Recovery
“Hello ladies and Gentlemen. Erm…..we have just been contacted by Copenhagen airport… and there is some unusual drone activity in the sky above the airport….so…erm…as a precaution we will be diverting to Malmö….I’ll give you further updates in due course”.
WARNING: If you are squeamish, don’t scroll further…
It was all going so well….
Where the hell is Malmö?!!! I went into a blind panic - not something I do very often.
You couldn’t have written this. I was in the air on an Easyjet flight to Copenhagen, the night before my scheduled surgery in Denmark, to repair my torn rotator cuff which had plagued me ever since my bike crash the previous December. I had to be there at 8am. In Denmark.
It had cost me thousands. I could not depend on the NHS as they had a penchant for cancelling operations once I had already taken weeks off work - which means a huge loss of salary, being day rate - essentially self employed.
So, I looked at private surgery in the UK. This was also fraught as, once I had got as far as the surgical assessment, the local orthopod decided (or maybe he was pushed, who knows) to ‘leave the business with immediate effect’. This left me high and dry yet again.
I decided to go with Operations Abroad Worldwide. It was somewhat ironic that having served the NHS for 20 years, the one time I needed them they would leave me financially ruined if they cancelled on a whim. It was a risk I couldn’t take. Working offshore, you can’t just pop back for the day. It is a minimum of 2 weeks out of work, which is a month’s pay. Then of course, the loss of earnings during recovery. And that is before the operation has even started.
So, I paid to go to Denmark.
Sensing my fear, that my operation and the thousands I had paid for it were about to go down the pan as we were diverted in the air to another country, the young couple sitting next to me reassured me. Malmö was just a taxi ride over the bridge from Sweden to Denmark.
It was a very expensive taxi ride, but we shared the cost and would be claiming it back off Easyjet anyway.
I finally made it to my hotel around midnight, in time for my 08:00 appointment at the hospital.
I’m pretty sure I was the only patient in there. It was clean, bright, calm and everyone was super friendly. I had my own dedicated nurse and I was slightly amused that they had given me a room with photos of bicycles on the wall..
The surgeon came in to see me and I had yet another MRI scan, then another Xray, then the anaethetist came in to see me...it was all very chilled but professional.
The surgeon was a bit concerned about my frozen shoulder, which I seemed to have developed, as well as the rotator cuff tear. He would do his best.
It dawned on me as the time came closer that I hadn’t ever had surgery as an adult and I suddenly became a bit frightened about being anaethetised. I had learned to intubate in theatres and found them a very odd place, fuelled by extremely strong coffee.
An absolutely lovely nurse called Hannah put me at ease. She was absolutely superb and hers was the last voice I heard as I was chatting about some guy I fancied….then I remembered nothing else. Three hours later I woke to her voice and the uncontrollable trembling began, along with euphoria as the drugs wore off.
Consequences of crashing a bike.
I was treated to anything I wanted - which comprised strepsils and ice cubes for my sore throat, a cheese toastie and some black coffee!
The surgeon came in and gave me a sling and showed me how to put it on and where it should be. They had already pre-loaded me with pain killers and my shoulder didn’t hurt at all.
It was a huge relief and shortly the surgeon came in to show me how to wear the sling properly, and be very clear about the recovery timeline. despite bing the most impatient person on the planet, I could not afford any complications - so I stuck to his instructions to the letter.
The hospital were happy to let me go back to the hotel that evening and they called me a cab. I was starving hungry so treated myself to the best things on the menu - suddenly realising I couldn’t use a knife and fork. The waitress was lovely and asked the chef to cut up my food for me. He did - and then buily it all back together again so it didn’t look odd.
I was beginning to like Denmark a lot.
I had been intubated, rather than an iGel or LMA (supraglottic devices). This was because the surgeon had to turn me over to get to the back of my shoulder. The downside of this was a bit of a sore throat. It was a little swollen and each time I fell asleep I would snore and wake myself up. I am not a snorer…but that night I wasn’t going to get any sleep for choking myself to death.
The next morning I had to go back to the hospital for yet another X-ray and a check over and for the surgeon to show me what he had done and the pathway forward.
It was pretty standard. Exercise was fine. Walking, cycling on my Wattbike - all fine - so long as I kept my arm inactive and in a sling for for the first 3 weeks.
I bought a second net sling which was quick drying so I could wear it in the shower. I had pre-organised everything, even buying a tabletop dish washer and a bunch of freezer ready microwave meals (yuk) as my left arm and hand would be useless for a few weeks.
I made best use of Ai and set up my mac to use voice dictation so I could get some writing done. But mostly, I rode my Wattbike trainer, drank wine and watched Netflix.
My friends Jayme and Katherine came to visit which was so welcome and they brought their little boy Cillian too. Another mate Kenni came for the day with boxes of paints, paper and pens and we had a lot of fun doing arty farty stuff. I hadn’t opened a box of paints in about 20 years, so it was awesome to be forced to sit by the fire and get creative. It’s amazing how being in a relationship for a long time can strip you of all the things you enjoy, piece by piece, because so much energy is sucked from you to put it into them. I had my energy and motivation and mojo back in spades and in many ways, wished the recovery would take longer.
I went sloe picking round the village with my friend Michele and we made some sloe gin. We also went to Wells cathedral for the Christmas Orchestra, which was fantastic.
The first three weeks passed very quickly. I slept a lot. Surgery takes a toll on the body, not to mention stress of being off work and not knowing what my recovery timeline would be. I had it all planned out but it had to go according to that plan.
Some 5 weeks in, a friend of mine from work was off to mainland Spain to look at buying an apartment. Being on opposite rotations we never saw one another. Now, I was free and I was getting a bit restless. Alicante is not somewhere I would choose to go for triathon training, so I wouldn’t miss it so much if I were to go. She asked me to go out and join her, so I did.
Getting some gentle movement back in the arm in a cold pool.
Sun and access to a cold pool and mediterranean diet did me the world of good. I did some gentle yoga and some cold water therapy in the pool by the apartment. At 6 weeks I was allowed to move my left arm within it’s range and it improved slowly day after day.
After a week in Spain I was getting restless so rented a road bike and took a very careful ride out. I had missed it so much. The rule was - don’t fall off! I stuck to some excellent cycle paths and well away from traffic.
Embalse de la Pedrera, Spain.
I even managed a gentle swim in the sea but was very careful to stay where I could touch the bottom as my arm was not strong enough to get me out of any trouble. But it gave me hope that I would soon be back to doing all the things I loved and my surgery was just a temporary blip.
Once home and able to drive again, I realised I would be free to go up to the Kendal Mountain Festival. It was a bitterly cold weekend so I made use if the local leisure centre for a couple of swims and hot showers. My arm was now functioning well enough to execute some sort of freestyle and for the first time I actually enjoyed swimming. There is nothing like not being able to do something to make you want it all the more.
The sea kayaking book launches are always a good set and I thoroughly enjoyed Mark Agnew’s ‘There will be Headwinds’ about the first route through the Northwest passage. Icebergs and polar bear abound in an incredible adventure where the relations between the team could get as frosty as the conditions.
Unfortunately I couldn’t get a book signed at Kendal as he had run out - note to self for future reference! Take plenty of books!
Louise Minchin was presenting the Arcteryx Women in Adventure set and it was incredibly inspiring! I was particularly taken by a young, very smart and funny lady Vedangi Kulkarni who spoke to a stunned audience about her cycle round the world. Now, I’m not into bike packing because frankly, it is all I can do to get my own body weight round any bike route or up any hill - so adding camping kit to it is a no no for me. I have a van that I sleep in and I’m not afraid to use it!
A superb film called 50:50 followed two women winter ice climbing and mountaineering in later life and demonstrating how writing off older ladies is a serious mistake. Hell, we are only just getting started!
Instead of just watching films and talks all weekend though, I booked onto a really interesting filming workshop with professional adventure camera operator Aslan Steel and pro climber, Neil Gresham, along with technical support from Matt Jones of Go Vertical Climbing. We got hands on with some extortionately expensive Red cameras and access to the Kendal climbing wall, where we ran all over it getting different shots, angles, perpectives and frankly, 6 hours over two days just wasn’t enough. I was delighted to be back in my caving harness and SRT (Single Rope Technique) kit and even more delighted that Matt didn’t bat an eyelid at it.
We all wanted to go out on location and have a film makers holiday! Ideally in the Alpes….
I was hugely motivated to get back into film making having exhausted my mojo doing underwater film making for a charity. It was a phenomenal amount of work and literally a thankless job. I needed to start doing something for me again. Actually, as I write this I am getting excited about filming my next Scottish adventure for an outdoor film competition. Watch this space!