Fruit from Tony’s Continental, from my friend L
Dear Readers, it would be easy to get a bit downhearted when confined pretty much to quarters for six weeks, but I have been so thankful for my friends and for my Readers. I have had lots of excellent advice from people that I’ve never met in real life who have had fractures or breaks, and who have great insights into how to manage the situation. People are offering to take me out for a drive, or to help me in a whole range of ways. To say that it’s cheered me up would be a real understatement.
My friend A brought me vegetables, my friend L brought me fruit (and how inviting does that look!) Another friend called L brought me homemade soap, and very lovely it is too! Several friends have brought flowers, my friend J brought an orchid and some Hotel Chocolat chocolates including some Apfel Strudel ones (though my absolute favourites were these cherry ones). They came in a packet of six. My husband had one, and the rest seem to have completely disappeared.
Friends have brought me books, and my friend S brought me this wonderful little jigsaw, small enough to do on a tray. Look at how elegant the individual pieces look!
But most wonderfully of all, what my friends bring is the outside world. It would be so easy to feel isolated and depressed, but every time someone visits, they take my mind off my poorly leg and turn my thoughts elsewhere. My friend J popped in with her daughter E yesterday, and it was so good to talk about rocks, and foxes, and drawing and writing. I’ve heard about what’s going on in Coldfall Wood, and Long Lane Pasture, and all the gossip from the street. It actually makes me quite tearful to realise how lucky I’ve been. And the biggest shout out of all to my husband, who has looked after me cheerfully even when I’ve been in grumpy and in pain, and who is adding a few more meals to his repertoire every week.
Independence is such an illusion, isn’t it? I’ve always thought of myself as an independent person, but in truth we are reliant on other people to an extent that I can’t even begin to describe, from the people who empty the dustbins to the people who run our shops and hospitals and schools. We are all suspended in an almost infinite web of connections, and sometimes it’s only when things go wrong that we realise it. So thank you to everyone who has commented, or visited, or reached out. I feel bathed in love.
And finally, I hesitated about whether to share this poem, so I’m just sharing the link. Be warned that it includes anorexia, suicide and the death of a cat, so not an easy sell. But I think it’s extraordinary. See what you think.
This is so meaningful: “what my friends bring is the outside world”. It is good to know that you are being well looked after 🙂
So glad people are taking care of you. We are camping near Swanage for the jazz festival. Yesterday my husband reordered the tent set-up and disturbed an ants’ nest under the groundsheet. They ran all over. I only panicked for a bit, thought what you would say, and having secured the food, went out and left them to recover and reorder THEIR tent. I guess it was their field before it was ours.
I hope the six weeks is not too slow in passing.
Ah Julia, sounds like my work here is done :-). As I write this I am watching one or two ants wandering across the floor, so I’m hoping that they don’t bring all of their little friends soon :-). Enjoy the Jazz festival!
‘Ground-bee man of Somerset here’. I’m so sorry to hear of your unfortunate accident and your poorly leg and have been following your account of your treatment and recovery with more than usual interest because I am also suffering considerably with my leg but seemingly in a parallel universe to yours. Mine is ‘mere’ arthritis in the knee but made to flare up beyond any pain I’ve ever known by our daughter’s labrador giving me a sucker punch with his head/jaw when he bolted after a Squirrel and got to the end of his tether(lead) just as he contacted my knee with considerable force! Because it’s worsened over a period of weeks I have been put into a holding pattern of waiting for appointments just to be referred further for X-ray, assessment, injection, physio and maybe, possibly, a replacement knee – all with at least 2 to 4 weeks between each stage except the last possibility which will probably be years of waiting unless we dig deep into our savings pot! Meanwhile I am getting very little sleep in an armchair every night and praying I don’t need to get up to the loo too many times in the night – something a man in his mid-70’s doesn’t have much control over!!
The real reason I’m writing this now is that I have just listened to the excellent Radio 4 ‘Infinite Monkey Cage’ on the subject of trees. Towards the end of the talk (around 31 mins in) they start to talk about how just seeing or being near trees can help with recovery after an operation. I’m sure I’m just preaching to the converted but here’s a link to the programme which I hope you enjoy…
https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-infinite-monkey-cage/id343580439?i=1000661250788
I hope you continue to recover and are soon out and about again, Take care…
So sorry to hear about your knee, Phil – treatment seems to be such a lottery depending on where you live. I think i was lucky to be ambulanced in to the Whittington, plus orthopedics is a speciality of the place. I hear of more and more people going private for knee/hip replacements, it seems really unfair. I hope that things fall into place for you soon. As far as the getting up to pee goes, I would let standards slip for a bit and get a chamber pot :-). And I really feel for you re the uncomfortable nights. I find myself wondering how long someone can go without more than 30 minutes sleep at a time before they turn into Jack Nicholson in ‘The Shining’. Sending you a big hug, and fingers crossed that things resolve themselves soon.
What a moving poem!