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| The KFC at Senzo Mall |
Well, that’s 2 weeks and 2 days since my plaster came off.
Before going to the UK (4 days post-cast), I’d bought myself some trainers that you do up with Velcro, a size too large, so that my swollen foot would fit in OK (I had to allow room for swelling from the flight as well). I’d identified the ones I wanted to purchase and in the morning of my departure, I went to buy them, only at 11am the shop was still closed. The neighbouring shopkeeper said it would open at 1pm, but at 1pm the owner hadn't yet turned up. By 2pm, I was able to enter the shop. Shops here tend to open late and close only very late in the evening (10pm or 11pm); the Egyptians seem to be night people rather than morning people, which generally suits me fine.
Anyway, before I left for the UK, I’d made it as far as La Piazza Restaurant and back (maybe 10-15 mins normal walk?), but my walking was very slow. Still, it was a lot better than no walking at all and moving around the flat wasn’t a problem. As noted, I’d booked the disability service at the airport.
At Hurghada airport, I was rushed through passport control and security by an airport person – I think this was coincidental – and Hurghada airport is not so large, so I was able to walk without a problem and sat and had a coffee until my flight was boarding.
As I came off the plane in Gatwick, I saw a wheelchair and asked if it was mine, but was told that if I could walk, I should go to the end of the gangway and wait for them there. There were about eight of us who had requested assistance. You have to wait until last, but then you get a little buggy to take you through passport control and to collect your bags and to go through customs, so once you get going, it’s quite quick (but still fairly leisurely and you are still basically last out). It's a good service, though.
Being in the UK was good exercise for me. I walked for the entire first day in Horsham – the most walking I’d done post-cast. It was tiring, but manageable, and still very slow. Pensioners were overtaking me! Still, it was good to be out and about and to see the shops at my own pace.
In fact, I did a lot of walking most of the time I was away and after a while I got a bit frustrated that I never seemed to walk any faster, despite all the practice I was having. I had to concentrate if I didn’t want to limp, as my natural tendency was to hobble rather than to walk properly. I think it’s just that the ball of my foot wasn’t used to exercise and I hoped that by focusing on making sure I walked properly, the appropriate muscles would become more flexible again.
People kept on asking if it hurt and I kept on describing it as uncomfortable rather than hurting, possibly because my definition of “hurting” in my head was the pain when it first broke and any sensation I had was definitely far removed from that initial, excrutiating pain.
However, somewhere along the line, I did start speeding up a bit. One night, near the end, Geraldine and I got caught in the rain and we romped up the road (I felt) and I believe this forced exercise of larger strides actually helped to improve my foot a bit.
I would say that I can now walk at almost normal pace, but my (previously) broken foot is still a little uncomfortable. I can’t complain as the doctor had given me pain killers, and I’ve never needed them. Esmat said he thought I was probably at 80% of my normal capacity, which is a fair guess.
The first test of “normal” life in Egypt was to go to the shopping mall wearing my normal shoes with a small heel / wedge (2 weeks, 2 days post-cast). I happily overtook a couple of pensioners on my way in and felt pretty good about myself (apologies to the pensioners!).
It was really interesting to be in Spinneys again (it was good to lean on the trolley as well!) and I spent a lot of time looking round to reacquaint myself with the shop. I discovered a huge cheese counter and a huge sausage (not pork!) counter, which I’d ignored before as neither item interests me. I looked at the meat counter, but they didn’t have much lamb this time round – next time, maybe. The steak looked pretty good but I had no idea about prices as I never usually buy meat from the counters. That challenge will be for another day. The vegetables were looking better than before, but potatoes didn’t seem to be around – lots of lovely apples, though.
I bought myself my hoover (on special offer!) and a steam cleaner (I always feel my mopping leaves my floor dirtier, somehow). To my surprise, two shop assistants came up and stopped me, took the items out of my trolley, undid everything, tested it, and then put them back in the boxes and back into my trolley. I guess this is a good thing.
There were queues this time at the checkouts and I was getting late for Esmat. As is typical when you are running late, I was told at the checkout that I had to pay for the electrical items at another counter. I never did this for my iron or my insect killer (which broke, by the way). Since I was running late, it was a bit frustrating.
So, off I went to find the correct counter and queued at the wrong end, so was ignored for a while. Eventually, I paid, but was then stopped and told to go to the guarantee counter to get my guarantees stamped. Aaargh! For once, it wasn’t my walking that was holding me up.
By this time, I was running so late, I thought I may as well get myself a loyalty card now. As it turned out, I did things in the wrong order, as I wasn’t able to put on the points retrospectively.
On my way out, I suddenly realised that my grocery shopping was still at the till where I had done my grocery shopping, so I had to go back and transfer all those items back into my trolley with the electrical items. What a hassle!
The good thing, though, was that all this walking was absolutely no problem at all. By the end of it, my foot was starting to hurt, I guess in part due to my normal shoes, and I wasn’t able to keep up with Esmat as he rushed to the car (I learned afterwards that he had a 1.30am pick up and had wanted to get back on time so that he could get some sleep – oh dear!). I had regressed into limping mode, and will return to my trainers for when I need to walk longer distances for now, but really my foot is pretty good.
Each day it gets easier and I think it is even starting to hurt slightly less now as well. I am now feeling confident that in a week or so I will be back to completely normal walking. Here's hoping that I'm right!
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