The Blurred Line

Day 28 - my first shower and trip outdoors!

It's my cousins birthday today so happy birthday Rosie!!! Hope you have a fabulous day!

It's also the first Tuesday for a little while where I haven't had surgery really early in the morning and I can't believe I'm finally free of all the drains and leads – except one as I still have antibiotics that runs for 3 hours. I can finally turn over in my sleep properly to sleep on my tummy like I used to but the swelling on the stump is really very odd. It's like you're trying to sleep on massive bruise that's full of fluid. The stump is relatively flat on the outer side so I can sleep much better on it. This isn't surprisingly that this is my normal calf. The skin at least the wraps around back up to the knee so that I where the Achilles tendon would have been is pointing towards my knee. Although, since the Achilles tendon is no longer there to push the skin out, it looks a bit like a mini bottom! And a hairy one at that! The sole of my foot is also attached and follows down the inside of the stumpfrom the knee. The wonders the plastics team have done are incredible!

I was so excited to see my mum. So long bed baths (until I get home)! We are going for a shower! Just as a side note, I didn't shower in my wheelchair but instead used a commode which is just made of really hard plastic that can be dried easily. Vienna put my stump in a clinical waste bag and taped it up with transpore. I hate the sticky tape and I'm allergic to it but needs must! I asked them not to throw me away as clinical waste.

I passed Assiss, the really kind gentleman who got us our food and cups of tea and biscuits – and always remembered a black tea for my mum too – shouting "Onwards!" as my mum pushed me which made him laugh. I also jokingly told mum to, "giddy up!"

In truth, it wasn't just exciting to go to the shower but it was also the furthest I had been. I could peer into the men's H bay and at the ward's reception desk where there were so many things happening.

The bathroom is a wet room so the shower isn't in a separate block – if that's the right word – so my mum could push me on the commode right under the shower but not before using the toilet! Even though I did use the toilet for the first time in an age, I had to sit on a half commode thing. I think it still counts though. The only fault I can find in the entire ward is that there isn't an accessible bin for people in wheelchairs. For infection reasons, you open them by stepping on a bar with your foot but this means that I have to open the bin by opening it awkwardly with my hands which defeats the point.

The shower was really good even if it hadn't been my first shower in an age. It was just so nice to sit in the warm and humidity and falling water that only a shower can really give you – I just couldn't stop giggling! Mum held the shower as I still had a cannula and PICC line in that I was trying not to get wet which would have been fine until Mum turned on the shower and it fired at her! She'd forgotten to the point the head at me so she got absolutely drenched! We both burst into hysterics! Washing my hair, the shampoo lather was coming out grey from the 3 weeks of dry shampoo that had built up in it – lovely!

Almost exactly after my shower, I was then hooked up to my Echo again for a round of antibiotics. Nina came to see me and was very happy with my transfer from the bed to the wheelchair. I explained to her that I was far more comfortable standing up and then sitting back down again than using a banana board or doing a crouched transfer like Chris suggested. She said to go with whatever felt more comfortable as long as I was safe and that she was ordering a commode and wheelchair for home.

Dad brought in two parcels when he came along with some lovely cards. The two parcels had two amazing mugs inside – one which says "I a-Dumbledore you" and which magically transforms from a black mug to a Marauder's map when you put tea in it. I actually don't know who sent them as neither had any indication as to who sent them so thank you ever so much if you did! They're fantastic! I have a feeling a know who they're from but please let me know!