It was so good to be home! After such an ordeal to finally be out of hospital and back at home was great. Having been away for over two months it almost felt like going into a stranger’s house when I arrived. Kerry and I like bright colours; our house is decorated yellow and red (as you can see from the picture). When I walked in the yellow seemed so bright and new…I guess hospitals can be such dull places.
Although I was home and progressing well I was still pretty weak and needed my dressings changed every day. The pain from my arm could be pretty intense at times and I was on oral pain medication to help control it. Providing I didn’t push myself to hard it was bearable. Long term nerve pain seems to be something many amputees learn to live with.
I arrived home on the Tuesday and got to go into work on the Thursday to see everyone at Kaboodle. So nice to spend a few hours with all my friends and catch up, they’d all been real busy building the next set of features into the site after our launch at Demo back in Feb, just before I left for my fated trip. I slowly started to get back into my job a couple of days a week initially…loosing a hand doesn’t stop me from programming or typing.
I was determined to get back to my normal life as quickly as possible and wasted no time meeting up with friends and going out, all be it slightly earlier in the evening that usual. In fact the Saturday night when I was let out from rehab for the weekend Kerry and I went to our local India restaurant, Masala. Being from the UK we love Indian food, back home it’s pretty close to being the national dish nowadays. Anyway, Masala opened up around the time we moved to Danville and we got to know the owners really well, Raj & Anu. This was my first trip out since the accident and we decided to pickup a takeout since we weren’t sure how comfortable I’d be sitting at a table for too long. Raj & Anu had heard I’d had an accident after phoning our house to check we were OK since we hadn’t been in for quite a while, but they didn’t know the details. Poor Anu was in tears when she saw us. It’s at times like this that you realize how much one’s life can impact others…pretty humbling.
Given the pain medication I couldn’t drink but that didn’t seem to stop everyone else and to a fault all my friends have been outstanding. One could easily imagine people treating you differently, awkward silences, stares; but that really hasn’t been the case. I feel it all comes down to your own state of mind; if you feel you’re disabled, or whatever, then that state of mind will be reflected and reinforced in how you perceive others see you. I didn’t let myself feel I was any different, I might as well of had a broken arm. I was also very matter of fact about what happened and certainly open to talking about it. I had an accident, I survived, you move on…as someone once said “that which doesn’t kill us just serves to make us stronger”, or something along those lines anyway.
Those early weeks had their emotional times to as the two of us got to terms with what had happened and what the future was to hold. Having each other has been instrumental in getting through these times. I’ve been lucky in that I haven’t suffered from depression and I’ve made such a rapid and problem free recovery. Keeping a positive mental attitude and focusing on getting back to everyday life have been the drivers behind my recovery, and of course my lovely wife, Kerry!
