Part 6
It felt good to be at home, not just because I was back in a familiar environment, but it felt like another step completed on the road to recovery. I was not looking forward to spending 3 months stuck at home, I am not very good at sitting down and thought I would be really bored.
The first few days back at home were interesting as we found out all the usually routine tasks that I now could not do. Anything below thigh level, such as kitchen cupboards were now out of reach. This meant that I certainly couldn't put my socks or shoes on and really struggled with my trousers. Also sleeping was uncomfortable as I had to either sleep flat on my face or on my back, which meant I snored! I also had to log roll to get in and out of bed and if I wanted to change position. This meant that I needed the whole bed, and coupled with the fact that my wife was scared she was going to inadvertently damage me (that was what she said) I had to sleep in the spare room for the first few weeks back home.
The next 6 weeks, before my first check up at the hospital, went surprisingly quickly. I had lots of visits from friends and my mum came to stay just to check that I was OK. I tried to do as much walking as I could as I had been told that this was the only exercise I should do. At first I could only walk a few hundred metres but I gradually improved and within a few weeks I could walk about a mile, although it would take about an hour! I am sure that the time didn't pass quite so quickly for my wife! She now had to half dress me in the morning and undress me at night as well as doing all the housework and make sure that all the things I needed throughout the day were within reach and packaged so that I could lift them. I bought myself some mechanical grabbers so I could at least pick some things up off the floor if I dropped them, and it meant I could get the mail!