Everyone had warned me it would happen and today it did. I came crashing down to earth -- physically and emotionally.

Until now I’d been getting around pretty well in the wheelchair and, increasingly, on crutches.

This morning I was making my way around on crutches, my mind miles away. I think I must have forgotten momentarily that my limb was missing because the last thing I remember is putting my right foot forward and immediately thinking “oh shit, this is going to really hurt.”

It did.

I came crashing down on the floor, my injured leg taking the full force of the fall.

The pain took my breath away. Every nerve ending in my leg screamed and my knee swelled up like a balloon. I must have spent 10 or 15 minutes rolling on the floor in agony. It was, without doubt, the most painful thing I’ve ever felt – far worse than the original accident or anything before it.

While I was still in hospital the physio warned me of the dangers of falling, telling me that a number of patients had undergone a second amputation above the knee because they’d damaged their legs while they were still healing. In order to be safe I went to the hospital for checks and an x-ray:



Mercifully, there was no permanent damage, just bruising.

I had a string of appointments lined up but I was forced to cancel them all and spend the afternoon resting. Mr Stumpy is not a happy man today. He’s twice the size he was yesterday and is seething angrily underneath my right trouser leg.

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