Sunday 23rd October
Taking the opportunity to gorge myself on literature I've just started Sharon Osbourne's autobiography "Extreme" and have Alan Bennett's "Untold Stories" waiting in the wings- even reading with one hand is difficult, especially when you get an itch but you're at a really interesting part of the book!
Friday 21st October
"Why is he talking about pop music while I'm lying here in agony?". As it turns out, the orthopaedic trauma consultant wasn't talking about "Radiohead" after all. I'd fractured my "radial head" by somehow managing to trip and fall onto our rather hard tarmac driveway on Friday 7th October, a day which I'm unlikely to forget in a hurry (particularly as I'm also committing it to my diary!)
I wish I had an exciting story to tell (I am thinking of concocting one for future reference ;0) but we were on our way out for the evening, to a friends' wedding reception in Liverpool. One moment I was walking towards the car and the next I was flat on the floor; wondering what had happened, why I couldn't straighten my arm and why was it so painful. Ian was wondering where I had disappeared to, as he had looked away momentarily to unlock the car door and when he looked up, I was nowhere to be seen.
A quick mercy dash later and I'm in A&E at Whiston hospital, thankfully I was seen shortly afterwards and after an excruciating round of X rays, I was told I would be given gas and air and they would try and manipulate me back into shape! They thought at this point I had just dislodged the bone. A porter went to maternity to borrow some of their G&A but the canister was dented and they couldn't get the mask connected to it. Next thing I know, Elvis is helping me get plastered!
No, the morphine wasn't playing tricks, the male nurse by my side was called Elvis and the doctor was applying a cast to my arm. It seemed that they wanted to keep me in overnight while they decided how to proceed. I spent a long and agonising night on the trauma ward which was followed by several days on a normal ward. To cut a long story short, I had an operation on the 13th (bit of a delay while they checked I was fit enough for the op) during which a plate and some screws were fitted to my radial head to put me back together. The scariest and most unpleasant experience of my life to date but thanks to the amazing staff at Whiston, I'm still here.
I was discharged on the 15th and hopefully on the road to recovery. A stay in hospital makes you realise just how lucky you are to be relatively healthy and how you take so many things for granted, simple stuff like washing, eating and dressing etc are very difficult at the moment (especially as I'm using my non dominant hand) and I couldn't cope without my amazing family but hey, I'll be playing the piano again before I know it, I hope! I'm looking forward to seeing what happens the next time I go through an airport metal detector!