Dear Readers, over the past three months I have started to feel as if Whittington Hospital’s Orthopaedic Department was my second home. I’ve grown to recognise the staff, to feel comfortable with the routine (check in, up to the third floor for an X-ray, down to the first floor again to see a doctor, make another appointment for a few weeks’ time). Today, though, was my last visit (unless something goes wrong) and I found it surprisingly moving.

It’s true that healing (physical or spiritual or mental) isn’t a constant upward line, with improvements every single day – if I walk too much on Tuesday I can be sitting on the sofa with an ice-pack on Wednesday. But over time, the line is definitely on the right trajectory. I have been walking about without a crutch at home for weeks, but when I’m outside I’ve still been using one. Today, I decided that as I was getting a cab to the hospital, I would leave it at home. There’s something about being indoors on a smooth surface that makes everything feel more manageable.

As usual, the X-ray technician let me have a look at my X-ray. I don’t have a photo of it yet, but there was a clear ‘bump’ over the fracture where the bone is healing and forming a callus. Hopefully I can persuade the physiotherapist to take a photo so I can show you. It’s quite something to be able to actually have a time lapse sequence of your body healing. And the X-ray technicians are always surprised that someone is interested, and happy (usually) to share their expertise with you.

The doctor was very pleased with my mobility, not quite so pleased with the limp, but happy to discharge me. She said that if there were any problems going forward I could just come to the clinic, and if the physio was worried she would refer me herself.

I feel  a little strange now. I’m clearly not ‘back to normal’, whatever that is, but I do have a new spring in my step (not too much, though, one has to be sensible). And so I caught the bus home, rather than getting a cab, and found that people sprang up to give me their seat when they saw how I was walking. I can’t yet go upstairs on the bus, but at least I feel a little more independent. And how far I’ve come, from being completely dependent on my husband for everything to being able to get on a bus! I feel quite elated, and very humble. What a wonder the NHS is, and how grateful I am for all my friends, near and far, those I’ve known in person for years and those I’ve never met. Thank you so much to you all.