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April 16, 2005

David Tennant Is The Tenth Doctor!

This is good news - now he just has to hag around for more than just the Christmas Special and the series that follows it...! Good luck David - at least you have an idea of what to expect being 'one of us'!

Posted by Badgers at 12:04 AM | Comments (2)

April 14, 2005

OP-ER-ATE!!!

So, here I am with my leg bandaged up like I have gout and a pair of crutches. It hurts, but I feel great. It looks like the operation was a success!

I woke up on Tuesday and after Mum and Dad had finally got the (old) car going he got me up to the hospital to get me booked in. I got them to leave or else they would have hung around and embarassed me more! I got through the admission process, though the look on the woman's face when I told her about the sprained ankle - I really thought it might be cancelled there and then... thankfully it wasn't, and I went up to the ward to get into the surgical gown as the operation was to be done about 9:30 or so.

Of course, there were complications - mainly due to the paperwork being filled out wrong by someone - so I had to give consent for the op again. That and the fact that the original consent was given before Chistmas when it was cancelled originally... The ward was cold, but at least as I shivered I got to meet the other people on the ward - all old guys with catheters and stuff... Eventually it was sorted out (after watching nurses strip the bed of one old guy twice as he wet his bed over and over, hearing a woman in a neighbouring ward going "oooohhhh!!!" a lot, and reading half of The Mummy Case by Elizabeth Peters!) despite the strong Indian accent of the woman who was to put me under in the theatre - I could barely understand her, and she hasd trouble with me, even when I used my 'work' voice that I use to talk to deaf old dears - and I was wheeled to the theatre (sadly no dead old women and Gelth, though!) and given the injection in my hand. I was given a painkiller that disolved under my tongue and then the next thing I knew I was waking up on the ward with the oxygen mask on!

I spent some time lying there and drifting in and out of sleep until I finally woke up properly - no doubt the doctor came to tell me what had happened, but I can't remember - but then again, neither could anyone on the ward! I finished my book and got down to taking a look at the bandages on my foot when I could finaly move. Tea came and went and I got some sleep, though between the staff laughing and dealing with the old woman going "ooooohhhh!" all night and the old guy across the way muttering in his sleep, I didn't get that much. I was still under painkillers at the time, so I didn't really feel much pain until I started to get up on the side of the bed to pee in a bottle! Even then it was not a lot of pain, so I was happy. Or was it the painkillers?

Morning came about 6:00am when the lights came on and the 'happy trolley' full of pills came round again! Breakfast, etc. followed quickly and soon the doctor turned up - he told me what had happened after being amazed the surgeon hadn't (as far as I know). I was to be told later it wasn't the whole story, though... Basically, the bone had been ground away so it wasn't there any more, and the cartlidge in the ankle wasn't as bad as it had appeared on the x-ray and scan. The had checked how my ankle moved and were happy with it. Next the physiotherapist (not Catherine, sadly!) came round to fit me with my padded sandle-thing so I could walk around with crutches. I was mobile! I could walk, albeit with a limp and a pair of crutches, but I could walk to the loo!

Of course, it took from 9:30 till nearly 3:00 to actually get my paperwork done so I could get the needle out of my hand and go home! I got a lift with the relative of one of the guys on the ward for ease - dad has just got a nice second-hand Vauxhall Omega and I don't trust him to drive it yet - I'll mention this a little later - so I arrived home. I got upstrairs. And that was pretty much it. Except that my parents had been told that there had been a blockage - a clot, in fact - that hat had caused a problem in the operation and they had to be sure that I was okay and it hadn't reached my heart, hence my late release.

So I might not have been here now. Wish they had told me that.

Still, I'm home, and today I'm catching up on the internet and watching a little TV, so the comic (DT) will definitely appear tomorrow afternoon/evening! I have been able to potter around a bit - I can walk short distances (say, from here to the loo!) with one stick, but two is needed any further than that!, and my ankle is aching, but not all out hurting. I can weight bare, but not much - it feels week and a little tight. It can move though - it hurts (I hope I didn't do anything bad!) but I can move my leg forward with my heel on the floor. I couldn't do that before. In a couple of weeks I go back and the bandages come off - hopefully I should be able to get back to some kind of normality when it comes to walking/running/doings things soon after! An ankle that actually moves like it should! Who'd have thunk it?

So that's me today, then. Dad, on the other hand... well the car looks great from what I got to see of it, but unfortualtely there is a problem with the alarm - it keeps going off... a bit like the woman going "oooohhh!!!!" in the hospital. Hopefully it can be sorted out by the garage, as it is a very nice car otherwise.

Ah well - I can't be bothered to do any more for now - got to nip over to Outpost Gallifrey - see ya!

Posted by Badgers at 03:18 PM | Comments (2)

April 11, 2005

Just Checking In (Before I Check Out)

It's been a while since my last entry (a whole month in fact) but I did mention I wouldn't be updating here that much for a while! Quite a lot has happened in the last few weeks, but I won't bore you with all of it - just some important stuff!

The big thing is, of course, my ankle operation - it happens tomorrow unless they change their mind at the last minute! Hopefully, after a week or two of pain (and painkillers) I'll be able to move my ankle properly and walk without a limp not too long after! Of course, three weeks ago I stubled an sprained my ankle. It hurt. Then I was going upstairs and the dogs ran into my knees tipping me downstrairs and knocking my tea (tuna sandwiches) all over the place, leaving me with another strained ankle and a sprained wrist. The wrist got better, but the ankle ached, though it was going away. Then, last Saturday, I stand up, my leg locks with an almighty crack and I can't walk. I can bately hobble! Thankfully my ankle unlocked (with another click!) and I could walk on it even though Iwas in immense pain... and thus is has been all this week, though I have had to drive and walk on it all the time so that I could get through all the work I could in my last week before my sick leave. None of this helped, so I just have to hope that tomorrow's op isn't cancelled because I have a sprained ankle...

You know, to tell the truth, I'll miss having a bad ankle. I've had it for over 12 years (probably longer) now, and the little cracks, it's ability to lock up or give way without notice, and the endless aches and pains have been a kind of comfort to me. Not that I want to have it remain like this (remember how the operation was due to happen at Christmas and I was happy for it to go ahead?) - I can't wait to be able to use an exercise bike and be able to walk afterwards, to be able to take long walks, to - OMFG! - to jog! It should be liberting once I get off the cruthces and away from physotherapy (though I am looking forward to Catherine, if she is still there!). One thing it will mean is that I will be able to get my weight off. To exercise. To drive, walk, run, climb, jump, and stuff. I can't wait!

Another big thing over the past month has been, of course, Doctor Who. It's back, and back with a vengence! Sure, it only seems to have drawn a million or so viewers from Ant & Dec, but it also drew millions back to tv, partly because it is just the thing to watch before going out for a night out! Over ten million viewers for episode 1, a drop to 7.5 million for episode 2 (on the first nice evening of the yyear) and then a rise again to 8.5 for the third episode. Even Chris Eccleston quitting hasn't stopped it! A second series, a Christmas special and a regeneration into (probably) David Tennant too - it's a good time to be a Doctor Who fan! Shame about Enterprise, though - I think it deserved the chance to end on a firth series - and not in the way it does in the final episode of this series. Unlike Andromeda (post season 2), you will be missed!

Nick of course, has had problems with his PC. Normally a BIOS update is a good thing, and goes smoothly. Not so for Nick. One dead mobo later, and he finally has a new case with new stuff inside it - a monster video card (scoring around 9000 in 3DMark '05!), an Athlon 64 processor, lights, the works! Overall, not a bad system - he's even decided to get rid of some of his old machines that only work in DOS, etc... He even had a fast internet connectionnow due to the NTL broadband upgrades... shame I won't go up to 3mb until later this year...

Andrew has buggered off to the US to be with friends for a few weeks after returning to the fold for a couple of weeks... hope he's been sending people to my websites! He should be back next week (though I probably won't be there).

James? He's around somewhere - he went to Bowlers on Saturday with Nick - he should be around somewhere (expect an entry soon after I make mine!)...

Comic-wise I relaunched I.T. and then it went into hiatus again due to my ankle and my own computer problems (a reformat after it went into a reboot loop:< !) and the pain from my ankle... That will get back on track while I'm off, thankfully. I also launched Dark Tidings properly, though today's strip is late due to having to colour and scan it again! Sigh - it's a good thing I'm off work for a while...

Ah, work. Thankfully I don't have to think about it for about a month - if not longer. My message for emails while i'm off is a nice way of saying 'Bog off! Go Away! I don't want to bloody know!'...

Ah well - that's me sorted then - if all goes well and I don't die under the knife I'll have another entry in the nearish future... see you then!

Posted by Badgers at 12:53 PM | Comments (43)