by Alec Muffett
i ache…
am using gprs but it is fiddly to set up.
dave walker’s up here helping mewith laptop cabling, but it is a hassle to get non geeks to help, so time online will be limited.
big love out to you all for thoughts and mementoes. it makes being stuck in a room so much more bearables
love,
-a
Welcome back to the “real” world Alec!
consultant and physio are talking about sending me home in 1.5 to 2 weeks, assuming i can live downstairs and get shopping delivered.
davew will loan me a bed, need bullen to xprt it to my house and assy before i can go home. shall sort.
It’s superb to see you online. It’s great to hear that you’re recovering so well. 1.5 / 2 weeks sounds fantastic. I hope it is that. However if you’re still in Brum in three weeks time Jerry and I will attempt to drop in on you on our way down South (whilst my parents look after the girls).
Take care and my best wishes, Em
Good to see you online again. Get well soon.
++good
bt
And the entire Internet lets out a collective sigh of relief: Alec’s back online, [what passes for] normalcy has been restored.
You’re back online; that didn’t take long. (-8
Good luck with the convalescence; it sounds like you may be making friends with Tesco online and Ocado for a while.
You dirty great big eejit (as my dear departed old daddy would say!)
Great to have you back… BikeSafe beckons <VBG>
Speak to you soon
M x
Hey man, good to hear from you. Heard what happened from Howard but then there was radio silence, which was a bit worrying.
Hope you’re feeling better as soon as possible!
Hi Al, hope you are feeling a bit better. I’ll try and get over to see you when you get back home. I expect it’s nice to be back in Blighty.Have you technologised your hospital room yet? The sun is out here and the medieval festival is starting in my village this week so we have red lights outside our Palazzo – all the neighbours are complaining and saying it is like a ‘bordello’. They have also been practising the drums outside my window until 10pm and shouting at me to move the car….. there are advantages to living in England. Love, Bridget xx
Good to hear from you and glad you’re back in Britain at last!
Glad to see you’re on the road to recovery, Alec.
I’m sure that for every ‘best wishes’ & ‘get well’ message you recieved, there were many more people hoping (& praying ;)) for the same.
Best wishes, and I hope you’ll be able to get back on the bike sooner rather than later!
Glad to see you back again mate, you gave me and Donna one hell of a scare then!
Best of luck with the convalescing, I hope the bed is good cos you’ll need the rest..
lots of love,
Chris & Donna, down under in Australia..
i’ve banned comments containing colon-slash-slash for the mo, to cut down on hassle.
test
ok, so an update.
everysoften life gives you something so that you remember what you’ve taken for granted so much so recently; i’ve had 10 days of hanging with my family and talking with my sisters to an extent we’ve not shared since 1978.
i’ve got a pretty good idea of what it’s like to be bedridden, and how painful physiotherapy is going to get.
i know how many friends i’ve got, and that’s really good.
i *still* have the chest drain installed (bullwinkle: “this time fer sure!”) and last night recracked one of my left ribs whilst being manhandled onto a bedpan, so overall i ache lots. i miss being able to use a toilet. i miss being able to stand. i can just about sit up for a few minutes.
i long for a bath, but this is better than 14 days ago when i longed only for a drink of water and found when i eventually got one (three days later) that i tasted entirely of salt, and crackled like a dry sponge as i drank.
my left leg calf muscles have evaporated, and my left thigh/hip is covered in vile yellow, formerly royal purple, bruising.
i’ve a week’s beard.
in short, i look a mess. no pictures, ladies, sorry.
the stitches came out of my knee today, and it’s been x-rayed to check nothing’s shifted since france. with the aid of three lovely nurses i sat on the corner of the bed, the ache from my ribs squashing me down to monosyllabic diagnostics; my good foot felt carpet, pins and needles. the bad foot similar, but also a leaden, bloated sensation which was most unpleasant.
once the drain comes out, i’ll have a “pulpit” frame to relearn to walk (toe-touching only, on the bad leg) and gradually migrate to crutches. arm strength is the issue, but i’ve a good starting point.
maybe in a couple of weeks i’ll be back with the cats – at which point i can start to feel human again.
for the first time in 2 weeks, i have no holes in me.
whilst holding my breath one foot length of perforated, spiked drainage tube was removed from my chest cavity this evening, the purse-string stitch was pulled, and it was sealed with a patch.
now i can type two-handed, and the swelling on the left can begin to subside.
obligatory chest x-ray in the morning to see how clear it is of fluid.
yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!
That’s fantastic news. I don’t envy you having had that drain in. I’ve always found cannulas (no idea how to spell that) as much as I could bear … but then I am a coward.
It’s good to see you again in the flesh, if you see what I mean. Get well.
goot to read you are getting better. say hello to cat. going to pet mine. g’night
A relief indeed!
Don’t know if you’re reading email yet, but we slept too long to be able to call today (it’s been a hectic week and the time difference makes it really hard).
We’ll try and call in the morning your time!
cheers, Chris & Donna
today i stood up for the first time in 2 weeks
my leg muscles are wasted, gone, even on the good leg. i sat on the edge of the bed, stood up into a device called a “pulpit” and took my weight across my forearms and elbows. all blood sank to my feet and i nearly fainted, but with some frantic toe waggling managed to restore supply to my head, and thus i walked – or maybe toe-crawled – some three feet forwards and backwards.
it took me two hours’ sleep to recover, and i got a burst of the shivers due to dropping temperatures from the thunderstorms. the nurse covered me in a hot cotton sheet removed specially from an oven (such are kept for patients returning from theatre, where anasthetic can cause shivers) and that got me going again.
i still ache. this, presumably, is where it starts to become hard work.
i got moved into a new room today – rm 23, extn 1133 – because some ants got into my old room overnight, through the open window. i now have aircon, but the view is less interesting.
rachel (rac) arrived 5ish and brought some more clothes, post/mail, and lindt chocolate which i shall enjoy greatly though most sparingly; this evening brought a call from and a nice chat/sync-up with adriana, and an offer of help with shopping from cynthiac calling from a rock festival in wellington country park.
it’s great to have friends. 🙂
Great to hear that you’re up.
The room change certainly explains the lack of an answer on the previous extension! There was me thinking that you’d wheeled yourself off on an adventure somewhere.
Will try agan tomorrow
Hugs
Mx
Glad you are up and staggering about! Can you laugh properly yet?
Take care and take a vow to never do it again, Lisa.
Excellent news!
Well, walking a short distance is a start.
Re: move to new room.
Well, seeing the climbing temperatures this week it’s probably a good thing that you’re in an air conditioned room.. I wish I were! 🙂
It’s good to see that you’re back on-line, even if it is intermittently and expensively.
It was mentioned earlier that it may be as little as a couple of weeks until you get shipped back to your house. I’m sure you’ll be glad of the connectivity and the (relative) closeness of many of your friends.
I’ve still not worked out how I’m going to get up to visit you yet. Maybe it will have to wait until you get back home before I bring the bowl of grapes. 🙂
Alec, Great to hear you are getting better dude! I hope you get soon to your “normal curmungeon” mood. Fingers crossed! Efi-
It was really good to hear you on the phone again, Alec. You sounded well and I second Lisa – laughing properly is a good thing to aim for. 🙂
Alec, I am soooo glad that you are making such progress. As per my email, please tell me if you want or need anything; if it’s within my abilities to do so, I will! (Antoine says hello, too.) xx
Great to hear you’re back amongst the real world (Internet) Alec!
For the life of me I can never remember anyone ever talking about not being able to walk (due to wasted muscles) but while I’m surprised, I suppose it shouldn’t be unexpected.
How much rehab do you need to rebuild your legs back to the point where you can walk on them again?
Oh, before I forget, an important question: which hospital has the better looking nurses ? 🙂
Oh wow, so good to hear from you. Get well soon, because otherwise Brum is entirely within reach from Swansea and you may be forced to suffer visits.
Telsa
Glad you’re back in the land of the blogging, Alec, and, more importantly, that your battered bod continues to heal apace. Take it easy. I’ll try to get up there for a visit at some point. Koowing me, it’ll be conveniently after everyone else has got fed up with coming ’round and you’re just starting to get *really* bored. Or summat.
Hi Alec – all the best, and it has been a scary time following the regular updates on you. Glad to see you back on the net – it means back to life doesn’t it ;)? Do you need a vodafone 3G Data Card? I have some connections to Vodafone 😉
Olaf
great to see you recover. Best wishes for the physiotherapy.
Hey Alec,
Very glad to hear you’re making progress. When you contact Bullen re setting up a downstairs bedroom at your place, let me know and I’ll coordinate with him so I can help.
If you’re still in Brum longer than the predicted time, we’ll come and visit you up there.
Take care and continue the healing process!
Grim
Hey Alec,
Very glad to hear you’re making progress. When you contact Bullen re setting up a downstairs bedroom at your place, let me know and I’ll coordinate with him so I can help.
If you’re still in Brum longer than the predicted time, we’ll come and visit you up there.
Take care and continue the healing process!
Grim
Alec,
I wish you well on getting back home. I know it feels great to get back to something that is yours and feels like home.
I have had two motorcycle accidents in my life that left me in ruff shape. I can tell you that breaking the femur takes less time to heal then breaking only the tibia. I was 6 month in a cast. 3 months of that was in a cast up to my hip.I was told if I had broken both bones the tibia and fibia that it would have healed faster and would have been easer to set. I lost 1/2″ on right leg because they never got it set quite right. The other time I cracked both wrist’s I was in a cast up past my elbow on both arms for a about 6 weeks. You really know who loves you then. Oh dear I am finished, can you come wipe? Yes, that was a real fun time :-< Each time I did get right back on the bike. It is amazing to me that Florida stopped me from riding. I started riding back in 1976. I rode in up state NY all year round. I rode in Maryland all year round. I have ridden through a tropical depression and have ridden in 20 degree F weather and all was good. I have ridden on ice, snow, dirt, gravel, and sand. But once I started riding on flat roads in 90+ degrees F with high humity I was through. Now that I am back in Maryland the urge to ride is starting to come back. Right now I am just riding a bicycle to get in shape. If I loose a bit of weight so I can ride the sport bikes again I might get back on. I do hope you heal quickly. I wish you well during recovery. Physical therapy is painfull but the more you accomplish early the better off you will be. Keep the rubber side down. Have a good one, Ed.
Alec,
I wish you well on getting back home. I know it feels great to get back to something that is yours and feels like home.
I have had two motorcycle accidents in my life that left me in ruff shape.
I can tell you that breaking the femur takes less time to heal then breaking only the tibia. I was 4 month in a cast. 3 months of that was in a cast up to my hip.I was told if I had broken both bones the tibia and fibia that it would have healed faster and would have been easer to set. I lost 1/2″ on right leg because they never got it set quite right.
The other time I cracked both wrist’s I was in a cast up past my elbow on both arms for a about 6 weeks. You really know who loves you then. Oh dear I am finished, can you come wipe? Yes, that was a real fun time :-<
Each time I did get right back on the bike. It is amazing to me that Florida stopped me from riding. I started riding back in 1976. I rode in up state NY all year round. I rode in Maryland all year round. I have ridden through a tropical depression and have ridden in 20 degree F weather and all was good. I have ridden on ice, snow, dirt, gravel, and sand. But once I started riding on flat roads in 90+ degrees F with high humity I was through. Now that I am back in Maryland the urge to ride is starting to come back. Right now I am just riding a bicycle to get in shape. If I loose a bit of weight so I can ride the sport bikes again I might get back on.
I do hope you heal quickly. I wish you well during recovery. Physical therapy is painfull but the more you accomplish early the better off you will be.
Keep the rubber side down. Have a good one, Ed.
Glad your back with us. I hope you got the pretty nurse for the sponge baths. 🙂
hi everybody,
first: many thanks for all the notes, phone calls, letters, cards and comments; it’s a real boost to hear from you all, the hospital room is a bit boring otherwise.
as for which country has the prettiest nurses, i’d have to say france; but in terms of who i’d rather have nursing me, give me the brits. the last day in lille drove this home to me, where i serially had three nurses and one lady doctor ever more frantically stabbing me to try and insert a canula (sp?) to an extent where my forearms are still green from the bruising. the nurses here are operating very much on a “need to do” rather than “the rules require us to do X” basis.
i prefer the latter.
my leg got strapped into an autobending machine today, which pumped it back and forth from 0 to 55 degrees for nearly an hour. i barely had to do anything, which is bizzare because it’s left me quite tired. the leg’s a lot more flexible (no cast, just a exoskeletal borg-splint thing when I am working it myself) and i am definitely getting back to normality. blood tests normal, haemoglobin a little low but will come back with a decent diet.
all in all i am coming along quite nicely. i just wish i could get up and about a bit more, or maybe get in a wheelchair and go have a look around.
thanks again all, more tomorrow.
ps: i’ve not been reading e-mail much of late; maybe a bit, tomorrow, but there’s a lot of spam to be sorted.
Alex,
long time no talk… learned ’bout your current state from Brad Blumenthal… i’m not saying a jam, predicament or mess as those connote a ‘difficult or no way out’, i’m saying your ‘current state’ which you will climb out successfully and fast, right? at least that’s what i wish upon you, cheers. all the best to you alex factor
(afactor@comcast.net or alexander.factor@sun.com)
Hi Alec
Glad to hear you’re starting to feel a bit closer to normality now! Brum’s not so far from Cardiff, will attempt to get up for a visit if poss (unless you escape first!).
cheers, yon
Alec is back on-line!
/me does Snoopy happy dance.
During PT, just remember Alec, pain is the sign of weakness leaving the body.
What a relief to see that you are back! Because I’m no longer on the internal aliases, I’ve been relying on Dave and Bart for updates. There could be an interesting project for some student, analysing who got the original news from who, and how fast (a friend, from Sun Sydney, called me on the morning of July 10th to let me know what had happened).
Not much I can do to help at this distance, but let me know if you think of anything. I can pull some strings remotely, even from down under.
Big hug
Melodie in Sydney
Definitely, it’s great to see you online again.
Keep rebooting in life as often as necessary, but do try to keep the crashes to a minimum. 🙂
Seriously, best wishes for continued recovery!
Kimberley
Eeek! I’ve just been piecing together the news! Best wishes from a stranger you’ve only met once, with Alan and Telsa on a tube train several years ago…
a trio of sun types followed a duet of sun types yesterday for visiting. Alec looks remarkably well but you know that underneath that pale and interesting skin there lurks much recovery to come. Much. Even the PT asked if he was normally so pale! Little do they know…
He’s a happy biker now that he has technology access but also tired as he’s doing more exercise (with PT, etc…) than most of us on a daily basis.
… and presumably he has a pain in all the diodes on his left side…..
Hey ALec,
Just checking back here to see how you are – sounds like you’re getting there.
When I had my knee op (keyhole) I was off my feet for a few days and I was shocked at how much muscle mass I lost (and even more so how long it took to recover). Keep at it!
All the best, I’ll be checking back now and again.
Oh my goodness. Reading dropsafe via RSS I wasn’t seeing the comments and had no idea what was going on until this morning! Sarah and I have you in our thoughts and wish you the best of luck in getting well. I tried to send you an e-mail a week or two back and it bounced. I thought it odd but shrugged it off.
I know you must be bored to your wits end in the hospital room and if there is anything we can do please let us know.
I’ve been following the email updates, and I’m really glad you’re on the mend, albeit that it’s a slow process. I was away last week so didn’t have much of an opportunity to send best wishes and things. I’m also glad that you’re back online; I’d imagine that the withdrawal symptoms must have been pretty intense :). I hope the recovery proceeds smoothly; I know it seems like a very long and drawn out process. All the best, and I hope to hear from you soon.
Nick
Alec,
Really glad that you are back in sunny (which it is for a change!) England and “enjoying” the hospital-ity.
Hope that you are feeling better each day and hope that you get well soon to go on a bike ride sometime…
Take care
Jo
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