We were so excited when New Zealand went 24 days absolutely Covid – free… then there’s the drama of the last few days with 5 new active cases – all from people entering New Zealand from overseas. Still, aside from that, the super rugby franchise came to an arrangement – so that we can now host a Super Rugby Aotearoa championship – a round robin between New Zealand teams. Aaaaand…. the Highlanders season ticket that we had thought was turning out to be a waste of money, suddenly came alive again!
The first game – anywhere in the world – post covid (that was allowed to have live crowds) was the Highlanders game that we had the privilege to go to.
But – then there is the dicky leg.
So, I was determined to walk as much as I could, with the aid of my new fancy go faster crutches. We decided to purchase them because I was pretty much immobile otherwise. Turns out that they are ace! Shaped hand grips to prevent blisters, shock absorbers to prevent shoulder jarring, and ‘ankles’ to make the feet a lot less slip prone. So, I wanted to see if me and these crutches could make it all the way to the Forysth Barr stadium. It was a 2.6km walk from the hotel – in the centre of Dunedin.
Yep, I made it! But man, crutch walking is something else! My lungs were bursting, I was kind glad of the 90 min rugby game so I could have a rest! Haha.
So, we were in the first post covid rugby crowd, we were also excited to be able to go back to a bar, that had proper crowds (even if it meant I couldn’t have a Kilkenny (because of all my meds). It was so nice to have a touch of normality back in life again.
Then there was the trip (back) to Dunedin a few days later. Sam, a student staff member in the vascular lab was about to change everything for me.
With the discovery of a blocked femoral artery – everything suddenly started to make a bit more sense. All those months or arguing with people and being made to feel like I was lying or making it up, suddenly all made sense.
A series of tests and scans needed to be done, in a hurry, to prepare a plan for vascular surgery – likely to be an arterial bypass. Usually, the vascular dept deal with cardiac patients. Just to get things into perspective, artery bypass is the same procedure they would do for a heart bypass operation.
Blockages in an artery in any of the limbs, ultimately could result in the loss of the limb.
So, when the surgeon said this needed to be done no less than 14 days from now (and preferably tomorrow), that brought a bit of reality into the urgency and seriousness of the situation.
I have one more scan to get done, a CT scan tomorrow, then I am on standby for that call to be admitted. I am fully prepared for that to be very soon after the scan.
Meanwhile I have to be very careful and look after this foot, because I cannot feel it so could injure myself seriously and not even know about it.
I am looking forward to the end of at least some of this pain, and I cannot wait for the day that I can ride my bike again.
Melanie Magowan 