Monday evening I noticed that the toenail on my left big toe needed to be cut and whilst it is a bit of a task to do it, I cut it. I saw that my toe was more than a little red though and that when I touched the toe, I could feel it was tender which with the reduced feeling I have must have meant that it was painful. When I touched the toe the remaining toes on the foot would roll forward and the foot would flick. I put it down to the fact that the nail had needing cutting and thought no more about. I woke on Tuesday morning but as I felt no pain from the foot I saw no reason to look at it. Throughout the day though my spasms were horrendous, to the point that through the day they increased in severity and several times I was nearly thrown from my chair. I squared away a hair cut, bath and got in to my uniform and had arranged to meet my Wife and Son at the local swimming pool, it was time for “Pickle” to undertake her first swimming lesson.
She looked so ridiculously cute with her swimming costume and goggles on and was clearly enjoying her lesson. She had to jump in to the pool but would be `caught` by her instructor. Slowly though the instructor moved back so “Pickle” was encouraged to jump in without being `caught`. You could hear her shouting “AGAIN” when she had jumped in which was really funny to see. It will lose almost everything in translation but believe me, it was funny. She did some exercises with laying on her back and kicking her legs whilst the instructor supported her and dragged her slowly through the water and when she got back out she would occasionally look at us through the glass and give a little wave, the most important thing was though, that she was wearing a huge smile and was loving it.
I headed over to the Army Reserve Centre (ARC) for the evenings training and this is where the spasms really cut in again, as I was transferring from the car to my chair, a very strong spasm happened and I fell between the drivers seat and my wheelchair, thankfully though I ended up sitting on the sill of the car. I tried so hard to lift myself on to my drivers seat to try again but the second I tried to lift, the spasm would cut in again. I thought it best to stop trying to let my body calm down but then the spasm would lock my legs because I was claerly not comfortable where I was sitting. It was after only a couple of minutes that two of the lads which had spotted me having a few troubles from across the car park, came over and lifted me in to my chair, even this though was no immediate fix as they had to pull my chair away from the car as I was unable to move it myself. This was no easy task either as I was in full spasm again and my legs had locked straight which meant my feet were effectifely hooked under the car. They did manage to pull me away though and then they asked if I was ok and if I needed anything, to which I had to reply; “If I try and lift myself, would you mind pulling my trousers back up for me?” With all the spasming and my body cocking about, my trousers were barely on my arse. The guys just laughed and said, “One wedgie coming up!” I didn’t hang around after the final parade, I didn’t feel great and to be honest I just wanted my bed. It took me around eight or ten minutes to get out of my car when I pulled up on my driveway. My chest felt like it was going to explode, my back and shoulders were causing me so much pain and my arms ached every time I tried to do anything while putting my wheelchair back together so I could get back out of the car. Eventually though I did get out of the car and after what seemed like forever, I managed to get in to my bed.
I woke on Wednesday morning feeling like absolute shite, I had clearly been sweating badly in the night time as my pillowcase was really wet but I have a waterproof pillowcase underneath the coloured case for exactly this reason, this was just another way of my somewhat broken body telling me that there is a problem. It wasn’t until ten o’clock that I managed to get out of bed but I couldn’t let my feeling crappy keep me in bed or indeed in the house. My toe was redder than before and so I had put my feeling bad down to this. Alison came round for a cuppa and a chat and after a while we both went up to collect “Pickle” from school. We walked back to the bungalow and decided to go for a bite to eat at the Stonemasons which as you know was our ususal Wdednesday routine, “Pickle” was really excited about going too and so we drove across and had a light lunch, despite “Pickle” having had lunch she also wanted to join in bless her. At six in the evening I was invited to a BBQ at my Mother-in-law’s house for her Birthday, I went round and did the cooking which I quite enjoy and it was nice to catch up with everyone but by eight o’clock I felt like absolute crap again to the point I asked Tom if he would drive me back to my place in the “Chucklebus” rather than me have to transfer again and my Wife drove my car back. When we got in to my bungalow, my Wife did me a coffee and ran my bath and both Tom and my Wife made sure that everything was sorted for me so that I could have my bath and then get right in to bed. I think I may have fallen asleep in bath, I can’t be sure but I was in there a bloody long time but anyway, I got out and got myself in to bed praying I didn’t feel the same way in the morning.
Thursday morning, much the same and so I called the Doctors surgery to get an appointment convinced it was toe that was causing me to feel so crappy. The duty Doctor called me which fortunately was my Doctor and he said to call in at around twenty past twelve. I had ecieved a call from “Me Val” and she was coming round to mine for a cuppa and catch up as we hadn’t seen each other for a few weeks, now that I had to go to the Doctors I spoke to her to let her know in the hope that she would not have already left home. She hadn’t but said that she would come over anyway, wait while I was in the Doctors and then we’d go for a cuppa at the Stonemasons instead of us going to the Wetherspoons in Chard which was what we had previously arranged for the day. I was right about the toe it would seem and as such I have more antibiotics to try to stop the problem with my toe and in turn hope that it will also calm the spasms down. So with the Doctors appointment over we did indeed head over for a cuppa and catch up which was really nice, we must have been in there for at least two hours before we headed back to mine for of course another cuppa which was also where we met with my Wife who had popped over with the kids to do a couple of things for me.
Today then is Friday, I have the my Son and “Pickle” over for tea so I have been to the local Tesco and bought a chicken which should be big enough for me to be able to plate up a roast for my Daughter and my Wife who are both going swimming this evening and will eliminate the requirement for them to cook when they get home. I’ve had a headache all day so far, the time at the moment being half past three, and it just won’t bugger off which is really annoying. The spasms are not quite so bad as yesterday but still a right royal pain in the bits although as yet they have not tried to eject me from my chair which is always a plus. My memory is I swear to God getting worse too. My memory was always prety good, when sitting through a set of orders I could write the minimum of notes, as I could remember the information in between the notes I had taken which would be used to write my set of orders. Since my collision though, in which my head sustained some serious injuries, I struggle a lot of the time to remember things, some of which are really simple. I arrived back from the Tesco store having forgotten to get the light bulbs I had needed to get and the fuse I also needed to buy for my kettle but the worst thing was the fact that I had left home and failed to close my door which was wide open for the hour that I had been out. Brilliant eh?. Many of you will be wondering exactly what the spasms are, I have come to this conclusion because the receptionists at the Doctors surgery don’t seem to know what spasms are so I am going to try to explain in a way that you will maybe have some clue. I have decided that the only way to try to explain what comes close to a spasm is if you were to take one of those machines that electrically stimulate your muscles, so you can work your abs while sitting in your office chair, you know the ones. Put it on the highest seting and turn it on. Your muscle will tense and there is nothing you can do to stop it. Well that is close to what it is like when my body goes in to spasm, the difference is though that you can turn off the machine, and it doesn’t hurt when you turn it on.
Getting closer to the new date for the attempt to get up the three highest peaks in the UK. I unfortunately had to postpone at the last minute which pleased none of us but was unavoidable and I stand (or sit rather) by the decision that we made but as soon as the date is set, which I hope to be this month but will definitely be next if not, you will see it here. Thanks to the people who have donated so far, it is much appreciated and I hope that more of you will donate to the worthy charities that I have chosen to raise money for on this occasion.
Good evening all.