IT'S A YEAR AGO...

A year ago today I broke my shoulder after catching my foot on a heavy trolley in a local supermarket and falling on a very hard floor. It wasn't anyone's fault, just one of those things, but it did show me how much we rely on two hands for everyday tasks.

Just getting dressed was a long job - and going to the loo took ages! I couldn't drive, of course, so had to rely on other people to either shop for me or take me shopping. But pushing a trolley wasn't easy, either...

I found ways round things eventually, such as washing up, filling a hot water bottle, peeling a potato, getting in and out of sweaters and shirts, getting upright enough to be able to get out of bed. I sometimes felt like a beetle on its back wriggling its legs to right itself. It made me inventive...

I made sure I did the prescribed exercises every day and set goals for myself. I knew I had to be able to peg washing on the line, which meant raising both arms above shoulder level, as did closing the car boot; driving needed me to be able to reach indicators and windscreen wipers, not just hold the wheel, and I was very pleased that my car is an automatic, so no gears to worry about.

I slept sitting up for a couple of months or more, firstly in the armchair with a quilt over me and then with a backrest borrowed from St. John Ambulance (for free) which made sleeping in bed much more comfortable. All this was going on during the very snowy weather last winter.

I bought a shoulder pulley and watched my progress as I could pull past more marks on the cord which runs over the wheel. The hardest thing I had to relearn was putting my arm behind my back at waist level to tie on my peg apron, it took a long time to get that flexibility back but I can do it now!

The bruise was quite dramatic and very colourful. It was interesting to watch people's reactions when I showed them and it took months to disappear completely.

Nowadays I can do everything I could do previously, the only legacy being my shoulder aches just a little if I carry anything heavy in my left hand for too long, otherwise it's fine.

Since I know homeopathic medicine works, I also took Symphytum, old fashioned KnitBone, and I'm sure that, and using a massage oil with arnica, also helped.

Just goes to prove, do your exercises!!!!

(And I managed to get to the theatre two weeks after I'd fallen to see The Sound of Music at Milton Keynes, I wasn't going to miss that after booking the ticket months in advance!!)