For those of you who managed to wade through my GII blogs thank you & I hope your recovery has gone better than mine (no running since I’ve got back due to my ankle injury). That said I’m alive & got a big pick-me-up on Tuesday thanks to a very smooth visit to Ysbyty Gwynedd Hospital on Tuesday.
A 9:15 am appointment with a Consultant in the Orthopaedics department saw me being seen only a few minutes late. He then sent me to the X-Ray department for a set of Load Bearing X-rays of my left ankle where another short wait saw me being x-rayed by a very pleasant man called Nigel. These were then emailed back to the Consultant who beckoned me back into his consulting room before I’d even had time to sit down & wait, very slick.
The news was good as he explained the X-Rays to me to confirm that I had no obvious Ligament damage & that my ankle was in the correct symmetrical shape. The problem was a centimetre higher than the joint itself where a piece of bone had detached itself from my Tibia. Bones heel because they are fed by Oxygen whereas Ligaments don’t because they don’t get Oxygen (all very co-incidental with the fact that at the time of the accident I was not getting that much Oxygen). He then confirmed that my bone was indeed healing so this was very good news to hear & has lifted my spirits as I had felt the healing process had come to a standstill over the last 4 to 5 weeks.
Better was to follow as my inevitable question was ‘can I run on it?’ was met with ‘you’re a highly trained athlete (this guy’s smart, you’ll agree, won’t you), go for a light jog & build it up from there’. he then added ‘you’ll know if you need to back off’ followed by ‘but I’ll book you in for a follow up appointment in 3 months’ time just to check everything is O.K.’ I smiled; he proffered his hand & we shook on it. The appointment for December arrived the next day.
Now I have had my share of less than perfect experiences with the NHS but to give it it’s due this was a 100% perfect experience & I salute all involved with their very efficient professionalism. Particularly the Consultant who was clearly not a highly trained athlete but totally got the mindset of one who strives to beone. Thank you all.
Tomorrow is ‘thank F… it’s Friday’, I’ll be going for a run, O.K. I’ll temper that a bit, a jog, honest! My ‘friend’ Judy seems a tad concerned that I haven’t ruled out doing the Snowdon marathon at the end of October ‘come on Judy, what could possibly go wrong? I’m a highly trained athlete after all!’
