A couple of weeks ago we went to see Nazareth at the opening night of the refurbished Alhambra theatre in Dunfermline. It was a great night – once I’d found a seat I could get into! The seats are the old fashioned type, and there was next to no knee room. I couldn’t get in comfortably because of my prosthetic, but we found an end-of-row seat, so it was all fine in the end. The guys were really on form, and the tunes were going round my head afterwards. It’s a really nice venue, with plenty of parking nearby, so despite it being on the far side of the firth of Forth, it was easier to get to, and home from, than going into Glasgow or Edinburgh.
My physio is going well, to the point where what I need to do now is to improve my fitness. I keep saying I need to do this, but it’s been so frustrating because when my hip is good, my stump is playing up, and when my stump is good, my hip is playing up. Anyway, my physiotherapist has done a great job of getting rid of all the muscle knots around my hip area (well, nearly all), so I started going to the gym again, working on this area to try to build up my strength. When went for the walk documented in the last post, I went round at almost my pre-accident pace, and was only slightly aching and tired at the end, which was very encouraging. Shortly afterwards, of course, my stump started getting sore, and this week I found a tiny blister right on the end. This is so frustrating: I’ve got to be able to walk and exercise to stop my hip problems from re-occurring.
Yesterday, I went back to the prosthetist for the follow-up to the appointment I wrote about last time, and convinced her that my stump had changed shape again, and that I needed another re-cast. I’ll pick that up in another couple of weeks. I’m really starting to get bothered that I’m not going to be able to go to China if this isn’t sorted out.
My physio is going well, to the point where what I need to do now is to improve my fitness. I keep saying I need to do this, but it’s been so frustrating because when my hip is good, my stump is playing up, and when my stump is good, my hip is playing up. Anyway, my physiotherapist has done a great job of getting rid of all the muscle knots around my hip area (well, nearly all), so I started going to the gym again, working on this area to try to build up my strength. When went for the walk documented in the last post, I went round at almost my pre-accident pace, and was only slightly aching and tired at the end, which was very encouraging. Shortly afterwards, of course, my stump started getting sore, and this week I found a tiny blister right on the end. This is so frustrating: I’ve got to be able to walk and exercise to stop my hip problems from re-occurring.
Yesterday, I went back to the prosthetist for the follow-up to the appointment I wrote about last time, and convinced her that my stump had changed shape again, and that I needed another re-cast. I’ll pick that up in another couple of weeks. I’m really starting to get bothered that I’m not going to be able to go to China if this isn’t sorted out.
Between my physio on Tuesday and my prosthetics appointment yesterday we took the opportunity to get away for a couple of days, as Denise is taking a little time off work just now, and drove up to Nairn. There are points around that coastal area where you can see dolphins from the shore, so we went out to see if we could see any. We were delighted when we saw loads, including a couple that started leaping out of the water: it’s the best sighting I’ve ever had.
The hotel we stayed at had a nice bar with some cask conditioned ales, and their food was very good indeed. The rooms themselves were a bit uninspiring: the en-suite was tiny, and I struggled to sit down on the loo, and I’m only 5’ 6”! Admittedly this was partly down to the inflexibility of my prosthetic, but it was really pathetic. And there were no shower gels or anything apart from hand soap: not what you’d expect from a hotel. The place was very clean and tidy, though, and the staff were excellent, so it was not like it was a disaster by any means.
We took a detour on the way back to visit the osprey centre at Loch Garton, and had a great sighting, with the female osprey sitting on the nest with a couple of chicks. While we were there, another osprey from another area over-flew the nest, causing the female to call out in alarm and shield her chicks with her wings. There are cameras on the nest, connected to monitors in the centre, but the centre is close enough to see the nest through binoculars, and it was great to see the osprey flying around, as well as the chicks on the nest.
There are various feeders next to the centre, and there were loads of small birds fluttering around; and because this area is inhabited by red squirrels, the odd unauthorised visitor could be seen stealing the nuts.
We’re visiting East Yorkshire next weekend, as D is registered for the Humber Bridge half-marathon, which she also did last year. We’re staying in Hessle, close to the race start point, so hopefully we’ll hook up with my siblings at some point over the long weekend. Denise hasn’t decided whether she will actually run the race or not; it will depend on how she’s feeling when we get there.
The hotel we stayed at had a nice bar with some cask conditioned ales, and their food was very good indeed. The rooms themselves were a bit uninspiring: the en-suite was tiny, and I struggled to sit down on the loo, and I’m only 5’ 6”! Admittedly this was partly down to the inflexibility of my prosthetic, but it was really pathetic. And there were no shower gels or anything apart from hand soap: not what you’d expect from a hotel. The place was very clean and tidy, though, and the staff were excellent, so it was not like it was a disaster by any means.
We took a detour on the way back to visit the osprey centre at Loch Garton, and had a great sighting, with the female osprey sitting on the nest with a couple of chicks. While we were there, another osprey from another area over-flew the nest, causing the female to call out in alarm and shield her chicks with her wings. There are cameras on the nest, connected to monitors in the centre, but the centre is close enough to see the nest through binoculars, and it was great to see the osprey flying around, as well as the chicks on the nest.
There are various feeders next to the centre, and there were loads of small birds fluttering around; and because this area is inhabited by red squirrels, the odd unauthorised visitor could be seen stealing the nuts.
We’re visiting East Yorkshire next weekend, as D is registered for the Humber Bridge half-marathon, which she also did last year. We’re staying in Hessle, close to the race start point, so hopefully we’ll hook up with my siblings at some point over the long weekend. Denise hasn’t decided whether she will actually run the race or not; it will depend on how she’s feeling when we get there.
