Resting up

As I mentioned, after staying in hospital for a week I then stayed in a nearby apartment (glorified hotel room!) for another 9 days before taking the Eurostar back to London.

The walk from the hospital to the apartment was slow but I managed reasonably well. Once there, I did not really leave many times, and just continued to rest up. Apart from the odd bit of fresh air outside, I read some decent books, listened to the radio (thank goodness for BBC Radio 6 Music!), started writing these blog posts, ate and slept!

The constant side lying was not very comfortable but I was determined not to start doing too much too soon. We setup a table upon a table for me to eat off and use the iPad. On day 9 (post-op) the surgeon came to take the stitches out and check on the wound and how I was doing. He then came back on day 11 for a final check that all was ok - thankfully everything was.

Aside from the pain, I think the time was harder for my wife than it was for me. I am not usually one for laying around 'doing nothing' but it was almost as if something took over and instructed me to just rest, so I did! There was the odd moment of doubt and frustration though of course.

The journey back was a bit of mission! We took a cab from the hotel to the train station which took about 20 mins. Once there, Ranjit was able to somehow smooth talk us on to a business class upgrade which meant 2 seats each (I could kind of curl up and lie down) and a three course lunch with a beer! I am not sure how I would have coped if I had had stand the entire way as this really made lower back ache like mad in the first 4 weeks (and still does for after prolonged periods). Once at St Pancras we made our way to the underground - which is miles! The tube ride was not too bad, but the walk back to the flat the other end was another mission. It had to be done though and all in all it could have been far worse.

I am glad the Professor insisted on my staying in the apartment for that length of time. Whilst it did feel like a long time away from normality and home, on the plus side it was also useful to compartmentalise that initial first 2 weeks by being somewhere different and neutral. It was all quite surreal and I think that actually made it easier to just go with the flow.

As I am sure I will detail in due course this was really just the beginning of the long road to recovery, and hopefully a return to being able to sit down!