This Weekend at the Duckpond - In Praise of the NHS

Remember the bit about Bones on my 'A-Z of Me - B' post?

And yup, remember the famous last words - "fingers crossed that I've had my fair share of broken bones now!"

Well clearly not, as on Thursday morning last week just as I took a step off the stair outside our front door, I managed to put my foot down awkwardly, collapse in a heap (a little bit like a skyscraper so I've been told) and smash my right ankle to pieces, fracturing the tibia and fibula bones in what the doctors called 'doing a good job of it'.

Luckily we have a minor injuries unit just a mile up the road from our house so we headed up there where they x-rayed it (asking the incredibly ironic question, 'is there any chance you could be pregnant?' - which would be 'umm, no' seeing as we were due to have our little frozen embryo transferred on Friday afternoon) and confirmed that yep, my ankle was well and truly broken.

So off to the local hospital's A&E we went where I had more x-rays, a lovely doctor called Owain who gave me gas and air (which is pretty good stuff, I have to say!) while he manipulated my ankle and then I was packed off to the orthopaedics ward to spend a few nights as an in-patient.

I needed an operation to fit screws and a metal plate into my ankle but they had to wait for the swelling to go down before they could operate. I went under the knife and general anaesthetic on Saturday morning, spent most of Saturday afternoon asleep or reading and then spent Sunday learning how to use crutches.

The pink is just disinfectant but I do quite like the colours in this picture!


I know the NHS comes in for a lot of stick, but I can't fault the care I received during my stay, all the nurses and doctors were fabulous, explaining things in everyday language and always at your beck and call whenever you needed them.

I didn't think even the food was that bad - for example, Sunday lunch was roast pork, roast potatoes, gravy and for pudding, sultana sponge and custard - and all of it was very tasty. We were given tea, coffee or hot chocolate every few hours and even digestive biscuits to go with it.

My next 6 weeks are now going to consist of putting my feet up, reading lots of books, blogging (finally I have time to catch up with all your lovely comments) and generally taking it easy.

Ceremonial chopping off of the hospital wristband!


I think Andrew's already fed up of waiting on me hand and foot!

 

What did you get up to at the weekend?
I really hope it was nothing at all like mine!