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Much earlier in this thread, I slagged off MAAF for their inept handling of Deb's claim etc. At the time, Sunday Driver pointed out gently that they were simply doing what was required of them. It had all gone very quiet on the MAAF front until this week. We believed that we had filled in da forms, and since Mme Beauvoir & I don't seem to get on very well on the phone - I seem to do better with some other French-only speakers - I was waiting for their next move.

This week I got a letter saying that the injury issue had now been passed to a monsieur in Le Mans, who would like to talk to Deb. I didn't wait for him to ring us, and called his office directly. Within a couple of days, he and I were with Deb to discuss things. A whole new attitude emerged. We talked about Deb's limited recollection of events on the day - and the fact that despite being offered contact details, the gendarmerie have yet to speak to her. Monsieur said he'd ring the gendarme direct. He examined our insurance details - you might have thought MAAF would have furnished him with a copy! - and suddenly brandished a cheque book, writing us a very nice "tidy-over" cheque! This, it transpires, is entirely without prejudice, and would have been equally payable had Deb been responsible for causing her own injuries. He also took away a copy of the UK receipt for Deb's damaged DVD player - I'd attached a dated printout from xe.com showing its current equivalent in euros. But when I offered a whole raft of receipts, credit card slips, justicatifs etc referring to my marathon trips to Rouen, he waved them away - instead drafting me a letter to write, claiming 30 cents per km! As I've driven well over 8000km, that's .....

We now believe these people are in our corner, as Sunday Driver had suggested. 18 months recovery period - as suggested by the physio - and a possible knee transplant in 10 years time (also the physio's estimate) mean that resolution of all the outcomes of the crash is a long way off. We no longer fear that MAAF are not behind us in that exercise, and that is helping us both to sleep better. Friends are finding it easier to visit Deb now she's closer, which has taken some pressure off me - an email last night expressed pleasure in how well Deb looked. As I've said before - she is certainly the same person, which was always going to be my main concern, after all.

Things am getting better!

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Nice post, Mr Coops.

Things can only improve from now on and, if anyone can come out of this more or less intact, it'll be Coops.  She's just that type of person ...you know, the one you don't want to cross but, equally, the one you want on your side in a sticky situation!

Love & Best Wishes, dear Coops!

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Deb arrived at Le Grand Luce a fortnight ago tomorrow, and while things started a little slowly, they are now ramping up. The physiotherapist is doing terrific work, despite being on his own – i.e. with untrained assistants – and having a number of other “customers”. This afternoon he spent nearly an hour on Deb’s right knee, manipulating and massaging, then getting Deb to try and lift her foot off his hand, which she could just about do, but not very often, and not fully straight. She was working very hard. I counted marks from 40 stitches in her right thigh – but that was from just one of the surgical intrusions there! There are two or three others as well!

Tomorrow Deb travels to Le Mans at 10 00 for x-rays. Oddly, her elderly room-mate, who did the same thing today, had not returned by 1700, which seemed a very long time for an 85-year-old to be out. Thursday, Deb goes back to Le Mans, where some pins are to be removed. We don’t know from which limb or limbs – take your pick! – but it all sounds like progress to us.

The amazing Autumn has enabled us to spend a lot of afternoons sunning ourselves under the trees, which is most pleasant for Deb. Given her history of wearing trousers all year long, bits of her legs are seeing more sun than they have in many years!

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Deb has not had the best of weeks. On Tuesday, the trip to Le Mans for x-rays worked fine, but the radiographer was very brusque, pushing and pulling Deb around on his magic slab with scant regard for her comfort – or her injuries, it seemed. At least she got back in time for a late lunch – which was re-heated for her. Her room-mate (85) the previous day had been out for 8 hours and hardly eaten - at one point they took her blood pressure and found it to be 23, that’s 230 in UK terms, all due to the poor admin on her day out!

Thursday should have been Deb’s day for going to Le Mans again, to have pins removed. Err, no. She went to Le Mans alright, but on arrival found the doctors were on strike. It also emerged that she was not there for pin removal, but to be checked out for allergies to various anaesthetics etc, and to have her fitness for the operation verified. Sadly, the sole anaesthetist on duty – i.e. not on strike – had rather a lot on her plate, and none of Deb’s papers, which were at Le Grand Luce, where the surgeon was making his fortnightly visit – to see Deb among others. On returning to Le Grand Luce, by which time the surgeon had left, of course, Deb enquired politely about the papers, only to be told that had the people in Le Mans not been playing silly b*****s, they would have rung Le Grand Luce and faxed copies could have been provided. So now Deb has to go to Le Mans again on Monday (with her papers, natch) so the team there can assure themselves that she is fit to be operated on, on Tuesday…  Apparently it is the right wrist and the left foot that are to be relieved of their ironwork. One has to say that this is an extraordinarily high level of care for the patient, but we feel it a little unnecessary when Deb had spent several days under anaesthetic at Rouen and clearly lived to tell the tale. No matter, today she has had an ECG and a chest x-ray (the recalcitrant x-ray machine at Le Grand Luce was persuaded to produce a passable image at the second attempt, apparently) to confirm that she probably won’t peg out on the operating table come Tuesday!

Since the physiotherapist is on a long weekend off, he had kindly briefed Deb on how to do simple exercises on her right knee, and we spent 15 minutes helping her do those. She may see him Tuesday morning before her 4th trip to Le Mans, but if not, circumstances mean she will not have enjoyed supervised therapy from Wednesday to Wednesday, which is hardly the idea in her condition.

French healthcare is famously world class, but the scope for cock-up on the admin side knows no bounds either, we feel….

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How frustrating for both of you. I identify with Cooperlola as I had a similar accident a long time ago - my right thigh must look very similar- also got 40 stiches from right knee to hip and a b......ed right knee. It's a long way to recovery- after months and months - what finally really 'saved' me was swimming. I learnt to swim breaststroke with crawl legs- and I use short/wide physiotherapy flippers with a board. so I hope Coops will eventually be allowed to train/work in water, as it really helps. If she enjoys swimming, that would be great. Give her my very best, although she does not know me. And best wishes to you too of course.

(PS I'm the one who used to ride a bike around Richmond Park in the 70s using one leg to power the pedals as my other knee wouldn't bend enough- Used to stop regularly to pick parasol mushrooms and chestnuts!)

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Good point Odile, I had my knee reconstructed and did a lot of extra exercise in the pool (not swimming just stretching ans resistance work), as well as the stuff the physio gave (only twice a week on NHS) and it made a massive difference according to the physio, so even if you don't like it Coops its worth doing when you are up and about[:D]
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Our daughter has recently had quite a serious op done on one of her knees. 2 weeks into recovery time she is struggling with getting her knee to bend and is walking asthough she is in plaster. She has been isued witha letter for college saying she cannot do sport for 60 days.

She is going back for a follow up next friday, I will not be able to accompany her , but have been banging on at her dad and her to ask if she is allowd to go swimming. She will be getting aon ordinance for physio. Last time I visited our local pool there was aphysio guy there with a lady , they were sat in the middle pool (about 3 feet of water) and he was massaging her legs (I wondered what the heck they were up to at first....)

 

Keep up the good work Coops and coops 2.

 

 

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it was quite hard at first to get the hang of breast stroke without 'froggy' legs - but it's come naturally now. I always wear goggles so I can keep my head low, as I used to get neck ache before. Hope you can get in the water fairly soon. Again, thinking of you and best wishes.

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A former colleague, then in her 20s, had major surgery on duff knees, and was warned not to think of riding again. 10 years later she has been riding for most of the intervening time! Knees are a famously difficult joint to get "right" and only time will tell whether cooperlola's knee has been lucky - certainly the surgeons at Rouen thought they'd done enough, so we have hopes. A measured 65 degrees of bend the other day is quite a good omen at this early stage.

I know unsolicited advertising is reasonably verboten here, but another victim of the crash was a vase that Deb had bought for my 60th next month. Having found the shop from Deb's credit card statement, I contacted them via email and within hours they had identified the item and posted on their website two other offerings from the same artist, one of which I have chosen to replace the lost vase. Deb tells me there were three items on offer when she visited, so it seems likely that she has seen the one I have chosen. She said it took her ages to decide which was the nicest!. As well as offering best wishes for Deb's recovery, the shop have waived postal charges, which must wipe out every penny of profit they would have made. Take a bow, South West Crafts at Tavistock!

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A little bird told me that Deb loves getting cards and letters, and is even able to reply to one or two each day - before her wrist starts to complain. 

If any of her "virtual" friends here would like to send her a note or a card, they can PM me for her hospital address.

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Well said Cat - except that we may be moving again in a few days! Deb had a much more useful visit to Le Mans yesterday, with all the pre-op stuff going well, so as I write she is asleep on the table being relieved of some of her recent ironwork. She also met the Rehab Lady - who is going to L'Arche today, and will press for Deb to be transferred asap, which RL thinks could be this week! Suggest horses might be held on cards etc until we know a bit more.

Just going back to the pre-op, Deb has had a very thorough prep for today, and we feel rather pleased that all manner of tests have revealed nothing outside normal limits. It is 8 weeks today since the accident, and she hasn't had a ciggy or a drink in all that time. The latter habit has never been a problem - we seldom drink before the evening - but kicking the former could be a great triumph, and knowing her lungs and ticker are still in fine fettle is a further incentive not to knacker them now! The risky time will be when Deb is back home - and on-line to you lot! She sits at the golden keys, puffing away to keep the inspiration going. Ciggy consumption went up a bit during last year's healthcare issue, although Deb had cut down again on her own initiative. When she's back, I'd be delighted if the subject of her not smoking received as much warm support as you have all shown over her injuries. Any chance?

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I will definitely support Debs in remaining a non-smoker. But you never know, she might not herself want to try it again which would be wonderful! It is said that tissues that are thoroughly oxygenated do heal better and faster, so that means, no smoking. She certainly doesn't need anymore toxic matter in her system now!
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Deb is being very sensible re tobacco - for now. She doesn't want to make promises that prove hard to keep when she's up and about! All hospitals seem, like most office buildings etc., to have a group of smokers outside the door - many in dressing gowns, some with drips, some in wheelchairs. Deb has shown no inclination to join them, nor asked me to bring the fags along when I visit - I rescued 200 in sealed packets from the wreck of the car.

Yesterday went well. She was under anaesthetic for about an hour, has had the expected withdrawals of metal from right wrist, which no longer needs a splint. Left foot ditto, but a resin boot has been provided to support the leg while it gets its strength back. Deb was back in Le Grand Luce by 7 last night, tired but cheered by real progress at last. In fact, of course, she is a very different person from the somewhat smashed-up body who was helicoptered into Rouen in August - it's just that she's itching to be back on here again!

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How does Deb's French cope with all the medical vocabulary? 

(I speak as someone who was stretchered by the pompiers into French hospital, insisting that someone find my Robert/Collins dictionary so that I could take it with me in the ambulance.)

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Deb's French is significantly better than mine - and that of most Brits we meet here, sadly for them. Being on holiday in Le Havre with French folk while she was in single figures was a good start in life. The fact that the now-very-elderly couple she stayed with made it to her bedside in Rouen says how well she integrated into their family, even at that age. Yes, medical terms can be a conundrum, although most bones appear to be similarly named, which is also a good start. However, just as we have sound-alike word pairs in English, so the fact that poignee is a handle and poignet is your wrist can be a bit confusing at first! I am convinced that the positive attitude of so many of the people she is helped by in the hospitals is conditioned by their relief or gratitude for her speaking their language - again, unlike so many other resident Brits. This is reap-what-you-sow stuff, really. The family of the elderly lady in Deb's room are full of praise for the proposed move to L'Arche, which they say is top-drawer in rehab, while Le Grand Luce is more convalescent in purpose. They also want Deb to keep in touch with them - which says it all, really. And some Brits think the French are rude and sniffy.....

As for being insistent on the stretcher, Deb was loudly telling everyone that she was Anglaise, so she says. Shock does funny things to us, doesn't it?

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Picking up French medical terms is a bit like picking up plumbing terms....

When Mrs Sunday was in hospital last year for a knee replacement operation, she had no trouble impressing me with her newly acquired medical vocabulary.  The other week in SuperU, she came across an elderly French woman who she'd met during her post op physio sessions.  The pair of them spent about half an hour chatting and comparing their ailments....[:D]

 

 

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Tomorrow, Thursday, Deb is to move again. This time it is to L’Arche, a rehab centre NW of Le Mans, in the village of St Saturnin, well known to the Brit LM enthusiasts – every year the village hosts a spectacular exhibition of sportscars on the eve of the race. The facility at L’Arche is much more about rehabilitation than convalescence, which is the forte of Le Grand Luce, where she has passed the last 3 weeks. Nevertheless, the increased mobility as a result of yesterday will enable much more work to be done than could have been achieved at LGL.

I will provide full amended contact details to Cat when these are known.

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