Reflection on the last year

It is a year this week since I went into hospital for what was to be a routine hip operation. In the event I have spent six of the twelve months as an in-patient, for the most part in a side-room - usually without TV.
Friends sometimes ask if I was bored or depressed or lonely. For the most, part I was not bored nor lonely and sometimes wished for more time-alone.

The recent heart incident has had a big impact in that it has made me very aware of being alive still and also  wanting to get on and do things but am not quite feeling ready.

I notice my interest in music has changed somewhat in that I much happier with Bach and Haydn but little else. Attention to reading is currently restricted to the ephemeral newspapers and weeklies.

One of my wishes is to live as close as I can to a major teaching hospital. Here in LE2 we are minutes away from three of them. My experience of the NHS, especially in acute medicine, is good. Indeed, I owe my life to it.

The daily round starts with the arrival of the morning carer at 7am. Four days a week it is the same man from Zimbabwe. We share much in common and I think we both enjoy talking politics. The evening carers are currently all Muslim men who delight in talking about their faith as they bathe my feet. What impresses is the natural way they talk about their faith and life, and, although they have their own agendas, their manner of speaking invites conversation. I stress similarities and they tend to difference. It makes for great fun for all of us.

There are visitors every day, neighbours calling by to see we are both alright, phone calls, emails, skype so there is little time to be bored. The delight for me is looking into the garden which is vibrantly alive with colour (still, for late July) and now graced by the presence of a white life-sized cow, seemingly liked by most people especially children.


Now, it is time to do the physiotherapy exercises and keep on mobilising.