Im back again…sorry!

I’d told myself in the last update that I’d do these regularly but here I am again a couple months later remembering I have a blog!

So much has happened since my last update that just thinking about it makes me realise I’ve achieved an awful lot!

The wedding

In the February this year it was a race against time to get a prosthetic leg to suit me. My mum was getting married to my amazing stepdad and I wanted to walk down that aisle in front of my mum unaided and proud. I am a very very lazy person and expect things to just work out without me even trying but this was something I had to try for. I had from February until the end of April which wasn’t long to learn how to walk all over again after the extra amputation. To cut a long story short, I smashed it! Not to take the limelight away from my parents, but it was the first time for many of my family and my parents friends to see me walking unaided on what already was a beautiful and emotional day!

The new clinic

After the wedding I started getting pains again and my leg wasn’t fitting the best it could have done so it was back again trying to get a leg to fit. I then realised it wasn’t really my legs fault for it not fitting more the people making it and the short time they had to offer me to get it right so with the help of my mum I had managed to get into another prosthetic clinic in derby. I can not begin to tell you how grateful I am for the people who work in the derby clinic. I went from having 1 appointment a week at my old clinic, with most of them being cancelled last minute ,to having appointments in my new clinic whenever I wanted them as many times a week until my leg was right for me! My new “prosthetic man” I guess you’d call him, Gordon, has been an angel sent from heaven! I’ve now had the same prosthetic leg without ANY alterations for almost 3 months which before would have been unheard of before. I couldn’t get over how comfy it felt when I first tried the new one he made for me and then a couple of days later had a sleeve for me that made it look like a proper leg with false toe nails and everything! I was amazed! I was going on holiday in 3 weeks time and he even managed to get me a water leg made so I could go in the pool! I couldn’t believe how well it was all working out!

The boyfriend

I should also mention quite a huge thing to happen in my life and that’s my amazing boyfriend Paul. I had spoken to him online on and off early in the year and in the April we finally met only after a week of being “official” he then came along to my mums wedding and met my entire family and a few of my friends….what a brave man!! Right from meeting each other we had fallen head over heels for each other ( I don’t even care how cringey that seems!) and even up to this day I am so so grateful for him being in my life. I think he came at just the right time, my life was slowly starting to get back on track and I wanted someone to share that with! In October we went on our first holiday together and had THE best time! Full of laughter, petty squabbles and a LOT of all inclusive drinks! I am thankful for Paul in many ways which I’m sure he’s aware of, but one in particular is he’s never seen me as anything different, a lot of people are more accepting of disabilities nowadays but Paul has never once made my leg a big thing! Even before we were together he would ask how all my hospital appointments went and want to know all about them. He’ll make jokes with me about it, make me still do things when I try and use my leg as a get out when I’m being lazy and even take my prosthetic leg off after I’ve had a drunken night out and put me to bed! He’s a saint!

The new job

And last but certainly not least. My new job! I unfortunately last year took it upon myself to leave Superdrug and focus on my recovery. By March of this year I was already bored of having no job and wanted to get back out there again. I was desperate to get working. I had applied for one job which was a receptionist at a doctors surgery. Now before I go any further all of the people closest to me knew I NEVER wanted to be a receptionist or any part of an admin team. I was no good with computers and the responsibility of people’s lives especially in a doctors surgery, it would have been too much… but still I applied! I managed to land myself an interview still unsure whether this job would be right for me. I went to the interview trying to be as confident as I could be as this could have been my fresh start. Looking back now I’m a bit embarrassed as I think I came across quite cocky with some of my answers but I still somehow managed to get offered the position, without even thinking I accepted. I started a month later with no idea what I was letting myself into. I was going to be working with a lot bigger team that I had ever had to before and facing things I’d never had done before.My god I underestimated the role as a receptionist! The first month I struggled, I was constantly thinking “is this right for me?” There was so much to learn and remember. I’ve now been there for nearly 8 months and I LOVE my job! Everyday I’m learning something new, the people I work with are incredible and I couldn’t wish for a better place to work!

If you’ve managed to make it to the end then thank you for reading!

Chloe X