Hi everyone, how is everyone doing in the heat? I’m quite liking it, my circulation is pretty poor so the warm air is making it easier to keep my hands and feet warm, nice to be able to sit outside comfortably and not be freezing every time the sun goes behind a cloud.
Last Wednesday I was sitting out in the sun writing the blog and I’m doing the same today before the cricket comes on, international and then the Blast T20, I’m waiting for the prices of the Yorkshire Vikings top to be reduced before getting it like I done last year, hopefully tomorrow this will happen as it’s the end of the groups games today and into the knockout stages, which they’re through to but the next games aren’t until the end of August. Save me a few pennies and anyone who knows me knows I rarely pay full price for anything, rarely… There is the odd exception.
Lost track a bit there, so I’m sitting out under a parasol in the sun again today like I was last Wednesday. I was on plenty of pain meds and taking paracetamol pretty much every four hours and codeine every four hours, some form of pain relief every two hours while I was awake pretty much but sticking to the every four hours and only eight tablets a day rules they have. This seemed to help with the pain a fair bit and certainly felt a lot more comfortable. On Thursday I didn’t take quite as many tablets as it had seemed to relax things around my back and abdomen.
On Wed and Thurs I didn’t get up to too much, I updated the Insyplex with a load of films, I’ve been watching a lot more of them lately than what I had been the rest of the year and now reaching the 100 mark for the year. I’m probably putting a bit more effort into the site than I should be and copying a synopsis from Wiki and image, rather than just making a list of films I’ve watched which is the whole purpose of it. And no one goes onto it which I don’t mind, again as it’s for my record and it’s just online so other people can see and maybe think “oh I haven’t seen that in a while I might watch that”. It also eats up a lot of space on the Pi unnecessarily so I may do a fair bit of culling and cutting it down.
I’m guessing once the Olympics comes on I’ll be glued to that like I was with the Euros, the only thing with the Olympics is that it’s during the night but I'm sure there will be some sort of catch up or replay of it somewhere for during the day.
Friday came along and hospital day, expecting a nice quick one today or at least hoping, I know I’ll have to go back to pick up tablets later. The counts and all that carry on were all good and/or going the right direction. The reports of the MRI I got two weeks ago came back and the x-ray from Tuesday; The MRI showed that I had three fractures on my vertebrae; T3, T4 and I'm not sure if it was a C or L, but one of them is also fractured. C is the top 7 vertebrae, then there are 12 Ts in the middle and 5 Ls at the bottom. This would explain the diaphragm pains and numbness.
Then the results of the x-ray which was after I threw out my back last week and the week after the MRI, it showed there were two more fractures, this time in T10 and T11. It’s nice to know what exactly is wrong but then at the same time it’s not very good, five fractures in my back and reading up on it it seems serious enough, they’re to be treated like any other bone break and can take three months or longer to heal up.
With the BMT it increases the risk of breaks and so forth but I also have osteoporosis which has made them incredibly weak as is quite evident that I can only guess I fractured the first three by coughing and the last batch by picking up a bag. The doctor has said that I’m not allowed to pick up anything and I’ve to move house in a month so that will be fun.
The doctor was going to increase my morphine but I'm not overly keen on that as I turn into a bit of a vegetable and morphine doesn’t really seem to be that great for this type of pain relief for me for some reason. Instead he has put me on co-codamol rather than taking the paracetamol and codeine, it seems to be working quite well but does make me drowsy and in turn a bit grumpy and short tempered when drowsy.
Saturday came along and nothing special, sat outside for a while and went in to watch a film and the cricket as the sun comes round and I’m no longer in the shade after about 3.30. I could move to another spot in the garden but was also getting a touch too warm. I came out a couple times later just to get a bit of fresh air but not out sitting in it, although it would have been a nice evening to do so, especially with the clear skies.
Saturday night I was lying on the sofa watching Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (film 98) and got quite comfortable and pain free so didn’t particularly want to move, eventually I did and went up to bed. While in bed I was on my back and I leant slightly to the left to tighten up my tablet holder which had come a bit loose and just this sharp pain on one of my ribs and then couldn’t move, then the tablet holder came off and fell on top of me. It has a cable wrapped round it so it’s not the most maneuverable object and I ended up just throwing it on the ground and trying to get up without triggering my rib any more, almost like a tortoise trying to get off its back.
I was eventually able to get sitting up at which point my back is always sore and now the rib on the left again at the diaphragm was extra sore with a sharp stinging pain, I got the tablet mount reattached properly and everything I needed sorted and lay down again, but I couldn't lie flat on my back like I have been able to and had to learn more on the right so the rib on the left wasn’t being touched or moved. I can feel exactly which one it is as it's quite tender to touch and when you do you feel the sharp pain. Thankfully I was still able to fall asleep.
Sunday morning and the usual struggle to get out of bed in regards to trying to not hurt myself, now with the added pain of leaning on the rib, I seem to have weakened it more as I believe it's the same one that is already damaged, one of the T3 or T4s. Pain meds seem to help well with the back, but the new rib pain doesn’t ease much, if at all, sitting how I am now there is a bit of pressure on the rib at the back and getting sore and uncomfortable so I will have to find a better way to sit.
I guess that’s everything for now, bit more overcast today which is nicer than the sun beating down. Hope you’re all using your suncream and the precautions etc, until next time.