Thursday, April 05, 2007
BACK TO WORK AND BACK TO HOSPITAL..........
Feeling better, thank you.
After my little self destructive bout on Friday I tried to keep myself nice this week, so far so good.
Making full use of my C.R.A.F.T. Club membership ( can't remember a fucking thing ), I found that upon rising last Saturday I couldn't even find my crutch!
Thankfully Bec came to the rescue on that one.
Having received a right royal going over in physio on Monday, then going to work for the first time on Tuesday and helping Brenton replace the water pump on his car, I found I could hardly walk on Wednesday.
I don't think the fall on Friday night helped either as I can still feel that in the knee today.
I literally looked like a real, genuine defective unit as I struggled to get out of bed, into the taxi and then onto the exercise bike in physio.
After about 3-4 minutes on the bike, the legs finally started to work.
I popped in to see Al in the Alfred in the afternoon and didn't leave until about 7:30.
His wife and daughter were there when Al was carted off to x-ray.
The nurse said he'd be about half an hour.
I knew it'd at least be about triple that from experience, so his daughter and I popped down the pub for a couple.
The orderly, who came for Al, looked a bit suspect.
The look on his face appeared to scream "He'll be right back. After we remove a kidney or two for spare parts. A little venture I have on the side with one of the student doctors. After all, how do you expect me to survive on this orderly's wage?!"
Sure enough, an hour and a half later he was back.
With all internal organs intact and in place, thankfully.
We returned to the bed and were joined by his son, so I took a photo of the family.
Who knows, they may or may not want a copy later in time.
Al seemed very agitated and frustrated about the whole ordeal, the not knowing of when the amputation will take place, the overworked nursing staff not being there when he needs them, the doctors talking amongst themselves and not turning up when they said they would, what he will do for a crust when he recovers or whether to retire, the crap food, etc.
He did however appear interested in how David is going after his amputation and was keen to find out more about the experience, which I figure is a good thing as he's obviously come to terms with losing that dodgy arm.
Speaking of which, I believe the amputation is not far off, so let's hope he comes out of that quickly and is able to get the hell out of that hospital.
I only spent two weeks in there and it did my head in, he's been there since the 10th of March!
It was good to see him up and walking even if doing a half lap of the ward wore him out, it's a good sign.
After all that, all I could do was go home, roll a wee cuban and put on Lynyrd Synyrd's final album 'Street Survivors' on the record player and plop down in an armchair.
The irony of choosing that particular album didn't occur to me until I wrote that last sentence.
Jeez I'm a bloody weirdo sometimes.
Ok, maybe most of the time.
The return to work isn't going too badly.
The computer system operation came back rather quicker than I thought.
Some things have changed for the better, some haven't changed at all.
The new manager seems alright and looks like he'll be making some good changes to the way the place operates.
The physical side of things was a lot harder than I anticipated, mainly due to the amount of times I had to get up and sit down.
That played havoc with my knees.
It will take some time to adjust to the fact that I can't run around like a blue arsed fly the way I used to.
All my actions now require some sort of planning prior to execution in order make sure I do it in the least painful way and that I pace myself.
Hi ho, Hi ho, it's off to work we go!!!!
.
After my little self destructive bout on Friday I tried to keep myself nice this week, so far so good.
Making full use of my C.R.A.F.T. Club membership ( can't remember a fucking thing ), I found that upon rising last Saturday I couldn't even find my crutch!
Thankfully Bec came to the rescue on that one.
Having received a right royal going over in physio on Monday, then going to work for the first time on Tuesday and helping Brenton replace the water pump on his car, I found I could hardly walk on Wednesday.
I don't think the fall on Friday night helped either as I can still feel that in the knee today.
I literally looked like a real, genuine defective unit as I struggled to get out of bed, into the taxi and then onto the exercise bike in physio.
After about 3-4 minutes on the bike, the legs finally started to work.
I popped in to see Al in the Alfred in the afternoon and didn't leave until about 7:30.
His wife and daughter were there when Al was carted off to x-ray.
The nurse said he'd be about half an hour.
I knew it'd at least be about triple that from experience, so his daughter and I popped down the pub for a couple.
The orderly, who came for Al, looked a bit suspect.
The look on his face appeared to scream "He'll be right back. After we remove a kidney or two for spare parts. A little venture I have on the side with one of the student doctors. After all, how do you expect me to survive on this orderly's wage?!"
Sure enough, an hour and a half later he was back.
With all internal organs intact and in place, thankfully.
We returned to the bed and were joined by his son, so I took a photo of the family.
Who knows, they may or may not want a copy later in time.
Al seemed very agitated and frustrated about the whole ordeal, the not knowing of when the amputation will take place, the overworked nursing staff not being there when he needs them, the doctors talking amongst themselves and not turning up when they said they would, what he will do for a crust when he recovers or whether to retire, the crap food, etc.
He did however appear interested in how David is going after his amputation and was keen to find out more about the experience, which I figure is a good thing as he's obviously come to terms with losing that dodgy arm.
Speaking of which, I believe the amputation is not far off, so let's hope he comes out of that quickly and is able to get the hell out of that hospital.
I only spent two weeks in there and it did my head in, he's been there since the 10th of March!
It was good to see him up and walking even if doing a half lap of the ward wore him out, it's a good sign.
After all that, all I could do was go home, roll a wee cuban and put on Lynyrd Synyrd's final album 'Street Survivors' on the record player and plop down in an armchair.
The irony of choosing that particular album didn't occur to me until I wrote that last sentence.
Jeez I'm a bloody weirdo sometimes.
Ok, maybe most of the time.
The return to work isn't going too badly.
The computer system operation came back rather quicker than I thought.
Some things have changed for the better, some haven't changed at all.
The new manager seems alright and looks like he'll be making some good changes to the way the place operates.
The physical side of things was a lot harder than I anticipated, mainly due to the amount of times I had to get up and sit down.
That played havoc with my knees.
It will take some time to adjust to the fact that I can't run around like a blue arsed fly the way I used to.
All my actions now require some sort of planning prior to execution in order make sure I do it in the least painful way and that I pace myself.
Hi ho, Hi ho, it's off to work we go!!!!
.
