"Our mother had a fall."

Our Mother had a fall this summer which caused a fracture to her knee bone. The knee already had a replacement, and luckily that had remained intact and so she escaped surgery. However, she was in plaster from ankle to hip and so needed assistance with everything as she couldn't weight bear, she was very incapacitated. For example, two people had to take her to the toilet for a few weeks and assist with washing and dressing. Due to needing so much care she stayed in a care home for over three weeks. Although the care staff were extremely kind and caring, she became extremely unsettled and missed home badly. She also contracted a very serious water infection which took a long time to go, so we brought her home.

She became very anxious and disorientated as a result of the water infection, bad reactions to the pain killers, and through being away from home. We went through some very difficult times on her return home form the care home. Her bedroom was relocated downstairs, and 24 hour care was needed. She was very anxious, disorientated and had disturbed and distressing nights. It was at this point that we were so grateful and relieved to have the help and support of the NHS Physiotherapist, Vig Mural and his team. During, and all the way through this terrible time we were guided and supported by them 

We cannot praise Vig highly enough in the multiplicity of ways that he supported us from the time our Mother returned home to her eventual discharge from his care approximately two months later. It is hard to believe how desperate the situation was compared to how much recovery she has made. We benefited hugely from having his support and back up, and being able to ring him if we got out of our depth.

We were inexperienced in how to look after her, organise the care and physiotherapy. Vig helped to give us the guidance and confidence that we needed, and she liked him very much. He was cheerful, engaging, positive, firm and likeable, and she responded very well to his direct but upbeat personality and approach, and therefore responded to his treatment and instructions. Various equipment was needed and he arranged for it to be delivered almost immediately, and he organised home visits from nursing staff, we could hardly believe how good this service was. My mother dutifully did her exercises and went from being wheelchair bound, to walking with crutches, to walking with one crutch, to practising going up and downstairs, to returning to her upstairs bedroom and having the house back to normal. He also encouraged her to write a diary, recording each day her exercises, and keeping her interested.

POST SCRIPT:  She is now practising walking each day, has attended the mobility class which she loved, and has returned to the gym twice a week to do the programme that they have created for her there!