3 weeks on - an update

I've seen a physio and my GP this week, so I thought it was time for an update on my current health.

Firstly the physio: she removed the dressing (hooray!) and underneath is a really neat scar. A little bruising, a bit of a scab at both ends of the scar but otherwise it's really pretty. I think my Vitamin E tablets helped that: now to have a go with the Vitamin E oil to see if I can completely minimise the external scarring. I have some exercises to do, she was very pleased with my current state. Back next week for more. The only issue is that I still have to wear this pesky sling 24/7!

The GP: also very pleased with the scar. My questions about the blood pressure issues has been answered: having been treated for high blood pressure most of my adult life, it's actually fine without any tablets just now, and the diuretics were reducing my available potassium to a dangerous level, so no need to take any tablets for that!

So all is progressing wonderfully well. Thank you all for following this journey, I will get back to posting other stuff tomorrow.

The Membering Meditation

I wrote this a while before the operation. It was designed to say goodbye to the affected parts, and welcome in the new.

Lie down preferably, and get into a deeply relaxed state by whatever is your favourite means.

Bring your consciousness into your brain. Come down the back of your head, down your spinal cord to the shoulder slope, and move across to the place where your shoulder bones are.

Turn to the parts with arthritis. Regard them with love. Send them love and Reiki and thank them for their service, which has brought them to this point.

Now turn to the parts that will be replaced. Regard them with love. Send them love and Reiki and thank them for their service. Tell them you will meet them later when they will be restored to their rightful position and full health. Bid them a fond farewell with love.

Envisage the new parts in their place, shiny and new. Regard them with love. Send them love and Reiki and thank them for their service. Tell them you will look after them and make sure they are properly cared for. Welcome aboard!

Now envisage the incision closing up and the tissues healing perfectly around the replacement. Take  your self back along the path you followed to get to your shoulder: back along to the spinal column and up it to the brain. Envisage your consciousness filling the whole of your brain.

Bring yourself back into the real world slowly and lovingly. Take several deep breaths and open your eyes. Wait a while before sitting back up. You may wish to drink some water and go to the loo.

I did this a few days before the op, and again while I was in hospital - but then I only got halfway before I went to sleep!

 

Lucy's Magic Cordial

So now I can type properly, I'm going to start using this blog for its original purpose, which is to tell you about the complementary and alternative therapies I am using to assist my recovery from the operation.

When I was about 7 years old, the class teacher read us “The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe”. Well I was hooked. I got out each book from the library and eagerly devoured them, even to the extent of making up scenes from each one. I felt I knew all the protagonists and what they looked like: Peter was tall, thin with straight brown hair. Edmund was shorter, plump with a slight wave in his dark brown hair. Lucy had wavy golden hair, and Susan had very long, straight brown hair just like my friend Susan Round.

Each of the children had something magic. In Lucy’s case, it was a magical bottle of cordial, which had restorative properties. Sadly the Kia-Ora orange squash my mother bought served only to quench my thirst, not anything else!

Let us fast forwards now 40 years. I did a “meet your spirit guides” meditation, and had 3 guides come forwards. The first was a beautiful woman with green eyes, long ginger wavy hair, wearing a green dress and carrying a basket of flowers. Her name was Flora. Secondly, an old man with a long beard and pointy hat, with a coat that kept changing colours and had silver writing on it – well, he was quite obviously Merlin. And thirdly, a majestic male lion came to me: full face, he looked like a very gentle pussycat with a smile. “Aslan!” I said. And at that very instant my rational mind kicked in with “Don’t be daft. How can you have a fictional character as a spirit guide?” and of course the meditation disappeared. But Aslan the lion stuck, so that’s what I called him.

I have a picture, drawn by the amazing Polly Bartlett, which exactly matches my vision of Aslan, and so he has pride of place on my altar at work, alongside St Expedite and Bast the Egyptian cat goddess.

So why am I telling you all this?

Well, not long after I was released from hospital, one night my shoulder felt full, sore and hot. No real pain thanks to the painkilling cocktail, but too uncomfortable to sleep with. While I lay tossing and turning, trying to find a comfortable spot, Lucy’s Magic Cordial sprang to mind for some reason. I visualised this potion being delivered straight into the shoulder, with its viscous gooeyness spreading all around the affected parts. By the time I’d finished…

Well I awoke a few hours later, my shoulder still pain and inflammation free. As it has been, by and large, ever since.

Week 3: on my own

Today is the scariest day post-op for me.

My husband has gone back to work.

I don't really blame him, 2 weeks more or less cooped up with me (he's gone shopping from time to time) has to be enough for anyone. Hey it is for me! So today I am home alone, with just Scala radio and our 3 cats for company.

I'm quite pleased that my arm is now at a stage where I can resume touch typing with both hands, and I've cut my nails on my hands this morning as they were getting very long. I couldn't cut the nails before now because I couldn't manage the clippers with my affected hand.

The other thing that's happened is that the pain relief medication has had to be tapered off. Bearing in mind that my shoulder was, in fact, the least of my worries before the little accident that got me here, and I have issues with several other major (and minor) joints, I can't just stop taking pain relief. I've decided to return to a modified pattern of paracetamol and ibuprofen during the day, and Zapain at night to help me sleep. So far it's OK.

So what shall I do? Well I can do what I want. I shall have to do some housework - some light dusting perhaps - but not much because I still can't use my left arm properly. I could start the CPD course on CBD (too many TLA's!), but I need to write to do that - maybe by the end of the week I'll have that one figured out. As it's nice weather, I might have a little walk round as long as I remember to pick my keys up first!

Oh and I can write. In fact, I'm considering taking part in NaNoWriMo - but not actually writing a novel...

But first I have to figure out how I make lunch with one working arm and one still at the "ow" stage.

Wish me luck!

T+16: the little things

My husband amazed me today.

We discussed the food for today: tonight we're having a fryup, and a pork pie with pickle for lunch. After I had a nap (still not sleeping well at night), he got up and did me lunch.

Half the pork pie, cut into 6 slices, with a spoonful of Branston pickle and a spoonful of piccalilli on the plate and the offer of English mustard, which I declined because piccalilli. Not just put on a plate, but arranged so that it looked good.

The Japanese do say you eat with your eyes, and I remember from my days as a care assistant that jaded appetites are perked up when the food looks tasty and appetising. Somehow, hubby realised that and had taken the time and the trouble to create food I felt like eating, even though my appetite had faded over the last fortnight.

How lovely of him.

T+15: still doing too much

2 weeks now since the op, and the skin on my affected arm is peeling away. Gross, I know, but it's what happens when your flesh swells and then goes back down. So out with the moisturiser!

Still not in a position to type too much, so I'll just say that today I received a beautiful bunch of hand-tied flowers from the Amethyst Centre, in the Centre's colours: lilac larkspur, deep purple and lilac lisianthus, and cream roses and spray chrysanthemums, with pine and gypsophila. Beautiful, and thanks to all who contributed.

Having had to cancel some big ticket courses today, I now have the increased worry of how the Centre will survive my absence as I can't actually do anything to bring in any income myself. So if anyone out there has any thoughts...

Here's the flowers, by the way.

T=14: a new first!

This morning I had a "bath"!

Well sort of. I got in the bath.

Hubby of course was there to do the work because my good arm was supporting my bad arm as I'd taken my sling off for the exercise. So with his support, I stood in a bath full of hot water -

I'll just stop there. Hot Water. Oh. My. God. I swear to god it was the bestest, loveliest sensation I'd ever had, even just to stand with Hot Water up to my mid-calves. I did try and sit on my little step stool, but even that was too far down for me to manage with one hand, so I stood up

- and Hubby washed me with beautiful NYR Organic Rose Geranium shower gel, and poured Hot Water over me from a plastic jug, which was more controllable than a shower head.

So he dried me, and I dried him, and he put my clothes on me. It's taken me 4 hours to recover...

T+12: finding limits

Stretching the boundaries of what I can and can't do can be quite dangerous I guess. I really don't want to disrupt the bedding-in process, and the other day I carried an empty washing basket downstairs. That hurt the day after so I guess it was too early for that.

Today I'm typing this with two hands as I'm a touch-typist, and one-handed typing is a real pain in the proverbial. My affected arm is beginning to ache now so I guess this will be a shorter blog than I'd intended!

Lord give me patience - and make it quick!

T+8: hello!

Well Im here!

Sorry I havent posted anything but I find it very hard to type one-handed at the moment.

Surgery went very well indeed and I was released home at 1pm on the 13th. I will produce more blogs now I'm more compos mentis, and when I have fathomed out a more comfortable way of producing typescript.

I am in very little pain, but I shall be wearing a sling 24 hours a day for the rest of the month. I am bored!

T-1: a lot of finals

What a sad day this has been.

The final shift before the op.

Saying "merry Christmas and happy new year" to people who I won't see again before January.

Handing over my precious enterprise to my team.

So I stand on the shore and push the SS Amethyst Centre into the sea. Her capable crew, helmed by Janet and assisted by Lindsey, Bliss, Yvonne , Tracy and Caroline, with Sonia, Pam, Amy and Kerry on standby, will steer it through the next three months and possibly beyond. I'm sure they will do well. In fact, because I trained (most of) them, I expect they will do magnificently!

And I go on my next adventure, the unchartered waters of major surgery, recovery and rehab. I have never had an operation before, let alone one of this magnitude.

I will see you all on the other side.

T-2: depersonalising the Centre and repersonalising my room

Today I spent some time sorting out the room which I will spend a lot of time in on my return, i.e. the "ironing room" which is our spare bedroom. Haven't completed it yet, tomorrow I need to finish the actual ironing - last ironing for a month! Yay! and put it away, then finish packing and make the bed up with Steve's help.

Also today, I have taken my CDs from the Centre: also some crystals for an altar at home, and my Tarot and oracle cards so I can do some readings and hopefully that could be a source of income. Now that is actually quite upsetting, as I realise just how much I have here of me. I have taken about 10% of me from the Centre I guess. I just hope those who hire my room in the next few months don't feel my presence too much!

So this is my last evening shift for a few months. I shall miss the CCTV pictures changing from colour to black and white night vision. I shall miss the way the stained glass composition changes colour between daylight and artificial light.

Goodnight Amethyst Centre. I leave this place in the capable hands of Janet and her assistants, both human and spirit, and my final shift of 2019 happens tomorrow morning.

T-3: learning the benefits of dietary supplementation the hard way

Today I realised exactly why I take dietary vitamin and mineral supplements.

I was advised by the pre-op nurse to stop taking all supplements 10 days before the op, so I complied with that. It's now been a week since I had one and I feel...

dog...

rough!

I feel slow.

I feel irritable.

I feel exhausted. That sort of exhaustion that starts behind the eyes and extends to the toenails.

I feel physically depressed. Not mentally or clinically depressed, as I am still thinking positively, but I can barely muster speech and when I do it's little more than a whisper. I can't do much at all. All I want to do is sleep.

So let's see what I was taking: vitamin C supplement, Vitamin D supplement, magnesium calcite (for night cramps) and a general multivitamin/mineral. I felt pretty good on that regimen. I stopped taking the full-spectrum omega oil about a month ago, and my knees are complaining about that!

And yesterday I got a call from the pre-op nurse that I had to repeat a blood test because my last one showed I had low potassium levels. That's probably because of the diuretics I take to help get my blood pressure under control, so when I went for the repeat test I didn't take my diuretic as I usually do.

Now I'm sitting at my desk, waiting for a replacement router to be delivered so I can go home and back to bed. Oh and there's a fizzy orange drink in the kitchen waiting for me to have my vitamin top-up... naughty me!

Safe hands

Today, with a week to go, I had a meeting with my "replacement" Lindsey.

She is a therapist with her own practice, who is moving into teaching and I am supporting her to make the change with us at the Centre. She has her own physical problems (as do we all at the Centre!) which is one impetus for changing to teaching from physical therapies, and is a great support to me. We share the same naff sense of humour too!

She noticed some undercurrents I was trying to ignore, and some of her observations made me wonder just who was the psychic here! So I'm really pleased that I'm handing over the supervision of the students to her.

Our introductory aromatherapy and reflexology courses are scheduled to start on Monday, and Lindsey is to teach them. We spent some time making sure she knew where the stock was kept and what we had available to her and the new students. There are still places left, by the way!

So tonight I feel much better about leaving the students in her hands, I know she will cope. I'm even looking forwards to finding the Centre in better health when I return!

T-8 and counting...

The operation is a week away. This time next week, I'll be having my last meal before the op. Now that's scary!

Today I've had an unexpected day off, so I decided to take advantage of it and get some things sorted out. I had my hair cut first thing. It's maybe not as short as I'd like, but at this length I can at least rub it over with a wet wipe and that will keep the grease at bay for a while!

I made the mistake of nipping to the hospice shop. There's a beautiful winter woollen coat in a blackberry colour in my size, £10.50 and a bargain: however I can't actually try it on so I'll have to pass on it this time!

Then to Boots for some homeopathic arnica pillules. A bit of Google scholar research leads me to some work which says that the optimum time to start taking it for post-operative reduction in bruising and pain relief, is 72 hours post-op.

Finally, over to Dunelm to see if I can get a throw in the right colour for the bedroom, which is deep wine colour. There was a choice but I opted for a 200 cm x 200 cm one, which should be big enough to wrap round if needed.

I've also been working out timings for washing and ironing, given that I'll be doing neither for about 6 - 8 weeks post-op. I'll probably be ironing shirts this time next week! I think I can leave washing the sheets hoping that Steve can help me when I do them closer to Christmas.

As I'm a NYR Organic consultant, I took advantage of their recent sale and got one of their Travel Kits, which contains organic facial wipes, Organic Defence hand spray which I imagine will get a good use in hospital, Wild Rose Beauty Balm for moisturising, Geranium and Orange shower gel (well you never know) and White Tea Facial Mist for freshening skin up, all in a lovely canvas bag: https://uk.nyrorganic.com/shop/TheAmethystCentre/area/shop-online/category/gifts/product/7103/nyr-travel-kit/ I'm adding Beauty Sleep Concentrate, which is a night time serum moisturiser, and a facial wash sample or maybe the Frankincense Cleanser, which can be removed with water if needed. I'll also put in a little pot of Frankincense Hydrating Cream, which I use every day.

I might do a trial pack later this evening to see if there is anything missing that I need to take with me! I'm a bit hamstrung in that I don't know quite how long I'll be in hospital for, I'm going to pack for 4 days just in case.

The Pre-Op

8.30am I arrived for my 2nd pre-op. The first was in February, but had expired, so they sent me for another one.

I had to fill in a health questionnaire and tell them what drugs and supplements I took. Just as well I'd written it all down beforehand!

Steve was with me, logged into the work wifi and was working away while we waited.

Eventually (took 50 minutes) we were called in to see the nurse. She was absolutely lovely! She told me more about what to expect than the original pre-op nurse did. She took swabs from my nostrils and my groin area, and answered my questions.

It looks like we're pretty much on our own as far as support goes though. I'm not surprised, I know resources are scarce and we are reasonably affluent I guess. Hopefully when I get to St Cross hospital I can talk to someone about what help is available for us.

I went for an ECG and could leave afterwards. I must admit, I didn't sleep well last night and I do feel quite thick just now (head thick that is!) so I won't be late in bed.