Today George and I left the house for the first time since the UK schools closed as part of the coronavirus lockdown. It's not even been that long but I had an odd feeling of excitement combined with nervous adrenaline that I'm using as my excuse for forgetting my wallet and having to go back home five minutes after leaving🤦🏼♀️ We were heading to the RNOH Stanmore in North London having been asked to come in a week or so early to have his latest spinal body brace fitting. Obviously hospitals aren't exactly the best place to be at the moment and yet as it was the first time we've left the house so I can only think that's what can explain this random combination of feelings.
The round trip, including his fitting, took George and I just over 5 hours in total. The M25 was pretty quiet, albeit not as quiet as I thought it would be I have to say. Yes many of the other vehicles were lorries but there was also a good few cars out on the roads with me. When we arrived at the orthotics building at the Royal National Orthopedic Hospital absolutely no other patient cars were parked anywhere near it. This building sits away from the rest of the hospital and was eerily quiet!
Each orthotist would normally see 6 patients in a session whereas today they saw 6 patients between their skeleton staff to ensure at no point any of us would be in the waiting room together and that we were all spread out. They'd already called ahead to check we were well and also asked us on arrival if we'd had any symptoms of the coronavirus, plus took precautions in wearing gloves and being all gowned up unlike they'd normally be.
Fittings always take a bit of time as the initial brace, that's been made from the cast of George's body just over two weeks ago, gets tweaked and cut to size to be sure he can sit down in it as well as having padding added to ensure this rigid piece of plastic does what it needs to do without causing too much discomfort. They can add one of a limited number of prints at the point of it's moulding /during production so this time George opted for red albeit firmly sticking with the football theme!
I'm really hoping this little, but very much necessary trip didn't expose us to anything harmful. It certainly didn't feel that way, in fact I'm more worried if we got the fit spot on as who knows if they'll still be able to run this service as the coronavirus takes hold of the UK. George already said it hurt as he got into bed tonight but here's hoping it's just a teething problem as his body adjusts to his new handmade brace tonight 🤞 As you can see we've had 4 of these so far...just 20 or so more to go before he eventually has surgery for his spinal fusion around the age of 16 #lifeaftercancer
Between us we've got this.
#thebigpush
#aimhighstaypositive
#giantpledge
Donate or join the Giant Pledge team with your own fundraising event in 2020 at https://giantpledge.com/team
Buy one of our 'Tackle Childhood Cancer' tees or pick up your superhero cape in honour of the doctors, nurses and super brave cancer kids at http://giantpledge.com/shop
Sing along & share our charity 'Do a Big Poo' song, https://youtu.be/U3iOmhIIc_s or buy it here, https://giantpledge.com/buy
Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/georgeandthegiantpledge
On Twitter: https://twitter.com/giantpledge
And on Instagram: https://instagram.com/giantpledge
Or for help with any event you may be thinking of email [email protected] and cc us at [email protected] ... See more
