You may have noticed that my isolation clock has disappeared from the top right of the screen. That is because I broke it. The clock has been smashed!

The reason behind this blatant act of vandalism, is that as of 12:19pm today, I left the house!

After 142 days, 19 hours, 19 minutes and 14 seconds, I escaped my self-imposed Alcatraz!

My journey may have only been a little spin in the wheelchair to the next street, but it felt fantastic to be outside!

To experience the warmth of the sun on my face and fresh air against my skin.

Bliss!

It has been seven weeks since I properly updated you all on my health. It was two days before my birthday, and I was full of the joys of spring, as I could see light at the end of the recovery tunnel.

Frustratingly, I am still in the tunnel and although the light appears closer, it is taking a hell of a lot longer to reach than I envisaged 49 days ago.

On that day in March, I was jubilant at how I had taken myself from the bedroom to the sofa downstairs, using my frame, wheelchair and the stair lift.

Since then, a ‘normal’ day for me would involve walking with the frame all the way to the stair lift – at the time of my last health update, I had to take a rest mid-journey. At least since then, I have been making the transfer in one go. The wheelchair would be waiting at the foot of the stairs to take me to the sofa.

Trying to remember how I was in March, I can’t recall how many days a week I would spend downstairs, or for how long. Seven weeks on, I have found myself having to spend one day a week upstairs, as I am still subject to tremendous fatigue. At least I can now claim to be spending most of the week downstairs, where I will stay for about eight hours.

I am feeling very frustrated at my recovery time. It seems to be taking forever and while minor improvements have been made, I don’t seem to be making major progress. I am still reliant upon Claire for many essential, yet basic aspects of care.

My doctor has extended my sick note until early June. Not that I need to worry about returning to the office then – as you accrue annual leave, even when off sick, I have many weeks of holiday to take. Although I don’t think ‘holiday’ is the right word – like most people, I won’t be going away on my hols anytime soon. COVID-19 has placed me under house arrest until at least July! That isolation timer on the right of this blog is set to climb higher and higher.

I have often wondered what will happen once the clock reaches 100 days. Will there be enough room to fit the additional number? Will it break my website? Perhaps one hundred days and nights, without leaving the house, will break me.

Returning to my frustrations – I made the conscious decision that instead of moping around, feeling sorry for myself and talking about what my next steps to recovery will be, I’ll do something about it! After all, actions speak louder than words… isn’t that right, Mr. Prime Minister?

So, without further ado, here is a list of additions to my daily routine, which I hope will help improve my conditioning and overall fitness…

• As well as walking to the stairlift upstairs, getting off at the bottom and walking with my frame to the sofa.
• Remaining downstairs for around eight hours a time.
• Pushing myself to get out of bed and go downstairs every day and not just five or six days a week.

All these new plans are currently in operation. I hope it will be less than seven weeks before I feel the need to add new tasks to my regime.

If I want to return to how I was before falling off my scooter, I must stay active and continue to increase my activity levels.

After six consecutive days of spending my time downstairs from morning until bedtime, I was feeling rather tired.

Due to the success of my recovery, it is easy to forget that there are still a number of areas I need to improve upon, before I can say that I have returned to my ‘pre-crash state’.

One such area continues to be fitness and conditioning. I feel that I have made huge strides forward in those areas, but there is still much room for improvement. This is one of the reasons I found myself becoming increasingly fatigued over the last couple of days.

So, after spending a lazy Easter Monday in bed – and a rather relaxing one at that – I am now feeling refreshed, recharged and after a good nights sleep, will be ready to face the world… well, maybe just the ground floor and Roman.

I’m flippin’ tired this evening. Since my last progress update, I have accomplished a lot, when it comes to my rehabilitation.

I believe that I told of how pleased I was, having managed to transfer from the bed, to the nearby wheelchair and back again.

Today was my busiest day yet, and I am proud to report that I can now…

• Walk approximately ten feet, from bedroom to landing, and sit on a parked wheelchair.
• Transfer from wheelchair to stair lift, at the top of the stairs.
• Transfer from stair lift to wheelchair, at the bottom of the stairs.
• Move from sofa, walk alongside coffee table and onto wheelchair – my pre-accident means of transferring.

I still find myself getting a little out of puff while performing these moves. It also isn’t uncommon for my back and arms to ache a few hours later.

This will be because I have spent the majority of the past four months in bed. I am very much deconditioned. Luckily, everything is getting easier – presumably, as my fitness improves.

I can also take assurances from a recent visit to hospital, where I was given a clean bill of health.

Returning to work is still a while off – in that it won’t be within the next fortnight! – but I can finally see a slight glimmer of light at the end of the long, dark tunnel I found myself in.

I continue to make small improvements with regards to my health and mobility.

I recently surprised and impressed myself, by transferring from the bed to a nearby wheelchair, without any help from Claire.

Yesterday, I successfully managed to go one step further. After making my own way to the chair, I was able to return to and sit on the edge of the bed.

I guess you could call that one small step for me, one giant leap towards my recovery.