By Jenel Hunt
It was a simple accident. Penny Bailey slipped on some water on the floor while defrosting the freezer in the garage. In the blink of an eye, her life changed forever.
Now an above-the-knee amputee, 71-year-old Penny has to chart new and difficult territory and she freely admits the cost of becoming an amputee is not something that she has budgeted for in her golden years.
But her positive attitude is helping her make it through.
“I promised myself when the leg first came off that I was going to do this next part of my life’s journey with dignity, grace and respect. I lose the plot every now and then and think, ‘Why me?’ but since I’ve been back in Warwick and I’ve had Solly to come and visit I’ve been so much better,” she said.
Solly, an 18-month-old dog that seems too little to be given the rather sonorous and weighty name of Solomon, was close by when Penny slipped on 18 February.
And maybe the little pet was indeed as wise as Solomon, for he kept her grounded and aware the only way he could – by throwing his ball at her.
“If he hadn’t been throwing that ball at me then collecting it and throwing it again, I think I would have given up. The pain was so bad I would have happily rolled over and died right there on the floor.”
Penny was bleeding profusely internally. She had a rare posterior dislocation of the knee prosthesis (knee replacement) and because the dislocation was posterial, it cut the arteries and nerves.
She managed to wriggle on her bottom to the kitchen to turn off something cooking on the stove and then get to the bedroom to the phone.
For the hour while she was waiting for the ambulance, Solly sat really, really close.
“I’ve got two cats, but I didn’t see hide nor hair of them!”
Penny’s last memory of that day was getting to the hospital an hour later.
“I saw a lot of familiar faces, and that’s all I remember.”
Her foot was cold and her leg had ballooned out behind the knee. The doctors realised there was something seriously wrong. They reduced the dislocation and she was helicoptered to the Princess Alexandra Hospital in Brisbane where she stayed for three weeks having surgeries and treatment until finally the dead leg was cut off.
It’s an indication of the kind of person she is that despite her situation, Penny noticed on her first night in the PA that a young nurse was upset about something.
“She was there taking my obs and I said, ‘Are you alright? Do you need a hug?’ She burst into tears so I gave her a huge hug. We talked a lot over the time. When I was leaving, she told me she’d never forget what I had done for her. But what had I done? Just talked and hugged. I’m a hugger. And I need a hug sometimes too. I remember someone doing that for me down at the PA when I said it was all getting too much.”
Penny says she loves people … and it’s clear that people love her back.
While she was at PA Hospital her family set up a roster so someone was always close by. She always had one of two daughters or a sister visiting her.
It’s a bit sad that although she has five children, they’re pretty scattered – America, Canada, New Zealand, Brisbane and Toowoomba. But she has friends.
Penny worked at the Warwick Hosital as a radiographer for about 11 years where everyone knew her as Princess Penny. Then about seven years ago she moved to Toowoomba and worked there for five years until the practice closed due to COVID. She bought a house in the Lockyer Valley but realised fairly soon that she had made a mistake.
“With COVID restrictions and not knowing anyone much, I felt really isolated, so I decided the move back to Warwick. It was the best decision I could have made,” she said.
“It’s not that I couldn’t make new friends. I love people. I just realised how important long-term friendships were.”
Meanwhile Solly is living with the friend from whom she bought him, and he comes and visits the hospital as often as Penny’s friend can bring him.
Previously Penny had a big bird aviary but she won’t be able to look after them anymore so she has donated her birds to Akooramak.
“The staff look after them and the residents love them. I’ll have to go and visit them. I love the happy sound of budgies and I’ve had them for many years,“ she said.
Penny said she was due to move to rehabilitation at the hospital as soon as her stump was sufficiently healed.
Her first trip home will soon, though. It will be a visit with the Occupational Therapist to see how she will cope with the layout of the house using a wheelchair. She will be wheelchair bound because the amputation was too high to be able to use an artificial limb.
“I know I’ll need a ramp and I’m going to have to sell some furniture. I have some big old pieces that my grandparents left me but now I’ll need more space inside. I’m pretty emotional about that, but it could have been worse.
“I am concerned about the bathroom. I think it will cost about $30,000 and there’s a government subsidy of about $10,000 that I think I can get, but it’s going to be pretty expensive. It’s the one thing I’m concerned about.
“Someone has given me a scooter so I’ll be able to take Solly for walks.”
She’s even talking about trying to get Solly registered as a companion dog, because his presence is such a help to her.
One of Penny’s big challenges is phantom pain, which she said felt like a thousand knives cutting into her leg. But she listens to meditation music and on the advice of a doctor she thinks kindly of her stump and says as long as she thinks positively and creams and massages the area, she’s okay.
And when Solly is with her the pain reduces even more.
But she has one more thing to say about her stump.
“The friend of mine who bred Solly came in one day and said, ‘I’ve thought of a good name for your stump. Eileen. I lean, and then I fall over.’ So that’s what we’ve called my stump. Even the doctors do.”
Penny’s friend Lisa Murphy, who knew Penny when she was Princess Penny at the hospital, has set up a GoFundMe page, hoping to raise money to help Penny with the required alterations to the bathroom in her home.
“Penny has had a long career as a radiographer and she has assisted many patients and their families through some of their worst times,” said Lisa.
“I’m hoping people will take this opportunity to give back to her, to help her live her best life once again.”
To give a donation, go to GoFundMe Princess Penny.
