This was me in mid-July, a couple of days after a close encounter with the bumper of a BMW. I am glad to report that the German engineering held up, and was able to efficiently break my nose, eye socket, left ankle, and make a particularly impressive mess of my right tibia and fibia. History does not yet exactly relate how it happened. I have no memory of the accident, and the police have been oddly contradictory so far. I think the witness statements remain uncollated, as that can be the only excuse as to why there seems genuine confusion as to whether the driver was male or female. That, or the driver's name was Jo. Or Leslie. Or sex changes have become more efficient this summer. Or, the accident was in Clapham after all, the driver was a specialty cabaret act. In which case, I want complimentary tickets.
My first recollections of life the other side of the nasty accident are snippets of chatter in the A&E department of St. George's hospital. I was asked if I had taken cocaine. I even remember the conspiritorial nature of the enquiry. Perhaps it was an opening gambit for a possible sale? I was told to stay still. I don't think that went down very well. A nurse congratulated herself on the quality of the stitches she had made to my head wound. I think I was extremely keen that my employers should not be told the extent of my injuries, as I was desperate to keep hold of my job. Then a quick trip to a ward before a morphine fuelled week of three operations that would piece me together, and leave me with two extraordinary skin-grafted 'fasciotomy' scars, and an 'ilizarov frame' on my right leg. This is a 6kg piece of scaffolding that is impaled through muscle and bone, and makes you look as if you have accidentally trodden in a dalek. However, it is why I still have a leg, and so it is a good thing.
This brings me to this blog. I can't go very far, and despite the best efforts of the BMW, my brain still works. So I have spent four weeks in hospital, then a further six weeks so far at my partner's house, with at least one foot up. It hasn't made me popular with Sarah, my other half, as she has had to beetle around me, and life is made insanely difficult anyway by the particular needs of our son William (see her blog on the links bar). However, it is an inevitable state of being, and so this blog is to chart the possibilities of time spent with a computer, tv remote control and plastic wee bottle all within easy reach.
1 comment:
Hi Paul,
You probably wont remember me.
Officially known as "Nick,s Mum but I do have an identity, Joyce Langmead. I have been fascinated reading about your conditions.Ther leg frames wasn,t a complete mystery as a friend of ours had one after trying to turn of a sprinkler to get his ball back at Wentworth and not noticing that the spray concealed and inner bar which then broke his leg! One ambulance ordered and then his friend who saw his difficulty came up to hold back the water and got the same! Two golfers in the same condition! He had one of these contraption fitted as the bone would not grow. Fortunately all is now back to normal. I hope you are feeling better from one who hates being immobile for very long I can understand your frustration. Nick keeps me up to date on what is happening with his friends. I hope you c.
ntinue to make progress. I am very interested in medical things and have been fascinated by all the pictures (ghoulish or what?)I hope you continue to make progress and send my best wishes for your future recovery. I was also fascinated by the baby page as I have a new grandchild called Joseph who gets up to all kinds of mischief.
Signing off now Love Joyce
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