Thank you all for your good wishes. I do think I live in a beautiful place, but I'm probably biased as I have lived here a long time! I was actually born in the Lake District, which is also extremely beautiful, but I love the North-East now as it has so much to offer. As well as the old cities of Newcastle and Durham, the coast and countryside are close by and really lovely. I'm very much a northern girl and proud of it!Anyway, I will stop sounding like a tourist guide...
@lizzicat - I had heard of the Strange and Norrell series but it was on in May here, when my hip was at its very worst and I wasn't watching much TV as I just couldn't concentrate. It actually looks just like my sort of thing, so I'm going to start watching on catch-up TV or maybe even get the book, as I find I'm reading a bit more now. Thank you for the suggestion. Reading your thread it looks like you've had a rough time with your doctors and the whole pain management thing. So sorry that you are going through so much - sending hugs to you and really hope you get things sorted out. Wish there was something I could do to help
xx
@Constanze - Shetland is definitely on my list of places to visit. We were actually thinking of going a couple of years ago, but that was when my hip problems started, so we decided against it. Maybe next year.
@SEA - I was at around the point you are now when I first joined Bonesmart and those two months went by really quickly. You will get lots of support on here and you may well find you get a bit calmer as the date approaches. That's what happened to me - I was an anxious mess when I started out and I was pretty sure I just wouldn't be able to cope with having the op at all . Had visions of running away from the hospital on the day! However the pain, the limp and not being able to walk for more than 15 minutes meant that I stuck with it, and as you can probably tell, I'm very glad I did!
In other news, I am officially 6 weeks post-op and have got rid of the dreaded TEDS! I was going to have a ceremonial burning or at least cut them up into little bits, but in the end I just put them in the bin and walked away. I may wear a skirt today! I also went to see my GP this week as I don't see the OS for another 2 weeks and I was starting to feel I needed some medical person to tell me I'm doing the right things! She was really nice, but didn't really have anything to say that I didn't already know. However, the best news is that I can now drive! We agreed that short distances would be best and I have no intention of doing anything else, but I've been out a couple of times and it was so much more comfortable than pre-op. The only problem I have is getting in and out of the car. I have a tiny little car and I'm quite tall so it takes some manoeuvring of the hip to get in and out safely. However, my daughter did remind me of the contortions I used to go through pre-op and I remember vividly how extremely painful that was. When I used to arrive anywhere, I tended to wait until there was no-one else around before getting out - I couldn't bear anyone witnessing what I had to do! It's not quite like that now, and once I get out I can walk away, almost like a normal person, which I definitely couldn't do before.