Summer to Autumn

The summer here in the U.K. was pretty amazing:

The Queen's Diamond Jubilee, marking 60 years of The Queen's reign, took place during the first week-end of June. Next came the Olympics, quickly followed by the Paralympics.

There was a feel good factor about the place and the Paralympians certainly raised awareness about the lives of disabled people and there seemed to be a shift in public attitude. Whilst I was shopping, just after the Paralympics had finished, I heard 2 youngsters trying to decide what my disability is. I hope that the awareness will continue.

At the current time I seem to be in an impasse, but I have learned over time not to worry about this. I continue to exercise, but have been remiss in wearing my "foot up" splint.
I have worn the splint most days since being discharged from hospital in August 2009. It is designed to keep my foot straight or better placed whilst walking. During the spring of this year, however, I decided that as my walking was vastly improved I perhaps no longer needed this aid. . . How wrong could I have been, after a few  months I began to experience pain in my right knee and began to be concerned that I would need an arthroscopy. My G.P. referred me for physiotherapy and after a few weeks wait attended my appointment. After a session of exercise, a discussion ensued where it became all too apparent that I had made the wrong judgement call regarding the splint. I began to wear it again and the pain ceased and I found that I could walk distances without any hassle. I did not connect the two actions at all.
It is not the most glamorous of "appliances" to wear, but I have learned a big lesson in all of this.

The weather has been pretty dire during the summer, being very wet and grey. My body does not seem to cope with the cold and damp and I find that my arm and neck can hurt, probably due to the effect on nerves and tendons. I now wear a scarf around my neck and to preserve body heat wear a hat. Also wearing sensible shoes and thick socks stops the cold rising up through the body.These simple ideas do seem to help and are the ones that I have recently found to be useful.