everyday of the year, there are a lot less of them. There are still plenty on call and around for emergencies but not as many. I was still in a lot of agonising pain, it still felt like there were bricks on top of me and I had been lay in the same position able to just turn my head for 9 days. I was constantly boiling and then freezing and I was put on IV (through the vein) antibiotics.
Despite all of this my physiotherapists decided to try and sit me up that day, to make me smile if nothing else. Its hard to explain my progress because things like this 'sitting up' it's not the same as you would just sit up. Infact sitting is something I got very stressed about and no-one could understand, weeks after this day I still had to be pulled up the bed with my sheet and two nurses whenever I had slid down too far. But even after that with the back of the bed sat up I still was adament I wasnt SITTING but they didn't get it. Now I know that its because I was sort of sat on my tail bone (which was incidently snapped) not on my actual bum! Anyway back to being sat up! I had three physio's and a sheet for this. The sheet was put under my bum with the help of some agonising rolling, then the back of my bed was sat up to an upright position to bring my back up. Two of the physios took my back and arms and pulled me forward, then using the sheet aswell I was slid round so my feet could be carefully rested over the side of the bed. That doesn't sound like much and I couldnt do it alone for weeks but I cried. It was so overwhelming, not even the actual sitting up, I think 1. I felt 1% more human because I wasnt flat on my back and 2. It kind of sunk in that it had really happened. Even today 7 months on it hasn't fully sunk in at all but that point I think I finally realised I wasn't going to wake up...
BE SAFE, George xxx
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