MOOMINS M.C.

Last week I had two important appointments scheduled.
One was with the Traffic Accident Commission to have my scars photographed by a professional photographer and the other, a meeting with my lawyer to draw up an affidavit for my case.
I missed both of them.
It's not the first time I've missed an appointment.
I was to see a neuropsychologist for an assessment a month ago and for my troubles had to pay a non attendance fee.
I don't know why these important meetings had escaped me, but on Friday I got some answers as to the possible reasons.
I had an assessment with the neuropsychologist that went for nearly four hours.
It consisted of various tests and exercises designed to map out any problems or damage relating to my head which may have been a result of the smash.
The good doctor came to the conclusion that although I am basically up to scratch intellectually, my memory and concentration has suffered noticeably.
That would explain the missed appointments and the vague outs I've experienced during conversations and activities.
I can't say that I'd noticed any blatant change straight away, but over time the missed appointments, the vague outs and flashbacks have began to take their toll and make their presence felt in earnest.
Yet another thing to deal with.


On the brighter side of things, Clarence St played host to a winter warmer party on Friday.
What better way to snap people out of their winter blues than a roaring fire, some super sweet hot chocolate with cinnamon and Tia Maria coupled with sometimes dubious selections from the vinyl collection.
Friday morning I went to work, then to the assessment, then spent the rest of the daylight hours setting the infrastructure.
I managed to set up Gemma's quick shade by myself, which was an exercise in problem solving in itself as it is designed to be erected by four people, ideally.
I then strung up the fly I used to cover the hammock on my pre surgery camping trip in November, which involved setting up ropes and moving and climbing the great wooden ladder.
By sunset it was done and I moved onto sorting out bits and pieces inside the house.
After some help form my housemates Gemma, Gino and his womans Melissa I plopped myself down in the music room to have a well needed rest.
I was rooted!!!
Stravinsky's Firebird Suite flowing form the speakers was just what I needed to unwind a bit before getting changed for the party.
Nope, not a snowflake's chance in hell.
Gemma suggested I boot up the gas heater in the music room, then the first guests started arriving.
And then it was on!
Needless to say I was pretty wrecked by the next morning and then there was a 30th birthday party to go to that night!
Then I had to pull down all the stuff I'd put up on Friday down as well.
It was by far one of the most intense weekends I'd had in a long time.
Come Monday I got home from work and had a wee lie down, only to fall asleep and wake up a few hours later.


Today I had more assessments, one with an orthopaedic specialist and the other with a psychiatrist.
The second one clashed with my psychologist appointment as I'd forgotten about that one and booked it at the same time.
More of that forgetful crap.
The orthopaedic specialist did say that he was very impressed with the progress I'd made considering the extent of the trauma and put it down to the people who have worked on me and my own efforts.
I feel he missed out the crucial friends and family part, which in my mind is just as important.


This Thursday is decision time as far as any further surgery is concerned.
I'll be seeing my main orthopaedic surgeon to discuss the healing process and future surgery.
Here's hoping for just one last big surgery to get the internal metal scaffolding out.
All goes well, I'll have the surgeon working on me for about four hours plus the plastics department working their magic as well.
There have been so many professionals involved in all this recovery process that it's quite mind boggling trying to co-ordinate them all at times.
There's the 5 orthopaedic surgeons, 2 plastic surgeons, 1 hand therapist, 2 rehab doctors, 1 neuropsycholgist, 1 psychiatrist, 3 psychologists, 4 physiotherapists, 3 hydrotherapists, 2 occupational therapists, 1 return to work officer, countless nurses, 1 lawyer, 1 accountant and I'm sure some more I've missed out at this point in time.


All in all, I'm a hell of a lot better than I was 1 year ago.
The beauty of writing a blog about all this is that I can go back in time and remind myself of how screwed up I was then and much progress I've made.
If you're scratching for something to do and have some time on yer hands then have a quick squiz at the 2006 July entries in the archives on the right hand side.



Some pics form the party and a little more street photography:
( better seen in full view )



A little street photography form the last few days:









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