Sh!t Happens

Wish I had this one !!!

Cookie recently posted about everything going wrong in his house - his boiler, bike and shower. Well Mr Cook, this is nothihg, in the past few weeks I have had the following

Car Aircon has decided it no longer wants to work, I have been driving around looking out of the sode window so I don't crash as I can't see through the ice on the windscreen. luckily the garage said I can use the aircon as long as it doesn't fire up the 2nd fan (how the hell I can tell I don't know)

Fridge Freezer We have a integrated fridge freezer that decided to stop freezing, or fridging for that matter, luckily we have a fridge/freezer (from my old house)...

.. Fridge Freezer from my old house Has now decided it doesn't want to freeze either...

Finally
We have a lovely en-suite (shower, toilet and sink).. well we did have, today after a stressed call from SWMBO while I was at work. I can't write how she described the problem, but on googling, I found Saniflow systems are a bitch when they go wrong,
As most people (don't) know, saniflo systems take the "waste" through a "macerator" which grinds it down, that was until today where it decided to "give me a refund", it came up the toilet, in the shower tray and up through the sink.

I spent 3 hours cleaning the "stuff", removing tiles and fumigating the ensuite/bedroom we now have to wait till Tuesday where a nice man will come round charging £62 PER HALF HOUR to do whatever he needs to do. All I'm saying is he better get it done in half an hour, no cupp'o'tea, no chit-chat and no time wasting rubbing his chin.

I'm Home

I managed to escape at 8.00 last night and it's great to be home.

First thing I did was grab my little girl and give her a massive hug, (my daughter that is, not SWMBO).

My knee still hurts like a bitch although being at home makes me feel better, I have been referred to a Private Healthcare Company (Healthcare-at-Home) who will continue the IV antibiotic treatments 4 times a day, as well as check my blood pressure, temperature, CRP and anything else they need to monitor. This will continue for 3 weeks followed by 2 weeks of oral IV.

Its wierd having a nurse come to your house, they have a ton of kit with them which they use to turn your living room into a hospital room.

It's definately better than spending the next 3 weeks in a hospital, that's for sure. Also it means my hospital diary can now stop and I can get back to blogging more interesting things.

SWMBO is so happy to have me back*, she now has the priviledge of looking after me and Leah.


*Lie

Day 12 - Three (and Six) That's the magic number
Yes it is.....Its the magic number

.... Magic for me today anyway, as it's todays CRP result

It's kinda strange that I have started worrying about going home, will I be OK when I get back, will SWMBO be able to cope, will I catch or give anything to anyone,

and even stranger is that I'm going to miss the place I have called home for the past 2 weeks, It's where I've eaten, worked, slept, watched TV, learned to stand & walk, been operated on (5 times) for 13 days and I'm going to miss it.

Don't get me wrong, I can't wait to get out of here, but the staff have been absolutely fantastic to me, I didn't really meet any other patients, but am guessing from the work they do here (knee & hip replacements) that they really aren't in my age range.

Thanks to all at the Nuffield Hospital in Derby, but I'll be going home tomorrow, and hopefully will never see you again (in the capacity of requiring treatment that is).

Now I get to go home and be treated by the people I work with for the next 2 weeks - (don't ask !!!).

Now then, bring me my daughter, my X-Box, My Sky remote control, My broadband, and a Dominos Menu - (Need to wait for my car keys as I still can't drive)... I have some catching up to do.

Day 12 - Nothing to see Here
For the first time in what seems like years to me, but only a couple of weeks, I have had a very unevetful day,

No bloodtests, no operations, (not even a CRP test)
Of course I have my daily injection for DVT and my physio "Boot Camp" session, but apart from that, NOTHING HAPPENED.

I even managed to watch Match of the Day to see my beloved Derby get thrashed 4-0 by Tottenham - Pah !!!

The consultant again mentioned "Going home" as long as CRP drops tomorrow and Monday.

Now then, how do I get to watch the matches tomorrow...

• Blackburn v Arsenal
• Liverpool v Chelsea
• Man City v Man Utd

Day 9
WOW - 9 Days...

Good news - my CRP has dropped again to 123, I thought I'd be a lot happier than I was about this result...

I am starting to get very down now, I am beginning feel the world is just passing me by as I lie here, Leah had one of her first giggles yesterday and daddy missed it.

I also had some shooting/stabbing pains in my knee but was reassured by SWMBO that these are my wounds healing (muscles & nerves trying to re-attach etc)

I have decided I need to stay positive though, I am scheduled to have a physio session tomorrow which will also mark the second part of my "road to recovery" (the first being getting rid of the infection itself).

COME ON !!!!

Handyman Byrne

• Leah is now here
• The football season is over and we have been promoted
• I'm back at work (tomorrow)

Its time to focus on something to keep me busy....

As Bigfoot "Jamaica Feet" Cookie has blogged on numerous occasions, he's a dab hand at building and creating things, rather like a one-man A-Team

I have therefore decided to do 2 things.

1. Easy
Install a 2nd sky box in the bedroom, this way I can send SWMBO upstairs to watch crap soaps while I sit downstairs watching HD football, HD Discovery channel etc.
2. Not So Easy
Convert part of my garage to my office*

Rather than use up a bedroom for my office that could otherwise be used as a 3rd bedroom (by who I don't know), I had a Jack Daniels induced brainwave to convert part of the garage

My (our) garage was great when we moved in, so much room, it's now full of the crap SWMBO wouldn't let me bring in the house. I am going to sort it out and bin /sell/give away.

As said garage is 24ft Lond and 11 foot wide, I guess I could use the last 8 foot depth and 11 foot width as my office, add a door, bars across the window and Bobs yer uncle.

So there you go, the planning is straightforward, lets see how easy it is in practice. I haven't yet set a goal to have this done by - why fail.....

Links
Sky - 1 2 3
Building - 1 2 3 4 5

* When I say "Office" I also mean a Boys room, to include another sky box, LCD TV, Music System etc....