Hospitalization Leave- God's way of slowing me down.

First 2 weeks of HL was miserable due to the need to cope with the pain, grief over the health of my foot, as well as self-pity amidst my crazy enthusiasm and silly consideration for others to still do work while in pain. I got to a point that I cried in bed and the husband gave me a good scolding and told me to just rest and heal. I pushed away some work, and felt slightly better. I slept in daily and felt more alert and happy. Lesson learnt: hospitalization leave is called hospitalization leave for a reason.

Below were some things and people which/ whom kept me going through my HL:

Received this paint-by-numbers piece which I initially felt I didn't have time for, and eventually had all the time in the world to complete it. And the luxury of being able to point my (right) foot.

Read the book I bought in 2018 while on sabbatical, which Aldo highly recommended to his clients with anxiety issues. Wanted to read it personally before I recommend to my clients. Felt that it would have benefitted me more if I were to read this as a younger adult. But you know what, it's never too late!

Ordering my favourite foods to cheer myself up.

Little gifts to occupy my time.

Occasional indulgence of alcohol.

Charmaine dropped by and bought me soon du bu (spicy tofu soup), which I was craving for! It's really a joy to receive visits as a patient.

Looking forward to eat this at the restaurant, whenever possible.

On the first day of injury after I returned from the hospital, Gwen dropped by with egg tarts and played games with us while I fought the zzz monster as I took painkillers.

Ice-cream, cakes, and a warm cup of coffee from Weishang, Sharon and Julia.

Acai bowl from Theresa. My first time eating acai.

Not forgetting the box of nuts and snacks 🥜🌰from Kai Fen too! 

I specially dressed up to take a professional headshot for an upcoming presentation at a seminar. Excited much! 🤩 Make-up and a smile do wonders.

And lastly, my amazing husband who took care of the chores, settled my errands, and took care of me throughout the whole period. So I had to go outdoors in crutches on our wedding anniversary! Happy 2nd wedding anniversary to us. ❤️❤️

Update: Celebrating small but important milestones such as brushing teeth while standing up and without using a cup, walking without a boot, relearning how to walk properly (without a crutch!), showering without a stool to sit on, wearing bottoms without having to sit down, restarting my baking journey... Next up: leaving home on my own. 🤩

Fracture.

The first fracture of my life was from walking on a pair of wedges. 😅

1) I remembered hearing some cracking sounds but I think I was in too big a shock to calmly and objectively assess the situation. I wasn't fully sure that it is a fracture, so the husband helped me to ice it. I managed to take the bus home, walk up the slope downstairs of my block, and eventually showered while standing up. 

2) The pain got worse at 3 or 4am and I couldn't sleep further. I made an appointment at the polyclinic, hopped from home to cab to polyclinic entrance, and had an x-ray to confirm the injury. It was fracture of the 5th metatarsal, which husband jokingly said that I had the same injury as David Beckham but his was 2nd metatarsal. 😑 The doctor gave me a cast, asked me what I worked as, and said, "oh no, your job need to walk a lot..." 

The cast gave good support for the injured foot but I could feel the pain through it because of the injury sites, prolonged propping of foot, prolonged placing of foot on the floor or generic stiffness. My calf was always aching that I was dabbing yoko yoko through the cast bandage for it to reach my calf. 🙈

The good thing I discovered was that this injury sparked off a lot of creativity- from how to shower without wetting the cast... how to move around the house without using the crutches so as to give my armpits a break... how to make coffee for myself and transport them from the kitchen to the dining table without spilling it.

3) I was given crutches and taught how to use them by an encouraging nurse. They became my trusty friends for the next few weeks. But depending on crutches was not always fun, as my armpits seemed to be in pain and itch due to the accidental friction caused during movements. Somehow, my palms were aching too from the pressure and possibly, my body weight. I consider myself as lucky as I generally have strong arm strength and decent core muscles, but they didn't prevent me from having those pains and aches. Movement was troublesome and I needed to be slow and mindful (something that I am not used to). 

4) After 3 weeks, the cast was taken off and I could finally wash my left foot and calf. The amount of dirt was unimaginable. The swell was quite bad and I could still feel pain in both movement and non-movement. Without the cast, the injured foot felt more vulnerable as it would jerk slightly during movements. I had to minimise my hopping so as not to cause more pain, but it was less efficient in terms of movement. Other than that due to the positioning of the leg in a fixed way for the past 3 weeks, my calf was aching very badly that no amount of yoko yoko and massages helped. I believe that the resting somewhat helped.

5) My first follow-up appointment at the hospital (3 weeks after injury): I thought I would be getting an x-ray but the doctor said it was too premature. I was given a boot, my first footwear purchase of the year. The next 1 week was spent trying to walk on 1 crutch and the boot instead of 2 crutches. Initially it was challenging, but after a few days I managed to put aside 1 crutch. The boot was supposed to keep my foot in a fixed angle and was quite comfortable to wear. I was limping due to the injury as well as the height of the boot. After another week, I managed to walk on my boot without any crutch. 🥳 I had to remember to exercise my foot without over-exerting it because...

6) I realised that my injured foot and corresponding thigh became thinner than usual. I felt a little worried, but I knew I had to really start using my injured foot and corresponding parts. Thus, even though I felt pain occasionally, I made sure to walk around the house in my boot as much as possible and tried to move around like how I would usually do when I was well. I started washing dishes and doing the laundry but have not got down to my usual vacuuming duty because I think that requires more coordination and movement. Happy moments included sights of my injured foot having wrinkles, that means my swelling had gone down!

That's pretty much the summary of my past 5 weeks, injury-wise. I hope to actually do a 2nd x-ray next week and hope to walk on my bare foot soon. 🤞