making a positve out of a negative.....

So we are here again starting another year at university although its different this year as this year is 4th year. This year we are actually expected to do something of worth. To start making our mark on the world.

There is always that battle in your mind of wanting to do something worth while in your life, to make a difference to achieve something in your life ! I think that is one of the things im most scared of in life is not making and impression to not be indispensable.

So where have you been all this summer then ? Well I can answer that in one word…..hospital. I was unfortunate enough to be involved in a severe car crash at the start of the summer needless to say beware people towing things who then think it’s a great idea to block both lanes of a dual carriageway. This resulted in myself lying in hospital staring at a roof with a broken back - not exactly my idea of a great summer. Although i amused myself by counting things on the roof so for example my deaf friends there are 2448 little squares in the lights above my hospital bed in ARI.

However I am determined to make a positive out of this negative experiance. I am now forced to live a life in a back brace and crutches until around Christmas. I find the design of the back brace is incredibly dated and contsrained let alone unpractical. It is certainly designed for function not form which is good in many ways however when I turned to people in a similar situation to myself for suggestions about coping with life in a back brace there are a few phrases which are continually being said

“wearing a back brace is like a 24/7 sentence”

“ After a few months you can get off with not wearing it for an evening so you can go out”

These phrases really scared me as the whole point of a brace is to give you some form of life and freedom when you have a broken back but everyone who wears one see’s it as a limiter and an inconvenience. Being a brace wearer myself I have found there have been so many limitations to my lifestyle not only in personal care but generally living. Now alot of this cant be helped for example the inability to carry anything is due to your broken back not your brace but there bust be better solutions than there already is......or ones that would be feasible for the NHS to put into manufacture !