Walkies II

Debbie and Alfie
Originally uploaded by Menage a Moi.

A quiet weekend draws to a close. A nice visit from friend D today - over from the States. We took Alfie out for another walk - he must have thought all his Christmases had come at once! Nice to be out in the fresh air - but it does still take it out of me. ( You op wasn't even two weeks ago... - ed)

I'm going to start work again ( from home ) tomorrow - see how I get on. There's the option of a day trip to Birmingham on Wednesday but I'll see how I'm doing before committing to that.

Walkies

Although things are much better now I've had the stitches out, it's still quite sore on the wound - not least of all because I've got a huge great bl**dy bruise there still!

Picked Alfie up rom the kennels this morning - he was pleased to see me but I could tell I'd left him too long. Took ages for him to calm down. But we went for our ( and my ) first long walk for two weeks this afternoon. I took it slowly and it was great to be out in the sunshine, but I was very tired when I got back.

Taking it easy for the rest of the day.

Stitchless!

Ah - that's better - all the staples out now. Feels a lot easier. It was quite painful though - the nurse kept trying to give me breaks and I just wanted her to get on with it!

I was going to pick up Alfie from the kennnels today but I think I'll get used to my stitchless state first ( maybe try a walk on my own this afternoon) and pick him up in the morning. ( It's less him pulling on the lead that I'm worried about, than him jumping up.)

Sunny day here.

Difficile

It's suddenly not difficult to realise why I was given so many antibiotics when I left hospital....

The Road to Recovery

For the first time since my op just over a week ago, I woke up ( yes - woke up - that means sleep!) feeling better. The ache has decreased substantially and the only real soreness is from the stitches pulling - and they'll be gone in two days.

But I know me - this is the time to really take it easy....

One other thing - I subscribe to quite a few blogs and other feeds ( all hail Google Reader!) but I've cut down on the number of cancer-related ones for obvious reasons. One of the ones I've kept on is Leroy Sievers. He posted this yesterday. It's absolutely spot on and just how I feel.

Music

Still not feeling great - there's less soreness maybe from the actually wound but I'm still not getting much sleep and when I do, I have horrible nightmares. As I said to a friend earlier, I think I'm just processing all my worries about this op and how I'll be in the future.

That said, I'm taking it easy during the day - reading and a bit of WOW ( Level 16 now!) - oh, and music. Thank goodness for music.

Start of the week

I hope that some of you might be able come along and see the exhibition.

I also hoped to get to Newcastle at the weekend to see my part of the quivr quilt but it was just too much. Looks like it all went well... Want to try again to get there myself later in the week if I can.

So a quiet weekend as you might expect - J came over and we did geeky stuff in the afternoon and watched the beginning of two films before my antibiotics kicked in and I had to go to bed. ( No -one can quite tell me what I've been given them for but they make me feel cr*p. Another bad night last night - but I took the last one this morning thanks goodness.)

On Sunday the nurse came over. She took the dressing off and checked things - all is fine so no more dressing needed. Stitches out on Friday.

And so it's Monday morning and I'm still a bit more sore than I thought I'd be. Amazing to me that it's less than week since my op - it feels like longer (and to your readers - ed) .This week coming am going to try and take it easy - no work for a few days more yet - but I'll ring them later today to make contact.

Surf & Turf - an unashamed plug...

Surf & Turf
Exhibition of paintings, prints and photography inspired by coast & garden
Sandra Haney & Simon James
6-19 May 2007
Durham Botanic Garden
South Road Durham

Good Morning!

Good Morning!
Originally uploaded by Menage a Moi.

A fairly good night's sleep - but I'm still very sore indeed. Walking around and sitting are still quite difficult. The hospital THINK that a District Nurse is coming to check my dressings today but no-one seemed quite sure...

For me, another quiet day - and er... a shave....

Home

Well - it's definitely nice to be home but I'm still d*mn sore from the op. ( It is only two days since you had it - ed)

I've spent the day quietly at home - sitting is quite painful so I've been lying down and napping most of the time. Going to cook some tea now - most things in the freezer were still solid so I think the house electricity only went off yesterday...

Then an early night.

More again soon.

Sore

i feel llike I've been 10 rounds in the ring! But slept well. Hopefully they'll let me eat and drink properly today! Just had sips of water so far. Thanks for all your good wishes.
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Off to Hospital

Drank a bit too much last night :(( - I think it's probably allowed occasionally...

I'm off to hospital now. They rang a while ago and there's space on the list for me this afternoon - so I get the op a day earlier! Should mean I'm out earlier eh?

I hope just to be in for a few days. In any case, I'll Twitter (even if I can't blog - and who knows, that might be possible too…) so you'll be able to see my latest news in the "at present" box in the left sidebar.

Actually - I'll probably Twittter very shortly...

See you

xx

Thanks

Battles to Fight

I thought I'd inroduce you to Menage - my Level 14 Gnome Mage in World of Warcraft. Spot the likeness?

I was talking about playing WOW in my counselling session on Friday. J my counsellor very sensibly pointed out that it's all about battles and strategy - of course I'd be interested in it at the moment! You know, I hadn't even thought of that - but it makes perfect sense. ( And provides you with some much-needed justification - ed)

A quiet day at home ( and on the battlefield ) - Alfie and I went for a walk this afternoon in the sunshine and friends and family called to wish me well for tomorrow.

I'll blog again tomorrow before I go into hospital - I have to ring at lunchtime just to check there's a bed for me.

In the meantime, I've got a nice bit of salmon cooking and I may have a little go at Level 15...

The Inconstant Gardener

For weeks, I've been looking out at my increasingly weedful back yard ( my pride and joy) and feeling guilty about not getting out there and doing something about it. And also feeling guilty that I might be using my hernia as an excuse - after all, it rarely hurts, just aches a bit...

So today, Alfie and I went out there in the sunshine and did some basic weeding - me hoeing and him, scrabbling.

Twenty minutes into it I had to stop ( should have stopped after ten really) as I had the most awful back and stomach ache. It seems to have eased now.

Daft S*d - you may think ( A theme for this week I reckon...) - but I had to try. And the garden does look better.

Ah well - who's up for a hoeing party? ( A Hoe Down? ed )

Taking it easy now - a bit of gentle Warcraft I think....

Grumpy

It's been a long grumpy day.

I can just feel my interest in work slipping away as the op approaches - and of course, Sod's Law says that that's in direct inverse proportion to the urgency and importance of the things that I need to get done before the end of the week. If it was Christmas or a holiday next week, it would be fine - I'd still have all this to deal with but also something nicer to look forward to than er... bedpans.

(Stomps off to take the dog for a walk in the evening sunshine...)

On Reflection

My day in Brum is about to begin. It's warm and sunny - not a good day to be in the office wearing a suit and tie! Back home tonight.

So far, this trip has been fine - the inevitable urgent-thing-no-one-told-me-about to get sorted - but I think that goes with the job, and I'm actually quite good in those situations.

But the bagdrag to the station yesterday and to the hotel last night and in this morning has made me realise that once I've had the hernia op, none of it will be possible for a few weeks. I foolishly imagined that I would be back at work a week after the op - just having " to be a bit careful". Silly.

I'm now telling people to expect me to be off for at least a fortnight. I need to recover properly this time - and certainly after the reconnection, I know I went back too soon.

ho hum - have I just had an attack of Sense? It'll never last...

Surf and Turf

The Expedition
Originally uploaded by Menage a Moi.

So an Easter Weekend draws to a close. Quite a nice one really - the weather was good, I did the jobs I wanted to do - saw the friends I wanted to see.

( Played the online games you wanted to play - ed.

Look - I know you'll think I've gone mad/reclusive/ubergeek but I love playing it! Relaxing and taxing - what more do you want from a hobby eh? In spite of the inherent dangers I achieved Level 12 this weekend...

Only another 48 levels to go then - ed)

I went over to see S on Saturday morning. She's kindly invited me to take some space for a few of my photos at an upcoming exhibition that she's got and so we met to plan it a bit more. The working title is "Surf and Turf."

Sunday I went over to see J and we spent most of the afternoon with her daughter D taking photos for her Final Portfolio. Great fun - and as you can see, we took the expeditionary dog with us. ( Sadly he had to go back to the kennels for a couple more days this afternoon as I'm off to Birmingham again tomorrow. )

In the evening, a Big Roast Lamb Dinner and too much Easter chocolate. ( Oh and wine...)

Lots of food eh? Maybe I should take warning?

But, that aside, I've been OK - the hernia is a bit irritating and I still have a sore neck but that's about it. The train at 6.30 am tomorrow will be the test of (that and) anything else...

Who wears the trousers?

Back home after three days away.

I hit a kind of brick wall when I got in last night. Just absolutely exhausted. The hernia had/has grown a bit. I had/have a sore neck, I couldn't think straight and ( of course) couldn't sleep either...

Today was purposefully very slow. Workwise, I did what I had to do and no more.

Later I picked Alfie up from the kennels after nearly three weeks in there. He berated me loudly in the car, went apesh*t around the house, slept solidly for two hours and now it's like he's never been away. All he really wants is a person.

And before that, I had my pre-op Hospital Assessment. It was fine - after all, I've done this twice before in the last year or so. The only bad news is that I've put on a stone since November. (Well, actuallly, it's bad news from my POV - the hospital are pleased. But they don't have to buy the new trousers…. ) Nurse Mel thinks I'll be in for three or four days.

Damien Rice

Damien Rice
Originally uploaded by Menage a Moi.

A great weekend up in Edinburgh seeing Damien Rice and a brilliant support set from Fionn Regan.. All those talented young men!

Really nice to spend time with J . We always have a class time in Edinburgh.

Back home now and getting ready for an early start to London and Birmingham for the next three days : ((