Whoopee! This week I can straighten my leg, something I could not do before the Full Knee Replacement Surgery, and yesterday I used a SciFi style machine which measured my flexibility. I’m hyper-mobile so used to being very bendy, and I’ve got a lot of the flexibility back. Scar tissue means my knee is numb so feels HUGE, in the way one’s lip feels ginormous after a dental anaesthetic, and kneeling back is very hard, but I can walk without crutches, and today am returning all my mobility aids bar walking sticks to the hospital, so they can be passed onto someone else.

I find stairs hard, and so we have moved home and are now on the ground floor which is vastly easier. We’ve only moved a mile but it’s been a colossal undertaking. Have you moved recently? It’s stressful, isn’t it?

What finally galvanized us was a deadline - we found tenants to occupy our previous home who wanted to move in in a week. Eek!

Suddenly it was all hands to the pump, packing boxes and wrapping breakables in bubble wrap. Our cats were discombobulated by the change, but soon settled in, enjoying a much bigger garden with all its birdsong and butterflies and daisies.

My husband took a while to appreciate this new abode and it occurs to me we’ve a very female household; there are two women in the flats above, and one has another female cat, and we have two girls ourselves. So that makes a total of six women and one man!

Do you live with animals? Do they help or hinder your mental health?

The Creative Pumpkin

A Moodscope member