If you were wondering after the last post...I stayed another night. The amazing thing is how much of a difference that one night of rest made! When the physio walked in the mext morning, I was able to do some more of the exercises than the day before. I was also able to walk all the way from the bed to the bathroom, where I wasn't even able to walk one step before.
Thereza came to fetch me at hospital at about 10:30 on Friday morning, dropped me off at home and then went back to work after she'd helped me get settled into my favourite chair in the lounge. I stuck it out for about an hour before the pain of travel got to me and I took two of the tablets the Doc had given me for pain. About 3 hours later, when Thereza an the kids got home, I was just about ready to bring the flight in to land...
Man, those tablets are strong!! I've also been having the weirdest of dreams the last couple of nights! Fortunately I can't always remember the detail of the dreams. All I can remember is they were weird! I also know it's got nothing to do with the movies I've been watching lately, because I haven't really been watching any movies lately. Must be the pain tablets taking me to strange places, who knows?
Now, off the medical and self-pity subject onto something completely different...
This weekend, one of the Radio Stations, Jacaranda 94.2FM, is having a whole weekend of flashbacks to the 80's. They're playing ONLY music from the 80's and asking people to reminisce about the times they had...if they were born by then, of course. I finished school in 1982, so I have quite a number of memories from those years and it is amazing how many of the things which you thought were long forgotten, can be brought back by just listening to a song!
Thereza and I were wondering about our music choices back then, because some of the songs sound so lame today, but in the day they were these serious hits and everyone had to have them. Sometimes you also pick up on the words of the songs and you find out that the song you used to have such fond memories of is actually just plain weird!
Yet...the memories cannot be denied and won't be suppressed. If someone is struggling to remember something from days gone by, just try playing them a song that you know would have meant something to them at the time and you may just be surprised at the memories that come flooding forth...
My wife and I learnt a lot about eachother that way...as did our kids, to be honest. Some of the things the kids learnt freaked them out, of course, but we actually enjoyed freaking them out by being able to show them we also had a good time and weren't always these strict, responsible people they know as their parents. Sometimes they listen to the stories and things also start making more sense about their parents. As a matter of fact, my kids sometimes see the light and start liking some of the songs themselves.
They then become instant hits at school when they play them to their friends. Shows you...some songs are just meant to be played at regular intervals...like about once every 20 years! :-)
2008/08/31
2008/08/28
Another hospital visit to talk about
Well Hello...
2008-08-26
Here I am sitting in the Hospital again, waiting for the "knockout guy" to come see me...(Guess who can't spell Anesthatyst!)
Yip, I've been ordered back to hospital, because the doc says he wants to take bone form the hip and transplant this into the boney part of the broken leg and see whether that will help the bones grow together better. You see, the bones have not been showing progress in terms of growing back together at this stage.
If this were now two weeks after the accident it would still have been ok, but what got me down a "little" is that this is now more than two months after the accident and there is still no progress.
Now, before you reply to this and start sending me all these messages of encouragement, hear this... I've had a LOT of messages of encouragement in the last 2 months and I appreciate each one of them, but.........
After a little while the most well-meant encouragement could be experienced as discouragement and even as criticism in terms of one's own faith and ability to learn from these things. I mean, the fifteenth time someone tells you that you are to probably learn patience from this experience, or that you are to learn humility, or whatever...You start wondering about your ability (or should I say inability) to cope with the situation that life throws at you.
I started feeling inadequate because I am obviously not getting or understanding the lesson. So, what I'm trying to get at is you need to be careful when you visit someone in hospital, or try and encourage someone who has just experienced a loss or traumatic event. Don't just go ahead and say the first thing that comes to mind, because maybe it's the same old things people have been saying all the time. Think carefully, listen to the person you are visiting and use the information you get from them to give them some meaningful encouragement.
Most people will let you know exactly what type of encouragement will work for them at any given time. Sometimes people (myself included!) would just want someone to listen to them while they vent and get rid of their frustration. (Maybe that's why I blog every now and then?) Sometimes people want to talk through their problem so that they get an answer to their questions. Sometimes people need you to answer some question to help them relate to the situation, etc, etc, etc.
Listen and stop talking so much...he says to himself...
*-----*
2008-08-28
Ok, so I never got around to posting the previous message before they wheeled me off to the theater. And now it's 2 days later and I haven't got around to posting the next message yet. So I'll post two in one day...because I can!
The afternoon after the operation went by in a blur of pain killers and drug-induced sleep. I remember a couple of things, but not enough to put together a nice story about it. Interesting perhaps, but not necessarily nice.
Yesterday, the day after the operation, of course went by with the normal amount of boredom and sleeping and generally not doing much anyway. The physio came to see me in the morning and decided that it would be a good thing to get me out of bed straight away...even though i still had a drain on my hip where they cut out some bone to graft into my leg.
As I finished typing the previous sentence, the physio walked in again with that same "mean" look in her eye! I tried to get out of bed just before the physio came and was able to at least stand on the crutches, but I can't really walk around, because every time I put weight on my left leg and the right leg hangs it starts pulling on the hip area where the cut was made....Needless to say this is NOT the most comfortable thing that can happen.
I'm now sitting here wodnering whether I should try and go home and relax there, or whether I should stay in hospital for another night and give the hip some more time to heal first. Serious decision time, since I'm not sure whether I'm gonna make it to the car and from the car to the bed at home the way it feels right now! Maybe if they give me an injection first and then wait for the medicine to take hold and then I hurry off to the car and get into the bedroom before the medicine wears off...Who knows?
But then again, there's just a couple of "maybe's" too many in that previous sentence. I've got until 11 to decide, because after 12 they charge me for an additional day in the hospital, so i can just as well stay overnight then. To be honest, I'm feeling quite coimfortable while I'm sitting here typing away at the laptop, so maybe I'll rather stay another night.
Just wonder what the medical aid would think of that and whether they would be willing to pay for that additional night? I'm sure they won't mind...
2008-08-26
Here I am sitting in the Hospital again, waiting for the "knockout guy" to come see me...(Guess who can't spell Anesthatyst!)
Yip, I've been ordered back to hospital, because the doc says he wants to take bone form the hip and transplant this into the boney part of the broken leg and see whether that will help the bones grow together better. You see, the bones have not been showing progress in terms of growing back together at this stage.
If this were now two weeks after the accident it would still have been ok, but what got me down a "little" is that this is now more than two months after the accident and there is still no progress.
Now, before you reply to this and start sending me all these messages of encouragement, hear this... I've had a LOT of messages of encouragement in the last 2 months and I appreciate each one of them, but.........
After a little while the most well-meant encouragement could be experienced as discouragement and even as criticism in terms of one's own faith and ability to learn from these things. I mean, the fifteenth time someone tells you that you are to probably learn patience from this experience, or that you are to learn humility, or whatever...You start wondering about your ability (or should I say inability) to cope with the situation that life throws at you.
I started feeling inadequate because I am obviously not getting or understanding the lesson. So, what I'm trying to get at is you need to be careful when you visit someone in hospital, or try and encourage someone who has just experienced a loss or traumatic event. Don't just go ahead and say the first thing that comes to mind, because maybe it's the same old things people have been saying all the time. Think carefully, listen to the person you are visiting and use the information you get from them to give them some meaningful encouragement.
Most people will let you know exactly what type of encouragement will work for them at any given time. Sometimes people (myself included!) would just want someone to listen to them while they vent and get rid of their frustration. (Maybe that's why I blog every now and then?) Sometimes people want to talk through their problem so that they get an answer to their questions. Sometimes people need you to answer some question to help them relate to the situation, etc, etc, etc.
Listen and stop talking so much...he says to himself...
*-----*
2008-08-28
Ok, so I never got around to posting the previous message before they wheeled me off to the theater. And now it's 2 days later and I haven't got around to posting the next message yet. So I'll post two in one day...because I can!
The afternoon after the operation went by in a blur of pain killers and drug-induced sleep. I remember a couple of things, but not enough to put together a nice story about it. Interesting perhaps, but not necessarily nice.
Yesterday, the day after the operation, of course went by with the normal amount of boredom and sleeping and generally not doing much anyway. The physio came to see me in the morning and decided that it would be a good thing to get me out of bed straight away...even though i still had a drain on my hip where they cut out some bone to graft into my leg.
As I finished typing the previous sentence, the physio walked in again with that same "mean" look in her eye! I tried to get out of bed just before the physio came and was able to at least stand on the crutches, but I can't really walk around, because every time I put weight on my left leg and the right leg hangs it starts pulling on the hip area where the cut was made....Needless to say this is NOT the most comfortable thing that can happen.
I'm now sitting here wodnering whether I should try and go home and relax there, or whether I should stay in hospital for another night and give the hip some more time to heal first. Serious decision time, since I'm not sure whether I'm gonna make it to the car and from the car to the bed at home the way it feels right now! Maybe if they give me an injection first and then wait for the medicine to take hold and then I hurry off to the car and get into the bedroom before the medicine wears off...Who knows?
But then again, there's just a couple of "maybe's" too many in that previous sentence. I've got until 11 to decide, because after 12 they charge me for an additional day in the hospital, so i can just as well stay overnight then. To be honest, I'm feeling quite coimfortable while I'm sitting here typing away at the laptop, so maybe I'll rather stay another night.
Just wonder what the medical aid would think of that and whether they would be willing to pay for that additional night? I'm sure they won't mind...
2008/08/18
Downers and pity parties
The day I've been looking forward to for 6 weeks has finally arrived! I'm going to see the doctor to find out what the future holds in terms of the leg! And then it's all over and there's not really good news...There's been virtually no growth of the bones since the previous visit.
I'm quite sure you'll understand that I'm not jumping for joy right now. As a matter of fact, I'm actually feeling quite "down" while I'm thinking of this. What's probably adding to this is the fact that I'm scheduled to go back to hospital on Tuesday next week for another operation. I've really been hoping that the news would be a little better than this!
But...as the old saying goes...the show must go on! So, allow me a little time to have a "pity party" and I'll also move on to get over this.
One of these days I'll probably be talking of a "minor setback" on my journey to healing, or something like that. For now, though, I'm just talking about the fact that I have to go for another operation and I want to be a little childish and say: "Don't wanna!!!" There, see? I feel a little better already!
Just before I got to see the doc, I was in the x-ray department (for x-ray's, obviously!) and I am now reminded of a picture I saw on one of their walls. It was of a baby having a "fit" and below the picture it read: "Get angry...and then get over it and move on."
So...here's me being a little "angry" for the moment and the next time I write I'll probably be over it and move on.
OK, that's enough for now. I'll write again a little later.
I'm quite sure you'll understand that I'm not jumping for joy right now. As a matter of fact, I'm actually feeling quite "down" while I'm thinking of this. What's probably adding to this is the fact that I'm scheduled to go back to hospital on Tuesday next week for another operation. I've really been hoping that the news would be a little better than this!
But...as the old saying goes...the show must go on! So, allow me a little time to have a "pity party" and I'll also move on to get over this.
One of these days I'll probably be talking of a "minor setback" on my journey to healing, or something like that. For now, though, I'm just talking about the fact that I have to go for another operation and I want to be a little childish and say: "Don't wanna!!!" There, see? I feel a little better already!
Just before I got to see the doc, I was in the x-ray department (for x-ray's, obviously!) and I am now reminded of a picture I saw on one of their walls. It was of a baby having a "fit" and below the picture it read: "Get angry...and then get over it and move on."
So...here's me being a little "angry" for the moment and the next time I write I'll probably be over it and move on.
OK, that's enough for now. I'll write again a little later.
2008/08/16
Weekend Stuff
This weekend started off with a nice breakfast at a place called Cherry Berry in Centurion. It's the monthly Businessman's Breakfast and this one was held in Pretoria again. (Every second month it's in Pretoria and the alternate months it's held in Germiston.)
We heard this morning again about the fact that businessmen/people should not allow the negative sentiments of those around them undermine their own personal beliefs and values. Just because the people around us are negative, it doesn't mean we have to be!
Anyway...it was a nice get together and afterwards Francois (my taxi for the day, seeing as I still cannot drive myself around at the moment!) took me to see his new place and we had some coffee at the local Wimpy. I can see that Francois is excited about the building of his new place, because I could HEAR the whole building layout and see it before my eyes...even though there was very little on the actual land! :-)
Well, whether there was actually something on the land, or not, he was excited and so am I. I'm also looking forward to the fact that it promises to be a nice place to go visit every now and then!
Now I'm just sitting here at home and "chilling out" a bit, because it's the first weekend in a while where we haven't had something planned for Saturday OR Sunday and we can just hang around the house.
As far as the work situation goes I do have a couple of things to do, but those are all "admin" type jobs and can be done while just sitting in front of the old laptop's keyboard, so that's ok as well.
See you guys and girls a little later again...Hopefully with something meaningful to say and not just "waffling" on ............
We heard this morning again about the fact that businessmen/people should not allow the negative sentiments of those around them undermine their own personal beliefs and values. Just because the people around us are negative, it doesn't mean we have to be!
Anyway...it was a nice get together and afterwards Francois (my taxi for the day, seeing as I still cannot drive myself around at the moment!) took me to see his new place and we had some coffee at the local Wimpy. I can see that Francois is excited about the building of his new place, because I could HEAR the whole building layout and see it before my eyes...even though there was very little on the actual land! :-)
Well, whether there was actually something on the land, or not, he was excited and so am I. I'm also looking forward to the fact that it promises to be a nice place to go visit every now and then!
Now I'm just sitting here at home and "chilling out" a bit, because it's the first weekend in a while where we haven't had something planned for Saturday OR Sunday and we can just hang around the house.
As far as the work situation goes I do have a couple of things to do, but those are all "admin" type jobs and can be done while just sitting in front of the old laptop's keyboard, so that's ok as well.
See you guys and girls a little later again...Hopefully with something meaningful to say and not just "waffling" on ............
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