Like any other article within my blog, I would like to gain your thoughts and opinions on this. I wanted to share something with you that happened to me this weekend am very keen to hear your experiences and to what you think about mine.
On Monday, I set out to work as normal ready for the week ahead. I’d had a good weekend and I was on my way to the train station to catch the train into Leeds. As I set off across the road at one set of traffic lights, something seemed to snap in my lower left leg and I was left to hobble across the rest of the road in considerable pain. Initially, I thought it was cramp but as I tried to move on, it was clear that it was more serious.
Now going against any common sense (yes it’s a man thing), I slowly and painfully made my way to the train station and onwards to work. After some time of working out what to do, I decided to have this checked out at the accident and emergency department in one of the main hospitals in Leeds. I was eventually seen and after examination and consultation, I was told that a ligament in my lower left leg had ruptured. I was advised that the way to deal with this was usually to use crutches so that you could keep going by taking the weight off that leg and in turn help the healing process. However, this was not on for me because crutches would hinder safe mobility (am totally blind with guide dog). They just laughed this off, escorted me to the door (still in great pain) and wished me luck.
Now I like a challenge, but how on earth do you keep on walking, non-weight bearing on the left leg and do it safely? I would fancy having a go at using crutches but really not the wisest thing to do when needing to move around and find where you’re going.
Thankfully, quite a bit of the pain is subsiding, but the leg is still swollen. It will take time as I cannot avoid weight bearing on that leg. It, for me, highlights a difficulty within the NHS; plus other public services. There is no denying that people working in the health service face a huge amount of pressure and I certainly take my hat off to them. Additionally, the staff at this hospital were friendly and polite. However, in this case (and am sure many others), they could not advise on an alternative method to one that they would recommend for most people in the same position. Additionally, unlike some others, we rely more on walking in terms of being to get around and there the disadvantage can be keenly felt.