Whenever I see people or bump into someone on one of my rare outings they usually ask how I am, nice right? Well yes it is nice but it's not that easy to answer. Chances are I'll just say 'fine' or 'OK thanks' or if I really am in a very bad mood maybe even 'crap' but then usually followed by 'but I'll be fine' people don't want to here things aren't going well they want you to say you're doing great and then they feel better and get on with their day and if its a quick stop and chat in the street they certainly don't need me rambling on about my recovery. I thought this would be a better place to try and explain 'how I am' with a quick (maybe not that quick) physical update.
14 MONTHS ON...
Bones - My last Xrays show that my Pelvis is knitting together well as is my spine and looking at my first Xrays compared to that one is a massive change. The first ones frankly are a mess there are a mass of breaks and the pubic rami (inner pelvic ring) is totally snapped and distorted. I still get a lot of pain in my pelvis but I'm told I always will and there is a chance I'll need a hip replacement when I'm old enough because I broke my right hip socket.
My Femur (thigh) is finally going in the right direction but 14 months on it still hasn't fully grown back. Basically when I arrived on that fateful day a large portion of my thigh bone had literally been ground to nothing so I was left with a bit of bone coming down from my hip socket and a bit coming up from my knee with a big gap in the middle (cringe I know) so I endured a massive operation whilst still in a coma and had a plate and screws put in which will stay in forever and is the length of my whole thigh.
My wrist, shoulder and jaw are doing well I still get a few niggles here and there but they healed well.
Organs - My lungs and liver have healed very well and fingers crossed they wont cause me too many problems in the future.
Face - My Septoplasty operation has made some difference however it has not totally fixed my septum so I still can't breathe fully through the left side of my nose and it may well collapse back. The person who stitched my left nostril back on deserves a medal because the scar is so neat. My bottom lip reattached itself to my gums now I have a scar running across my bottom gums which can be a nuisance when eating certain foods.
Burns/Scars - Obviously my worst scar is the exhaust burn on my back which I endured skin grafts on but I also have scars from the severe road/friction burns to my hip, shoulder and scalp, the plate in my thigh, the stitching on my nose and the lung drain holes on my sides. Most of them are hypertrophic which means the scar becomes over granulated and raised. They itch a lot and hurt in the cold. The scar on my scalp which caused me to have half of my head shaved is being operated on tomorrow...I'm very scared about that. The full thickness burn to my back is by far the biggest scar it pulls the skin around it in and is very tight around my waist. It itches and is very sore if pressure is applied. I still have to massage all of my scars with different creams multiple times a day and still have a compression garment. I don't know how I will deal with my scars when I wear the clothes I like and they are on show..
Walking - I often get asked how far I can walk and how long until I can use a walking stick etc. Basically I am now starting to use crutches around the house and have used them to get into a restaurant once. It's really hard to explain because I don't know how long it will take. I still use the wheelchair to go out to placed and I'm going away for my 21st in December and have been told I will need to take my wheelchair. At some point I will use crutches out and a tripod walking stick and a normal walking stick at home then those out and one stick at home then one stick for everything. But all of that seems far away. I have physio every week which I enjoy but if I push myself I get pain in my back, hips, leg and knee so it's tough.
If you find any of this remotely interesting and want to know anything else feel free to ask :)
DRIVESAFE, George xxx
Showing posts with label disabled. Show all posts
Showing posts with label disabled. Show all posts
Wednesday, 16 October 2013
Sunday, 11 August 2013
MARCH & APRIL '13 - Spain, Jewellery making and flying with a wheelchair...
So I'm going to try my very best not to ramble on too much about any of the things I got up to in March and April, because looking back at my diary there seem to be quite a few and I'm sure you don't want to be reading a dissertation length blog post!
On March 15th I got another exciting parcel in the post. I love getting parcels, It doesn't matter what's in them there is something exciting about receiving a parcel.. This particular parcel was from my occupational therapist and was a wheelchair tray. Something I never thought I would be excited to get but hey that's what my life has become! And I can now go to the kitchen make something to eat or drink and transport it back to my room myself. Something I haven't been able to do for 7 months now!...
On March 23rd I decided to start a blog! This blog to be precise, I kept getting annoyed at myself 1. for forgetting to write in my diary to keep up to date and 2. For never being able to tell people how I really am. So finally 7 months on it clicked that maybe I could have a blog? Maybe no-one would read it but if they did want to know really what happened, and how it has affected me they could. I decided to start from the beginning which is why you are currently reading 'March/April '13' written in August. I am desperately trying to get up to date so I can really use it as a place to express what's going on as it happens!
The shower was massive and although it was frankly amazing to have a shower in my 'home' and be able to have one whenever I liked Joss had to help me. We acquired a chair to use as my shower chair and I would wheel up to the shower then Joss would stand me up and half carry me to the other chair where I would get undressed then he would go away and come back in 20 minutes and reverse the procedure so I could get dressed in my wheelchair. Now yes everyone gets undressed in front of their boyfriends/girlfriends but at 20 it's not exactly fun being carried in and out of a shower by them!
I could get in the pool too which was brilliant and my physiotherapist was very happy about that as it's brilliant exercise when you can't walk. It was absolutely freezing in the pool but I had to make the most of being able to stand up un-aided in the water (how cool is that!).
One thing I never really thought about before this is, if you have scars especially burns you have to be extremely careful in the sun. You have to use really high factor sun cream and keep them covered. The sun is really damaging to skin and more so to scars it can not only make them look worse but if you have skin grafts and burns you are at a higher risk of skin cancer - great! So I carried baby sun cream everywhere in spain.
On March 15th I got another exciting parcel in the post. I love getting parcels, It doesn't matter what's in them there is something exciting about receiving a parcel.. This particular parcel was from my occupational therapist and was a wheelchair tray. Something I never thought I would be excited to get but hey that's what my life has become! And I can now go to the kitchen make something to eat or drink and transport it back to my room myself. Something I haven't been able to do for 7 months now!...
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| My snazzy new wheelchair tray and celebratory hot liquid transportation (soup) |
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| A little snap of me test running wig/hat combinations in March |
On the 29th March I went to Spain! Joss's parents needed to go to look at houses and after the crash decided to take me as well which I was very grateful for. If nothing else Spain gave me a week of using a real toilet and using a shower inside my own 'house' for the first time in over 7 months. The actual getting there and back was a bit of a hassle, we had to go to the plane way earlier than everyone else and use this weird lift which was in a truck to get onto the plane. Then I had to use an aisle chair and literally be dragged to my seat and then reverse that to get off the plane. Sadly we didn't get on first and the plane was full of people as I was being dragged to my seat. I also have no idea what they would of suggested if I needed the toilet on the plane as they left the aisle seat at the airport both ways luckily it was a relatively short flight!
Our villa was nice, however the woman had informed Joss's parents that it was totally wheelchair friendly and had no steps...when we arrived there were 2 steps to get onto the patio/pool area and then another 3 to get into the villa! Which meant a combination of being lifted in and out and practicing using my crutches. It also meant that as back home I couldn't go in or outside without help. The shower was massive and although it was frankly amazing to have a shower in my 'home' and be able to have one whenever I liked Joss had to help me. We acquired a chair to use as my shower chair and I would wheel up to the shower then Joss would stand me up and half carry me to the other chair where I would get undressed then he would go away and come back in 20 minutes and reverse the procedure so I could get dressed in my wheelchair. Now yes everyone gets undressed in front of their boyfriends/girlfriends but at 20 it's not exactly fun being carried in and out of a shower by them!
I could get in the pool too which was brilliant and my physiotherapist was very happy about that as it's brilliant exercise when you can't walk. It was absolutely freezing in the pool but I had to make the most of being able to stand up un-aided in the water (how cool is that!).
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| This is an aisle chair used to get me to my seat on the plane. |
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| Sort of photo of our villa/Rhianna |
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| Tackling the stairs with Joss! |
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| Little example of a piece I have created |
Lastly on April 24th I was put down for another operation. I'm sure I have mentioned before that my left nostril was pretty much ripped off in the collision and some amazing nurse stitched it back on whilst I was in a coma! I haven't been able to breathe through the left nostril since I woke up in ITU but as with a few other things it wasn't really looked into at the time because there were so many other things going on that could of killed or permanently disabled me. But eventually after being referred to an ENT consultant I was told the septum was deviated (if you felt inside it felt like a wiggly line) so now I'm down to have that fixed! Which I am very glad about because aside from the whole 'not being able to breathe properly thing' it has caused me to get sinusitis almost once a month which is pretty miserable!
Oh one very last thing, I'll leave you with a Facebook status of mine from the 25th April which looking back I can find funny! -
''Having to wait in the same area as the sexual health people getting stared at and hearing ''whys she here she's in a wheelchair..'' ONE - what a narrow minded uneducated thing to say, TWO - actually NO I wasn't there for my weekly STI test like you love!''
Oh one very last thing, I'll leave you with a Facebook status of mine from the 25th April which looking back I can find funny! -
''Having to wait in the same area as the sexual health people getting stared at and hearing ''whys she here she's in a wheelchair..'' ONE - what a narrow minded uneducated thing to say, TWO - actually NO I wasn't there for my weekly STI test like you love!''
DRIVE SAFE, George xxx
Saturday, 13 July 2013
OCT 2012 missing hospital - what the hell?! + How I shower etc with no downstairs bathroom...
So I spent an agonizing 6 weeks in hospital desperate to get home only to get home and wish I was back there...
You're all probably thinking 'what the hell?' 'Is she crazy?' 'why would anyone want to be in hospital?!'. And it is extremely hard to explain but this blog is for me to keep an honest accurate account of this accident and my recovery and this is how I felt.
Don't get me wrong before this I never sat at home thinking 'I really wish I could be in a horrible accident' and while I was in hospital I did not enjoy it. But I didn't really 'get' what being home would be like...I didn't come home to my bedroom I had to move into our front room. To get into the house I have to use ramps so I'm a prisoner in my own home unable to enter or leave alone. I cannot go upstairs at all. We have no downstairs bathroom, this means as a 19 year old female I have to have a commode chair in my fake bedroom which my mother has to empty. The ONLY reason I'm talking about every aspect of this horrific crash and it's results (even the most embarrassing and soul destroying) is because I think it's important for people to see how this driver's dangerous choices have ****** up my life. To shower I have to be taken to my parents friends house as they have a disabled access downstairs shower. This means I can only shower twice a week and involves packing two cars with me, my ramps, my wheelchair, my transfer board, commode chair (doubles as shower chair) and clothes, wash stuff and towels. I have to be wheeled in up my ramps through their living room, mom puts the chair in the shower base puts my wheelchair next to it, I transfer with the board, she puts the towels ect. out and leaves. I shower as best I can and then text her to come and do my back dressing and reverse the procedure to go home. YES it's good that they can even offer me showers at their house but it's degrading and exhausting.
Anyway back to missing hospital. In the middle of October I had my first of many 'trauma reviews', these involved me going to the QE to have xrays and a meeting with my trauma/orthopedic/bones consultant. From day 1 I have been completely strictly NO weight bearing this means I cannot put ANY weight through EITHER of my legs and must use a wheelchair and transfer boards. I was not even allowed to be rolled onto my right side because I had a big fracture in my hip socket. At this review I spent hours waiting for xray and then a meeting with one of 'Mrs bones consultants' registrars (doctors). Just to receive BAD news...still NO weight bearing at all. I have about 7 breaks in my pelvis and hip socket, and my left thigh was so badly snapped they had to remove a section before plating it and it had not began to grown back and the pelvic fractures had not begun to heal.
It was the last straw really. I felt SO depressed - why had this happened? why me? why didn't the grafts work? why did I have to use a fake toilet when the person who did this to me was fine? I missed hospital, at least in hospital I could use a toilet now I could transfer. I really bonded with some nurses which is a weird thing because you spend so much time with them and then just leave. And you know what people care more when you're in hospital, I had been inundated with cards and flowers (which sadly died before I got home!) and now I needed visitors more than ever now I was living in my own version of hell no-one really came round.
You're all probably thinking 'what the hell?' 'Is she crazy?' 'why would anyone want to be in hospital?!'. And it is extremely hard to explain but this blog is for me to keep an honest accurate account of this accident and my recovery and this is how I felt.
Don't get me wrong before this I never sat at home thinking 'I really wish I could be in a horrible accident' and while I was in hospital I did not enjoy it. But I didn't really 'get' what being home would be like...I didn't come home to my bedroom I had to move into our front room. To get into the house I have to use ramps so I'm a prisoner in my own home unable to enter or leave alone. I cannot go upstairs at all. We have no downstairs bathroom, this means as a 19 year old female I have to have a commode chair in my fake bedroom which my mother has to empty. The ONLY reason I'm talking about every aspect of this horrific crash and it's results (even the most embarrassing and soul destroying) is because I think it's important for people to see how this driver's dangerous choices have ****** up my life. To shower I have to be taken to my parents friends house as they have a disabled access downstairs shower. This means I can only shower twice a week and involves packing two cars with me, my ramps, my wheelchair, my transfer board, commode chair (doubles as shower chair) and clothes, wash stuff and towels. I have to be wheeled in up my ramps through their living room, mom puts the chair in the shower base puts my wheelchair next to it, I transfer with the board, she puts the towels ect. out and leaves. I shower as best I can and then text her to come and do my back dressing and reverse the procedure to go home. YES it's good that they can even offer me showers at their house but it's degrading and exhausting.
Ramps to get in and out of my front door (can't use backdoor)
Anyway back to missing hospital. In the middle of October I had my first of many 'trauma reviews', these involved me going to the QE to have xrays and a meeting with my trauma/orthopedic/bones consultant. From day 1 I have been completely strictly NO weight bearing this means I cannot put ANY weight through EITHER of my legs and must use a wheelchair and transfer boards. I was not even allowed to be rolled onto my right side because I had a big fracture in my hip socket. At this review I spent hours waiting for xray and then a meeting with one of 'Mrs bones consultants' registrars (doctors). Just to receive BAD news...still NO weight bearing at all. I have about 7 breaks in my pelvis and hip socket, and my left thigh was so badly snapped they had to remove a section before plating it and it had not began to grown back and the pelvic fractures had not begun to heal.
It was the last straw really. I felt SO depressed - why had this happened? why me? why didn't the grafts work? why did I have to use a fake toilet when the person who did this to me was fine? I missed hospital, at least in hospital I could use a toilet now I could transfer. I really bonded with some nurses which is a weird thing because you spend so much time with them and then just leave. And you know what people care more when you're in hospital, I had been inundated with cards and flowers (which sadly died before I got home!) and now I needed visitors more than ever now I was living in my own version of hell no-one really came round.
Thursday, 27 June 2013
27th September - Discharged from hospital...
I struggle to start all of these posts but this one is especially hard. 'Discharged' sounds so final but it was just the beginning really.
I had to see the doctors and they explained that we were keeping the wound/burn clear of infection with the dressings and letting it heal over because the skin grafts hadn't worked. Then they would look into more surgery in the future. I would be coming back to the Queen Elizabeth pretty much every week as I would have appointments with -
I then went round to give cards to those I wanted to thank. I left one at the burns unit and then Joss took me round to Critical care unit C, the intensive care ward I was on. I had a card for the nurse I had on the Tuesday (the day I woke up) and the nurse I had on the Wednesday. It was scary going in there again because I didn't know what it looked like before I was either in a coma or barely conscious. On there you have one to one nursing and the state I was in I got very attached to those nurses. Then I went up to 412 my main 'home' for my time in hospital. I had a collective card and chocolates for the staff and one for my favourite nurse. It's hard to explain the attachment and not everyone who's been in hospital will have it, I think the extremely vulnerable mental and physical state I was in and my age meant they were more than medical carers to me.
I had my first post hospital cry when we got to the car, I realized I needed to pee and if I waited til I got home I would have to go in the commode in my new downstairs bedroom. Kindly Joss and mom took me back to hospital to use that toilet but it was sinking in what being at home was going to be like. Joss made a status 'Georgia's coming home!' it got 63 likes, but I wasn't happy to be home. I cried when I saw the ramps to get inside, I cried when I went into our beige dining room and there was a double bed with a back support a special table and the dreaded commode. I cried when I had to use the commode. Joss tried his best and got some scarves and photos from my real bedroom to try and make it better, I must of seemed so ungrateful but I was absolutely heart broken. I didn't know who I was anymore.
Not the actual commode I cant face that!
The same luxury back support I have to have on my bed...
I had to see the doctors and they explained that we were keeping the wound/burn clear of infection with the dressings and letting it heal over because the skin grafts hadn't worked. Then they would look into more surgery in the future. I would be coming back to the Queen Elizabeth pretty much every week as I would have appointments with -
- Nurse clinic for dressing changes
- My Burns consultant
- My trauma&orthopedics consultant
- Xray's - Pelvis, hip, femur (thigh), wrist
- Physiotherapy
- Psychotherapy
- My Liver consultantMy new second home QEHB
I then went round to give cards to those I wanted to thank. I left one at the burns unit and then Joss took me round to Critical care unit C, the intensive care ward I was on. I had a card for the nurse I had on the Tuesday (the day I woke up) and the nurse I had on the Wednesday. It was scary going in there again because I didn't know what it looked like before I was either in a coma or barely conscious. On there you have one to one nursing and the state I was in I got very attached to those nurses. Then I went up to 412 my main 'home' for my time in hospital. I had a collective card and chocolates for the staff and one for my favourite nurse. It's hard to explain the attachment and not everyone who's been in hospital will have it, I think the extremely vulnerable mental and physical state I was in and my age meant they were more than medical carers to me.
I had my first post hospital cry when we got to the car, I realized I needed to pee and if I waited til I got home I would have to go in the commode in my new downstairs bedroom. Kindly Joss and mom took me back to hospital to use that toilet but it was sinking in what being at home was going to be like. Joss made a status 'Georgia's coming home!' it got 63 likes, but I wasn't happy to be home. I cried when I saw the ramps to get inside, I cried when I went into our beige dining room and there was a double bed with a back support a special table and the dreaded commode. I cried when I had to use the commode. Joss tried his best and got some scarves and photos from my real bedroom to try and make it better, I must of seemed so ungrateful but I was absolutely heart broken. I didn't know who I was anymore.
DRIVE SAFE, George xxx
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