Down time

The first weekend in October saw record-breaking temperatures......unfortunately I felt rough as a badgers arse for all of it. The headache and nausea from Friday night carried through for 6 days (and I was actually sick too). Couple this with pain from my wrist and it's fair to say I was pretty miserable, although I tried to pretend I felt better than I did as I'm pretty stubborn and I don't like missing out on the fun! Imagine feeling hungover for 6 days solid and you get the picture! In the end I spoke to a doctor who prescribed me some anti-emetics which literally worked like magic. Apparently if you feel nauseous, taking painkillers is fairly pointless as there is likely to be an imbalance in your stomach meaning they won't be absorbed properly (and that's if you can keep them down). On the plus side I have a load of the anti-emetics, so next time I do get a hangover I'm sorted!!

When I first broke my wrist, I went back to work pretty quickly, and as a thank you I got awards which I exchanged for vouchers. I wanted to add to my charm collection to remind me of why I got the awards and decided to buy a bone charm as there were none of skiers. All bar one charm (Lilo's charm) up until this one have been gifts and it's nice to know each and every one has a sentiment attached to it. So I now wear 5 charms on a necklace every day (although someone else has to put it on for me as it's not physically possible for me to reach!). I love just looking at them all (the ones on my bracelet too) and thinking about how lucky I am to have wonderful people in my life.

I also bought a charm for my Grandma at the same time, as we were planning on visiting on the Sunday. Unfortunately she was rushed into hospital where she remained for just under a fortnight. Thankfully she is home now, and hopefully we can share a little gin together soon!

As Grandma was poorly, I wanted to be with my family so we spent the Sunday round my folks place with my brother and my gorgeous niece. She's a cheeky monkey and I love her so much, so I had a massive grin on my face when whilst we were sitting down to eat our roast dinner, she leaned over and whispered 'I love you lots and lots'. She's never said that to me before, and it took me by surprise a bit!!!! I also left with a work of art that I'm sure will be worth millions one day.....

New Cast

A week and a half after the operation I had a new cast put on to replace the backslab/bandage one I woke up with. Not a moment too soon either as I couldn't use the shower cover I had been loaned (affectionately referred to as the 'arm condom') without the bandages unravelling. This meant I had to sit down in the bath and use the shower attachment to have a wash, which I was struggling with really badly due to my right knee being so sore-sitting on the floor and getting up again are both still an issue for me now. This lead to a lot of frustration, and on one occasion I slipped and banged my bad arm on the bath which was seriously unpleasant!
Ali took me along to see the physio's who first cut off the old cast. I got to see the wound for the first time and was pretty surprised how big it was, but to be honest I was more concerned about the fact that I had no feeling in the skin on the top of my hand and leading to my little finger! I was assured this would come back (two weeks on from then I can confirm it has-phew!). It was so nice to get the old cast off, as it was lined with some sort of synthetic gauze stuff which was so itchy it was driving me mad and I had managed to scratch my skin raw in places I could reach!

I was expecting the new cast to be the same plastic mesh stuff I had first time around, however the two physio's emerged carrying a large, slightly molten sheet of solid plastic which they proceeded to mould around my arm as it cooled and hardened. Weird stuff but very light! After a few adjustments (made using a heat gun and scissors) the cast was ready, and sealed shut with a few strips of Velcro. It's pretty good because I can take it off to clean both it and my arm which is a big bonus! Another big bonus was swapping the big blue foam sling for a slightly more stylish one :-)




When I got home my wrist was aching really badly so I took some codeine to help with the pain and had an early night as a headache and nausea kicked in.

Back to Earth with a bump!

After returning from Cornwall, it's fair to say I was pretty exhausted, albeit in a good way!  Everything seemed to catch up with me in a big way so I spent the Wednesday and Thursday of that week chilling out at home and trying not to do very much at all.  I felt really nauseous, in pain and if I'm honest, a little sorry for myself!
I was cheered up by my ski buddy who sent the most beautiful bouquet of flowers which arrived on the Wednesday.  I was so chuffed to receive these, and more cards from friends and relatives, and also to get a visit from said ski buddy, her family and another close friend on Thursday night.

Anyone who knows me well will know that I've been doing a bit of running on and off for a few years now.  When I found out back in late 2005 that a friend had been diagnosed with breast cancer, I decided it would be my motivation to get fit and run a 5k race for life.  This somehow escalated into deciding to run a half marathon (don't ask me how!!) and I completed my first one in September 2007, two months before my friend lost her battle, aged just 31.  I kept up the running, and over the years have completed 5 half marathons (some for fun (?!), some to raise money for Cancer Research).  Throughout, I held a little ambition to one day complete the London Marathon to try and raise even more money for both Cancer Research and also for Thames Hospicecare, who looked after my friend.  Well after four years of applying, I found out on September 29th that I had been successful in the ballot to run in 2012!
After the initial elation wore off, I opened the rest of my mail that day and was brought back to Earth with a bump - the other letter I got was the referral to a knee specialist that I had been waiting for.  So finally I have a place to run this marathon I have been wanting to run for five years, but I know I can't run it as here I am with my right arm in a plaster cast and my right knee grumbling just going up and down stairs and walking, let alone running!
I know there is some irony here, and I can see the funny side of receiving two such conflicting items of mail!
So, the big news here is that I WILL BE RUNNING THE LONDON MARATHON IN 2013!!!!!!!!
Am I mad? I think I might be!!!!

My first left-handed signature

As promised, the image above is the paperwork filled out whilst sitting on the piste with a broken wrist......

How long should a blog post be?

I have a feeling that mine are quite long, even though I've been omitting various snippets of information, and a lot of the memories that swirl around my head! I guess as this is my blog I can make the posts as long as I like, so I'm going to include some of those memories here, in no particular order, as they come to me.

1. I had to wait a little while at Briancon hospital before my arm was set in plaster because a man had been caught in an avalanche and was being brought in, so they needed to keep staff available (from what I gathered, he didn't have any broken bones or serious injury when he arrived).

2. When I was having my arm set, there were 3 (or 4) nurses fussing around me, attaching monitors and putting the mask over my face, all babbling at a million miles an hour. I was fighting the oxygen as I was trying to understand what they were saying but eventually they faded away and I could hear something very rhythmic instead (possibly my own pulse?!). I was panicking a bit for some reason as I could feel my arm being moved about so I tried to count without much success! The next thing I remember was my arm feeling very warm as they put the plaster on, and then I came around just as one of the nurses said "Parfait!" before plonking my arm on my chest. Then they all went and left me on my own in the room for what felt like a long time. I do remember thinking it doesn't get much better than parfait though!

3. The hilarity of trying to convey the spelling of my name and address to the piste rescue man whilst still sitting on the piste - the pronunciation of I and E in particular! I'll scan in the resulting document so you can see and laugh. Oh how much easier it would have been if I could have written it myself!! I was also very concerned about where my gloves were for some reason (I've been told this was probably some kind of coping mechanism, trying to distract myself from what was really happening).

4. Trying to speak in French to the radiographer after my second visit to him when he asked how we were supposed to be getting home. I was still a bit drunk from the oxygen and in a lot of pain, so struggling to speak in English let alone French-I was trying to say 'par avion' and that we were supposed to be home 'aujourd'hui' but for some reason he thought I was on about going to Avingon!!!

5. The hospital staff referred to me as 'L'Anglaise' rather than Katy when they weren't talking directly to me. It would appear they don't get many English people in Briancon hospital!

I have loads more of these to write down but I've been sitting here for long enough and really ought to get dressed!!!!

A bit of sea air

A couple of days after the operation I headed down to one of my favourite places-Cornwall. I'm lucky enough to have family I can stay with down there, and we had a lovely few days taking in the sea air, soaking up the rays (yes there really were some!) and stuffing our faces.
It's a fair old journey, and I forgot a pillow to rest my arm on, so I ended up tying the big blue foam thing to the handle above the car door so my arm was sort of suspended. Got a few funny looks but along with some sweets and some codeine it did the trick!
We spent the Sunday at Sennen Cove with my Auntie and Uncle. I love it there so much - I spent my 21st birthday climbing and camping there, and had a BBQ on the beach to celebrate. Watching the sun set here is amazing!



The weather was good to us, so we had a bite to eat, before the obligatory stroll around the Capstan Gallery. Then we headed to Cape Cornwall where we met some very windswept cows!






The next day we headed to Watergate Bay for some lunch at Fifteen, and a stroll on the beach. We've been going to Fifteen for years now and I've not had a bad meal yet (nor have I bumped into Jamie, more's the pity!). Can't recommend the whole place (hotel, beach hut etc.) highly enough!





We then headed into Truro for a stroll around the shops, but unfortunately I wasn't feeling great so we didn't stay too long, although we did end up back in Truro for some food in the evening which was lovely (just don't try and get a Chinese takeaway on a Monday!!).
We headed home on Tuesday via another favourite place of mine - Bampton in Devon. We have family friends here who used to run a B&B, and we popped in for some lunch and a glass or two of wine. The view from Rows Farmhouse is amazing, I could spend days just staring at it. It's good for the soul!



The combination of sun, sea air, food and painkillers made me very snoozy the whole time but the trip definitely did me good. It took my mind off the pain and the anaesthetic after-effects, and I'm very grateful to those involved for looking after me so well!

Patience and Beyonce!

The two days after the operation were not great if I'm honest. When I woke up the morning after (very early) I felt like I had the mother of all hangovers, nauseous, hot and shaky. My wrist was also giving me a lot of pain. I knew the best thing would be to sleep, but my body just wouldn't let me, so I lay in bed feeling a little sorry for myself. I tried to listen to some music to take my mind off things but weirdly sound was distorting in my head, a bit like when you have a head cold and your head is all bunged up! I decided to admit defeat and moved to the sofa for a bit of daytime tv, and was almost brought to tears by the pain (sorry Dad your phone call came just at this moment!). I remembered in France the evening after the operation was also pure agony so I thought to myself, this won't last, the pain will be better tomorrow.
Now after 31 years, I think I know myself pretty well, and I know that I always feel better if I am dressed and made-up, so I set this as my target for the day. I didn't have the energy (nor the balance!) for a shower so I had a quick wash and by 3pm (yes, it took hours, you try getting ready using only your left hand!) I was back on the sofa eating a bagel and feeling relatively human :-)

The one symptom that seems to be hanging around like a bad smell is the nausea, and Friday was no exception. I had a shower and got dressed but barely ate all day. I was going for a girly Beyonce night round a friends house which had been planned since before I even knew about the op and I was determined I was going! So, I made some date bars one-handed (yes, I was quite proud of myself for this!) and off I went. Problem is my tummy did not really like the idea of wine! I pushed on through though and had a few glasses anyway, including some bubbles to celebrate some birthdays, and a fab night was had by all! We watched the Beyonce performance from Glastonbury and pretty much all wished we were her, and gossiped (is that even a word?!) the night away!