Separated from her ‘Mr Perfect’ after nearly than 60 years of marriage, Evelyn Lawrence was desperate to back home from hospital as soon as possible.
The 82-year-old, from Tonbridge, slipped and cracked her hip while shopping in Sainsbury’s, with her husband Gordon, in October.
Childhood sweethearts, the couple have barely spent a night apart since they met as teenagers.
Evelyn said: “Gordon had the trolley and I went off to get some eggs and rolls, which I had balanced on each other. I peeked round a corner to see where he was and I slipped. My instinct was to save the eggs and rolls, which I should have just thrown on the floor!”
The grandmother had cracked her hip, which she describes as “excruciating and more painful than childbirth”. She had to stay awake while surgeons at Tunbridge Wells Hospital in Pembury performed a dynamic hip screw.
As surgeons had to cut through muscle to repair Evelyn’s hip, two weeks after the operation she was transferred to Tonbridge Cottage Hospital for intensive physiotherapy to help her build up her strength and learn to walk again, so she was safe to go home.
She said: “As soon as I stepped over the threshold at Tonbridge Cottage Hospital, it was like being enveloped in a warm blanket with so much kindness and compassion – and the best cheese and tomato sandwiches I have had in a long time!
“They worked hard on me. I am a very diligent patient and I did everything they told me – because I was helping them, to help me get better. I was like a little inch-worm, getting better day-by-day.
“To help me at home, I was given a trolley on wheels, a handy bit of kit to help raise the toilet, a Zimmer frame and walking sticks.”
Thanks to intensive physio, Evelyn was back home with 24 hours to spare before she jetted off on the cruise of a lifetime with her family.