Time Flies...

I can't believe it's been over a month since my last blog post!  I don't really know where the time has gone, but so many things have happened in that time which probably accounts for me losing track of it.

I had my big cast off four weeks after the op, so six weeks ago now.  It was changed for a smaller cast which I was told I'd have to wear for four weeks (two more than I was anticipating) and which I was able to take off, and in fact was encouraged to start doing so.  Of course I took my physio's words (which were 'you can try taking the cast off now and again') to mean I didn't need to wear it, and subsequently went back to the office and took it off for the rest of the day.  I then decided driving the next day would be a good idea too.  I guess I just really wanted to get back to normal as soon as possible, and with two holidays coming up I thought that maybe I could just skip this step and not use the cast and therefore not have to take it on holiday with me.
Cue pain and the requirement for more codeine to manage it.  Duly got a telling off from my physio, who reminded me the idea was to wean myself off needing the cast, not just stop wearing it straight away.  I think I mentioned before about my stubborn streak - well in this case it was sort of working against me!  The good news was that the amount of flexibility I had straight away was pretty impressive, and not far off what I had before the op.

So, I reluctantly took the cast on holiday to Kent with me when I went away with some friends.  Honestly, it made no difference to how my holiday went so I don't know what I was worrying about - I had a fab time!  We were lucky with the weather so we had a halloween party, including decorating the cottage, carving pumpkins and setting off fireworks.  We went for walks, ate loads of food (including one of Ali's legendary roasts), visited the Spitfire Memorial and shopped in Canterbury.  The less said about the trip Ali and I took to Herne Bay and Culver Beach the better, although our day did improve when we ended up in a pub in Broadstairs and then sat in our cars letting waves crash over us!
I also had my birthday treat from Pete whilst we were away, which was to hand-feed a cheetah.  A truly memorable experience and I can't recommend highly enough a trip to the Kent Wildlife Heritage Foundation.