When I started doing 30 seconds balancing on each leg whilst cleaning my teeth in the morning, my family and friends thought I was nuts. After a year and a half my balance improved substantially. I can now stand on one leg and put a sock on the other foot without holding on to anything. At 74.5 I was reckoning that it was very good.
Forward to last week Thursday evening, I was taking my granddaughters to swimming when I tripped and fell, hearing an enormous crack and saw my right knee swelling rapidly. The people at the gym/swimming pool couldn’t have been more helpful. My daughter came to collect us, rang an ambulance and then took us all to her house. 4 hours later the ambulance arrived. They checked all my vitals, including the pulse in my foot then gave me lots of pain relief and took me off to A&E. I’m not sure how long I waited but I had an X-ray and the staff there were great.
I was admitted and spent 2 nights in hospital before being sent home with crutches, pain killers, a cricket splint and diagnosis of broken patella. I’m likely to be off my feet for a while. They are hoping not to operate.
It’s changed all our Christmas plans BUT my balance exercises have paid dividends. Being able to balance means my good leg is in full use getting up and down. I can balance to do all sorts of things such as picking up stuff from the floor by keeping my injured leg straight and bending my other leg, keeping balanced.
Thank you Michael for “Just One Thing”. Thank you NHS
for all your help and support to keep pain free, at home and on the mend. (BTW an ambulance in the USA costs about £5k! and is not covered by general health insurance). Let’s count ourselves lucky and hope the NHS is saved.
Happy Christmas Everyone
