Heylo there.
It's been a while since the winter post. A lot has happened and I have lots of new pictures that haven't got much to do with plants, so hey-ho...LET'S GO!
So my last post was about winter, snow and whatnot. There's a picture on there of my brother speeding down the hill on a sled. Just after that photo was taken, I was speeding down the hill on a different sled with my brother standing on the back. I don't know if it's obvious but what seemed like a great idea at the time really wasn't. By the time we had finished rolling to the bottom I had ruptured a ligament in my right knee. The last couple of months have been in preparation of my big knee surgery.
I've never had to have surgery. I haven't even ever had to have stitches or broken anything so it was a little bit scary and in a weird way kind of exciting to be having to go to the hospital. The excitement turned to dread when I got there and was waiting in my hospital room for the nurses to pick me up to wheel me into the operation room. I was ready to bolt, but the nurses strapped me onto the operating table, and wheeled me into the anesthetic room. There I was, strapped onto the operating table totally in the nude under a warm blanket. They were preparing my right leg for the surgery. The nurse was super nice. But I felt like if this was normal life I would kind of be annoying because I just kept asking her the same questions over and over. She gave me the "calm down" juice straight in the veins and then everything started moving a little bit. Like when I drink one and a half glasses of wine... oh yeah I'm a real lightweight. The anesthetic doctor came in and started talking to me about Berlin (I had my surgery in Munich so that my family could look after me) and I remember saying something about 4 flights of stairs. For some reason, even though I could only see these people's eyes, I felt a deep and meaningful connection with each and every one of them. Not only a connection but I kind of fell in love with them all. There was a younger assistant doctor that came in to check on my blood pressure and stuff and I just remember thinking, oh he's got wonderful eyes. I felt like these guys were gonna be my new friends. My knee was in their hands. They were going to fix it...hopefully...and then we could be best friends.
They knocked me out with two big canisters of full anesthetic with the nurse saying "think of something nice". I panicked because I couldn't think of anything nice and just as I was going to tell her that I couldn't think of anything nice I was out like a light, in another world until I woke up...naked under a blanket...in a dark room full of hospital beds. Everything felt weird and a little hazy. I asked one of the nurses why I was naked but everyone else was already wearing their hospital gowns? She told me that she wasn't able to dress me because I was rioting when she tried to. I threw my arms up in the air and kept saying "I don't want another operation!! No more operations!" So she left me to calm down and for the anesthetic to wear off so that she wouldn't get a black eye! I told her that I was very hungry at which point she said that the nurses had kept my food for me and were going to bring it to me later.
When I was picked up by the nurses to be brought back to my room we ran into my surgeon in the hallway. I was still VERY loopy. He said that everything went well and that I should go and rest now. I just said "thank you" a thousand times and then took his hand (I can't remember if he went to shake my hand of if I just took his hand into mine) and just kept saying thank you. I felt utterly star struck to be around him, he seemed like god to me at that point.
Anyway, everything a bit blurry after that. My room had lots of people in it. The girl that had already had her operation was there with a visitor. Then I had a visitor. Then the old lady with the new hip got wheeled in. It was super busy, and throughout I kept getting phone calls from my family. My brother said that he called and halfway through I just stopped talking because someone came in the room but I didn't hang up on him so he was just left listening to people speaking in the background. He said he could hear in my voice that I was still away with the fairies. Yes I was...and I hadn't eaten in nearly 24 hours.
Everything that comes after that is the usual hospital recovery story. I was in the hospital for 3 days. I had tubes coming out of my leg for blood drainage. So when I went to the toilet I had to take my blood bottles with me. They got taken out on day two. Weirdest feeling ever. But loads of pressure was released and I felt a lot better. Every part of my body hurt. Not just my right leg. I was uncomfortable because I was compensating for having a gammy leg. I was sleeping so much. Even a trip to the toilet would make me feel exhausted. Then I thought to myself. I am so freaking lucky. I'm so glad that this was the first time I've ever had to go to the hospital in all of my 26 years of living. I have an injury and the doctors have done their best to fix it so that I can continue living an active life. I am recovering and healthy in every other way. Thank god. And thank you to the doctors who have fixed my injury. Hopefully soon I will be able to do all the sport EVER!
Wow. What a long winded essay up there. I've been wanting to write it down for a while. Now comes the less dry wordy part of the post, some photos taken during my recovery time here in Bavaria. I've been lucky to have such a wonderful recovery station.
2nd of March, just before I was discharged from the hospital.
2nd of March, looking at my knee after my first shower at home. (WARNING: not for a weak stomach)
8th of March, blue sky, green fields!!!
10th of March, helping out in my mom's bee house is one thing I could do with a bad leg.
10th of March, cleaning out old frames.
19th of March, went to celebrate my dad's birthday in Passau in the sunshine!
19th of March, walking through the English Garden with a friend in Munich we saw the surfers on the Isar.
20th of March, sun drying our submissions on eclipse day!
I have finally come to an end to this post. Thanks to anyone that had the patience to read all the way through my very long winded and quite sappy essay! I hope you are all healthy and bursting into spring with refreshed open minds and hearts.
..love..
