The PPAM Aid from side-on

Close-up of the PPAM Aid from side-on. This was quite a hard picture to get. I had to put my leg up on a chair and hold the camera out to the side. I'll be getting my own limb at the end of next week, so this will soon become a thing of the past :-)

Another part of the hospital

The new Smart centre, where they make the artificial limbs, is on the right.

A walk in the sun

On the PPAM-Aid outside the gym. PPAM-Aid = Pneumatic Post Amputation Mobility Aid. It's a training device to prepare you for when you get your own limb. It envelopes the whole leg and has no knee joint so it's a bit more awkward than my own limb will be, which will fit below the knee.

Denise is always there for me

Sunshine helps on visiting day

Hospital Visiting Time

My brother Simon and my sister-in-law Debbie came to visit. Looking cool on an unusually sunny day

Astley Ainslie Hospital

The hospital specialises in, amongst tother things, fitting amputees with prosthetic limbs and rehabilitation. Lots of balance and strengthening exercise. Not a bad place to stay and the staff are fabulous.

Amputation

Attempts to save my foot failed as the bones inside were found to be infected and I had to have a below-the-knee amputation. Reconstruction may have been possible, but that would have involved 2 years in hospital with no guarantee of success. This way I'll be more mobile much sooner (a few weeks).

Home for a while

While I was in hospital the garden went nuts. The mock-orange looked like a firework going off!

Hospital tan

Compare my hand (left) with Denise's!

High capacity

This is my first posting since I had a nasty accident on my bike, back in April, in which I severly damaged my ankle. The osteopathic surgeons at the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary attempted to rebuild my foot, but I also needed plastic surgery to rebuild the soft tissues. I spent two months in St Johns hospital in Livingston while the plastic surgeons tried to save my foot, and I was bed-bound for the first 3 weeks. During those three weeks I had to keep my fluid intake up and as a result I was pissing "like April showers" (to quote 10cc's Hospital Song). The nurses got fed up getting bottles for me, so they left me a good supply :-)