Consider the calcaneous!

March 7, 2012. Hubby loses his balance on a steep flight of stairs, while holding a crate of crockery.
To prevent himself from falling forward, he jumps......with said crate in hand.
Height of jump:  aproximately 3m.

He did a great job actually - only breaking 3 cups.  But alas, the same cannot be said for his heel.

Fast forward 1 day.

X-rays and CT scan later, we learn he has shattered his heel bone, (calcaneous), and will need reconstructive surgery.

Right then.......a minor(ish) setback, but we'll get the surgery out the way & give a few weeks, we'll be back on track.

If I had a buzzer, this is the point at which I'd probably buzz myself out........

Turns out a calcaneal fracture is one of the most debilitating fractures one can incur, and the surgery that follows is extremely intricate and complex.  In my man's case, this op beckoned the expertise of an orthopaedic specialist, and a professor.
Not so quick and easy after all.

So here's what I've learnt to date:

This surgery is a lot about getting all the angles and dimensions right when reconstructing the heel, since this is a huge weight bearing bone.
Most - if not all - left/right movement of the foot is affected.
Arthritis & heel pain is almost inevitable in the long term.
Trying to be a hero by walking too soon could result in broken plates & pins, sending you back to square one (and this is NOT an option!).
Recovery time is anything from 3-6 months - just to start walking.

And considering what I've learnt, my hubby's actually very fortunate, as many people suffer spinal fractures when fracturing their heel..

Its now 2 weeks since his surgery.  The pain is becoming more tolerable, (and I dont use the word "tolerable" lightly) - considering that for 2 days following surgery, morphine didn't even touch sides.

SO..........if you're thinking of doing any ridiculous jumping tricks any time soon, consider your calcaneous!!
And if reading this isn't enough, maybe the picture of his foot will make one tread a little more carefully.

Its not the unbreakable hardware you may think it is.

One for the road....NOT

I’m not an adventurer.  Give me the tried and tested, not the weird & unknown.  I’m the kind of person who goes by the rules so to speak.

Having said that, I can also proudly say that I have also never tried smoking, and never touched alcohol.  (ja, ja, I can hear all the party animals shouting “boooooorrrring!”)

I grew up in a Christian home, where neither my parents, or grandparents indulged in smoking and drinking. 

The only alcohol they ever kept in the house was the tiniest bottle of sherry for the yearly Christmas cake that was baked.

And I never had any urge to experiment with those things.

Today, smoking is frowned upon more, and is becoming more socially unacceptable.  So I have many people telling me how awesome it is that I don’t  smoke.

But why is it then, that when people hear I don’t drink, some make it their mission to get me to have one?

I seriously don’t get it!

The inevitable  “oh rubbish!! Before you go home tonight, you’re going to have a drink”, is getting very old now, and I’m tired of it.  And quite frankly, I don’t give a toss if you think I’m boring because of that either.

The smell of alcohol physically makes me retch.  Wine, beer – you name it.  The most alcohol I ever tasted, was when I accidentally had a liquer chocolate, and it was regurgitated onto the closest plate (in milliseconds!).

Alcohol  just doesn’t move my waters.  And for once I wish people would just respect who I am, and not try to tank me up forcefully.

I don’t drink. Full stop. Not champagne, not ciders, not NOTHING!  And I’m proud of it.

So to you who do…..let me say this.

I don’t have issues with you, and I don’t judge you.  Each one to his/her own.

All I’m asking is that you please don’t try force your will onto mine.  Just respect my boundaries, and the fact that I will not cross them.

That’s all.

Pipe dreams

I have a rather unusual childhood memory that stands out for me.   It may sound rather odd for a kid (specially a girl), but for me, it was so cool.

My dad was an organist in the Congregational church for many, many years.  Now I’m not talking about those dinky electronic organs.  I’m talking about the real thing, with pipes, pedals, push buttons and rows of keyboards.

YEAH!  Those mother’s that give you the goosies, everytime you hit a pedal, and reverberate through your whole body. 

THOSE kinds of organs.

Every so often, it was in need of a little tuning or the odd repair job.  And this is where I came in. 

You see, while he was doing his thing behind those big pipes, someone (a very eager “me”  in this case), had to sit behind the keyboards, and press the necessary foot pedals, or pull out the stops, as he would call out for me to do.

The tools he needed were not your run of the mill tools needed to tune an instrument.  His repair/tuning kit was more like a carpenters toolbox, mixed with some DIY tools.  Power drill, portable lamp, felt, carpet knife, cotton wool, even a chisel, and still many other weird and wonderful goodies essential for the job.  Oh, and let me not forget the portable intercom! (I’m talking about the ‘70s here!). 

The area behind the pipes was so far away from the keyboard, the intercom was the only way he could communicate with me to let me know what to do.

This was exciting!!! (Call me odd, as I was only about 9).  The space behind those pipes was tiny to say the least, and the job entailed my dad navigating narrow gangplanks between the pipes, and hoping beyond hope he wouldn’t lose his balance or fall against the pipes.  It was very dark and dusty back there, so I quite admired the fact that he always knew exactly which pipe needed the fiddling – and then still do his thing in the tiniest of spaces.

But for me, it was magical, and instilled this monstrous sense of power.  Putting your foot down on those pedals, and having this blast of foghorn proportions, pierce the quiet sanctity of the church.  It gave quite a rush, to say the least.  That vibration that resonates off every bone inside your body. WOWWWWWW!!!!!!

I loved every second of it.  Press this pedal, pull that stop.  It was exilirating!  Not to mention using an intercom! (did I say that already?!). And it would always be topped off with my dad playing a piece on it afterwards to see that everything was fixed/tuned correctly.

I have to say, this cemented my love for pipe organs.  There is something incredibly majestic and powerful that cannot be translated into words.  It HAS to be experienced – and at FULL VOLUME!!!!

Sadly today, it seems to be becoming more of a rarity as technology develops.  A pity really.  People wont know what they’re missing out on.  My father was wise enough to write a book (as yet unpublished), on organs and tuning and all the other complex “stuff” that goes with it.  And even though he’s in his 70’s, he’s working on getting it out there.  It’s a dying art, and knowledge like that cannot be lost. 

Awesome times indeed.

Thanks dad. 

Brain-storming

I would never have remotely thought that the likes of Vincent Van Gogh, Napoleon, Alfred Nobel, Joan of Arc, Alexander the Great,  Agatha Christie and Socrates  (to name but a few), shared something in common. But they did.

While many would consider them great figures, hero’s  or legends in their field, I don’t think many would’ve guessed that they also all suffered from epilepsy.

So I’m writing this, in the hope that some people may change their outlook on those who live with it.  And maybe, just maybe, remind others that people with epilepsy are not damaged goods, or kind of “retarded” in some freakish way.

Epilepsy is just a medical condition that is TOTALLY manageable with medication.  It is simply abnormal (I hate that word) electrical activity in the brain.  And while epilepsy may SOMETIMES be the resulting condition brought about by brain injury and/or brain damage from trauma, this doesn’t mean that everyone who sufferes from epilepsy IS brain damaged.

Mine came out of the blue one morning in 1993.  By the time I got to hospital I’d had another 3 seizures. 

The usual barrage of standard tests followed. The MRI, EEG, and lumbar puncture (which wasn’t nearly as painful as I’d heard). 

I was to stay flat on my back after having it done, but there was no way on this blue planet I was going to pee in a bedpan. So I got up.

BAAAAAAD idea.  I thought 20 tons of TNT had gone off in my head.  That’s what you get for trying to be clever.

But, after all the testing, all the results came back normal, except for the EEG. 

And there it was……a seismograph of my brain, showing this big peak in the middle of nowhere.  It was my “brain-quake” (as I like to call it), in black and white.  But this one, they said, was so small, I didn’t even know I’d had it.  They called that small? It looked like a magnitude 7 on the richter scale.

But here I am, 18 years later, and no worse for wear.   My small “brain-quakes” still show on the EEG, but they’re under control.  .  I’ve never had a seizure again, routinely take my meds, and now like to refer to myself as a natural at brainstorming.

So please, don’t stigmatise people with this.  We’re not retarded or freaks.

We’re normal.

In fact, going by history, we’re freakin GREAT, and  we have legends to prove it!

Simply Satine

Animals have issues too.

Example at hand, our cat.  Rescued at 3 weeks old, and adopted by us at 7 weeks.

                                                                 

A real chocolate box kitty, who needed a name…….a unique name. 

We eventually decided on Satine, after the main character in the movie Moulin Rouge, played by Nicole Kidman.

Exquisitely beautiful and with those same spell-binding eyes.

But we soon started noticing “things”. 

Her overwhelming one being – the pools and pools of drool.

A simple rub on the head has her zoning out into salivary oblivion.

As of this moment, she resembles something of an overgrown garden slug, that sleeps belly up - all day and all night. 
Comfort eater.

She's even developed a speed wobble when she runs.

Jumping is simply, NOT. She’ll stand with the telltale aim, bum-wiggle and focus, launch ……… and still miss.

No really, she’s THAT bad.

I cant lie when I say we have to look away and snigger. As any cat slave knows, you never, NEVER  look at a cat and laugh out loud.

So, we now have her on diet.
She’s our speshul girl who’s more than happy to lie on the lawn, eating air and watching the little bugs go by.

Her mental capabilities may be less than stellar, and ok, she’s a little 1’o clock half struck.

And while she’s not perhaps the Nicole Kidman of the feline world, she is simply….Satine.

Admit it, we're fabulous!

Call me a nauseating optimist if you want, but I like to always look at the brighter side of things.  There is nothing more depressing than people barking on about corrupt politicians, bad taxi driving, how everything is always everyone else’s fault and yada yada yada.

So I thought I’d pick just 10 of the lesser known things that make this country greater than what most people may realize.  They may be useless facts, but either way, there’s no denying we’re an awesome nation. 

You may know some of these, you  may not. But consider yourself trivially enriched once you’ve finished reading this – (and maybe, a little less pessimistic about the place we call home).

1.   South Africa is ranked nr 1 in the world for its floral kingdom.  (oh yeah!!!), and 70% of the cape floral kingdom is not found anywhere else in the world. (We don’t win that Chelsea flower show every year for nothing you know)

2.  South Africa is home to:

· The largest bird – ostrich · The largest land mammal – elephant · The tallest creature – giraffe · The largest reptile – leatherback turtle · The largest fish – whale shark · The heaviest flying bird – khori bustard · The largest antelope – eland · The fastest land mammal – cheetah · The smallest mammal – least dwarf shrew · Four of the five fastest land animals live in South Africa – the cheetah, wildebeest, lion, and Thomson's gazelle.

3.  South Africa has the longest wine route in the world, the R62 wine route. (Calm yourselves…..it’ll still be there next year)

4.  Ranked third best overall in the world, South Africa is one of only 12 countries supplying tap water that is fit to drink.

5.  South Africans are natural inventors, giving the world those breakwater dolosse and the automatic pool cleaner, the Kreepy Krauly.

6.  Cape Town has the 5th best blue sky in the world, according to the UK’s National Physical Laboratory. (who knew...)

7.  The only street in the world to house two Nobel Peace prizewinners is in Soweto. Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu both have houses on Vilakazi Street in Soweto.

8.  South Africa has 19,004 miles of railway track - 80% of Africa's rail infrastructure

9.  South Africa is the sole producer of the Mercedes Benz C Class, right-hand drive vehicles.

10.  The Southern African Large  Telescope (SALT) - built at Sutherland, is the largest single optical telescope in the southern hemisphere and amongt the largest 5 telescopes in the world.

OK, and just because its almost summer, I’ll mention this:  South Africa is one of the most generously endowed geographic solar hotspots in the world, soaking up just over half of the world's highest category of solar wattage per square yard of land.

I think that qualifies us to be a tad fantastic, and, entitles me to say....

Happy Blue Sky Day everyone!!!