I always though that once I was home things would improve but the last 24 hours have made a huge difference. When we arrived back at 5pm on Tuesday I was in so much pain I had had to get into the back of the car to lay down, then that started to hurt my back so I had to sit up in the back at whatever angle took some pressure off my new bits the best. Once home I felt better immediately, had something to eat and took some painkillers which although take a little while to kick in do a good job once in the system but don’t last very long so I am soon looking at the clock to work out when I can take the next lot. So although they do a good job they create lots of ups and downs which is less than ideal but at the end of the day anything which takes away the pain has to be a good thing.
After the usual broken night’s sleep due to the number of visits to the bathroom we got up this morning around 9, I felt ok and that it was good to be back in familiar surroundings but I was still very stiff from the traveling and in a fair bit of pain. We had some things to do, Denise needed to do some shopping, go to the post office and several other things in town and I had an appointment with my GP. As much as the team at Ardmore, Philadelphia had looked after me very well, nothing ever seemed too much trouble and they were all lovely people there’s nothing quite like seeing your own GP who knows what you’re like and in my case is just wonderful so in a weird sort of way I was looking forward to it and looking forward to seeing Karen and Mikhaela (I’ve probably spelled that wrong!) who so fit the place they work, always a smile like sunshine. As a general rule people are not at their best when visiting the doctors and to be greeted with a lovely smile and treated in such an empathic way goes a long way in making a visit to Sunshine medical centre so much less stressful than other such establishments in town.
Its a weird thing but it has crossed my mind on a number of occasions that on my first visit to the doctors after my surgery do I offer to show Dr Rumer’s handiwork or not, afterall they have seen hundreds right? Even if they have all been “original equipment ” as it were not manufactured as in my case, I didn’t need to worry as when it came to it it just seemed the natural thing to do and to my surprise, instead of the reaction being “I can’t believe how much swelling there is” it was totally different, I think she was surprised how “normal” it looked and agreed that after a couple of months it will indeed look “pretty” as the Surgeon almost promised. We talked a lot about painkillers and different approaches to pain management which was totally unexpected but so relevant and we came away feeling so much more positive, as positive as you can do when the next stop is to donate some blood at the hospital for a long list of tests for one person or another but it all went very smoothly and even that was in fact made pleasant by the fact that the two people involved, Rayleen and Leah were both gorgeous with me, very interested in how things had gone in Philadelphia and the best part, the needle was sharpe, I didn’t feel a thing, such a talent and one which not every person taking blood has I can assure you, over the years I have had some pretty blunt needles and even though my veins are very visible some pretty botched jobs but as with most things you find someone/somewhere that you are comfortable with which makes all the difference.
So that was our first day back in Busselton and I already feel much better, I have more energy (which could be a problem as I will want to use it!) and just generally feel better, if I continue to improve the same amount each day I will soon be fighting fit again. The only down side was dilating this morning, it was so hard to push inside me this morning, not desperately painful but difficult to get fully in which was a worry, my second attempt was much easier but actually more painful which is weird but I guess it will get easier over time (just as well as I have it to do for a long long time) but I think the first one was just because I only dilated once yesterday and it was over 24 hours earlier so it’s a lesson to me to keep it up, pardon the pun!