ACHILLES TENDON RUPTURE

Achilles Tendon


Hi folks! Well nearly 5 weeks after I injured my Achilles Tendon during the Unitary Election camapaign, a scan revealed that in fact the Tendon is ruptured. Today I was fitted with a black Wallia boot on my right leg, similar to the one above, in the Bedford Hospital Fracture Clinic and now have to wear this for 8 weeks to help the Achilles Tendon to repair itself. Also I have to do isometric calf exercises.

Apparently it is usually non active middled aged men who rupture their Achilles tendons while playing sports with their kids, so I am just the exception as usual!

The Orthopaedic Consultant does not want to do surgery, as I am a mature woman and my tendon is apparently "squishy" and would be difficult to repair surgically without shortening the tendon. I am not allowed to drive or move about too much, so it looks as if I will have to do a lot of reading. At least I can still get up and down stairs, but I will have to rely on friends and relatives to shop for me.

Unfortunately, this injury is not helping me to bounce back from my Election defeat, but I am trying to be positive - after all I still have two legs. It is such a relief to find out what is wrong with my leg and to start the healing process.

In order to speed up the diagnosis I paid for a private scan, but everything else has been done on the good old NHS. You have to battle over some of the waiting periods - 6 week wait for physio, 6 week waits for scans etc. but when you do get the appointment, the standard of medical expertise is second to none.

Will let you know how I get on.

TWO DAYS TO GO.......

I am still smiling although I can hardly walk after straining the Achilles tendon in my right leg on Sunday while delivering 300 letters to voters. Panic set in as my leg swelled up and I wondered how to continue my election campaign and deliver another 800 letters.

By Monday morning my fighting spirit had returned and I persuaded 5 friends to deliver most of the letters for me. Fortunately I can still drive as my right foot is unaffected; only the ankle and calf hurt. My leg is in a tubular support bandage and my doctor says it will take a long time to heal and there is a 6 week waiting list for physiotherapy - the joys of the NHS! In July 2004 I sustained a similar injury to my left leg which took nearly 12 months to heal completely.

Over the past five weeks, I have knocked on 2,000 doors and delivered thousands of leaflets in Elstow and Wisltead, and two other areas - Oakley and Castle Wards to help out fellow Councillors. Thank goodness it will all be over on Thursday.

THE RED LION ELSTOW and THE NHS

Elstow village has two fine pubs, The Swan, a traditional village pub and The Red Lion, which has just been refurbished by its new owners Mitchells & Butlers and reopened this week with a new Manager Edward White. On Sunday customers and local residents were invited to sample the new menu and I enjoyed an excellent and fairly priced Sunday lunch. It was a brief relaxation before a very busy week.

On Monday I chaired my last Borough Council Corporate & Resource Committee, and on Tuesday attended a BEAR Seminar about the Countywide Waste Management strategy after a school governors meeting and before an evening update on the new Bedford Academy, which John Bunyan Upper School becomes in September 2009.

On Wednesday and Thursday I had regional meetings in Cambridge and chaired my final County Council Redundancy Panel and on Friday had an Employment Tribunal in Watford, so I seemed to do a lot of driving around this week. In between meetings and dealing with various resident issues and numerous emails I managed to fit in 3 visits to my Fitness Club and two medical appointments.

On Tuesday it was my 3 yearly breast screening and on Friday I had an emergency dental appointment to replace a crown which fell out of my mouth when I was chewing an Opal Fruit sweet! My wonderful NHS dentist is a white South African who came to the UK 16 years ago and I travel 20 miles to see him because he is such an excellent dentist. This time I saw his colleague, another South African who is equally good. Many people complain about the NHS but I have only ever experienced excellent service from NHS doctors, surgeons, dentists, physiotherapists and nurses, especially in 2006/7 when I had 3 operations in Bedford and Cambridge within a year.

On Friday evening I met Hannah Miles, the Masterchef Finalist who runs a popoular Blog called Hannahscountrykitchen which attracts 150,000 hits a month. Hannah is a shipping lawyer with a passion for cooking, especially patries and desserts and lives in Podington, a small village on the edge of North Bedfordshire. Hannah gave a talk and a cookery demonstration to an audience of 100+ enthusiastic Conservatives. She charmed us all and made a delicious Toblerone Tiramisu, which takes only 30 minutes to prepare, a Lime and Ginger cheesecake and a delicious rose flavoured summer punch.

PETITION TO SAVE OUR NHS GP SERVICE

The British GP medical service is the envy of the world, cost effective and has served British families well since the the launch of the NHS 60 years ago. In 2006 the Labour Government praised the GP Service, which receives only £64 per patient per annum:
"Doctor consultations in general practice are the most cost effective part of the medical component of the NHS"

However, our excellent Family GP service is under threat as the Labour Government has devised yet another ill conceived scheme to replace family GPs with huge impersonal Polyclinics run by private companies.

My local GP service in Bedford has served me and my family well for over 20 years and I am appalled at the prospect of it disappearing. What about the old adage "If it is not broke, don't fix it?" If you agree with me and do not want to lose your local family GP please visit the Beds and Herts Local Medical Committee website and sign their petition to the Prime Minister: www.savemygp.co.uk.

VOLUNTEER DRIVERS
Another key medical service under threat is the Voluntary Drive Scheme. Volunteers drive elderly and sick patients to hospital appointments and only receive 40p per mile expenses which barely covers their car running costs as petrol prices soar.
If the rate is not increased many volunteer drivers will stop giving up their time to provide this vital community service.

Harriete Baldwin has organised a Cross Party Petition:
"We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to ask HRMC to raise the rate at which they permit charities to reimburse volunteer drivers from 40p per mile to 50p per mile for their fuel costs"

Plese support Harriet's petition on
href="http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/charitydrivers/

CHILDREN'S CENTRES IN BEDFORDSHIRE

Bedfordshire has 25 Sure Start Children's Centres, 18 of which were planned, built and equipped against a challenging Government timescale and opened in April 2008.

Wilstead has a new Children's Centre providing pre school care, lunch clubs, after school care and family support. The finance came from Government, the County and Borough Councils, business sponsors and a lot of hard work by volunteers including Wilstead Pre School parents and local residents.

Recently I attended an Exhibition of our Children's Centres, showcasing their key role in supporting families and children especially those in disadvantaged areas. Eastcotts Centre runs cookery classes for parents and small children, aiming to address child obesity - 9% of five year olds are obese in the Bedford Borough area and by the age of 10 the figure has risen 16.9% - a shocking statistic. This is a major challenge for parents, the National Health Service and the nation.

Also many adults and children cannot read. The National Bookstart Programme provides packs of free books for all babies and toddlers. Our Children's Centres support parents by encouraging them to read to their small children to inspire an enthusiasm to develop good literacy skills at school.

There are 5 million adults in the UK with a reading age of 12 or less, which has a devastating effect on their ability to work and enjoy a fulfilled life. To understand why watch the new Channel programme on Mondays "Can't Read Can't Write" Phil Beadle, an award-winning teacher, tries to teach a group of adults to read.

Bedfordshire's Children's Centres are helping to address this serious problem by encouraging small children to want to learn to read and write at an early age.