Off with the cast
Jun. 14th, 2009 06:54 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
skyringLife at The Governor's Mansion is even more hectic than usual. We're getting the ensuite shower and vanity replaced, and workers are in at all hours. Saturday and they are working!
The shower was, frankly, shameful. Tiles falling off, the aluminium framing dull, the sliding door broken. Still usable, but not a great shower experience. And the bench holding the basin has seen better days. We've got a two metre long vanity at one end of the ensuite - plenty of storage and "work" space, even for two of us at once - but the benchtop is worn and stained here and there.
Bench is being replaced by a new solid slab of wood, we're replacing the integrated basin and taps, and putting new tiles in for splashback.
Total new shower, including floor and wall tiles.
A lot of disruption, especially to a nightshift worker like me. But it will be over in a week or so.
Wednesday, and the long-awaited uncasting. My daughter dropped me at the hospital and I found the fracture clinic. I was a little early for my 1315 appointment, and the clinic was running a little late, so there was half an hour's waiting before anybody called me.
And then everybody wanted a piece of me. I'd been identified for an osteoporosis (sp?) check, by virtue of being over forty and the lucky recipient of a recent break. So this young lady sat down with me, explained the program and the tests required and while she was in midflight, I was called into the plaster room. That was interesting, with forms spread out before me for signing, and three or four nurses trying and failing to get a blood sample.
And then the nurse aimed a circular saw at me. She slid a plastic strip under the cast first, and the saw followed the line of the strip, but if she even thought about beginning to sneeze, I was poised and ready to suddenly be in a distant part of the hospital complex, and no it wasn't the thought of swine flu that was bothering me.
To be fair, it was more a vibrating cutter than a circular saw, but it sliced through the tough fibreglass with ridiculous ease, and I didn't think my tender pink skin would prove to me much obstacle.
One cut each side, no sneezes despite the fibreglass fragments spurting out, and with a final snip of the underwrappings, my arm breathed free once again!
A sorry sight - swollen here and there, shrunken in the middle, sore and stiff and covered with dry skin. The nurse gave me a couple of rubs with some soapy towels, and then I was cast out to await physio.
What with one thing and another, the time had been eaten up, and now my day driver was parked outside on the back of the hospital rank, ready to pick me up so I could begin my shift. Looking at the number of folk awaiting physio attention, and the glacial rate of progress, I wasn't sure I'd finish here before three. Or four, for that matter. My day driver didn't help by indicating that he was having to beat off passengers with a stick.
I waited, he waited, the room full of wobbly patients slooooowly emptied on one side and filled on the other. I remembered to grab a medical certificate, and the doctor gave me another week off. Considering I was planning to work a shift just as soon as I got out, this gave me a bit of thought.
I could take the week, put my feet up, and enjoy my upcoming Queensland trip knowing I'd be geting paid for it. But this would be selling out the cab owner. And my codriver. And me.
I decided to see how I went on this shift. Several hours of driving and I'd know if I was going to be right. If I felt too knocked around, I might take that extra time off.
Finally, getting on towards four o'clock and with my estimation of my codriver reaching sainthood levels, I was called in by a young physiotherapist. I pulled up my sleeve, and suddenly there was a blizzard of dandruff. Five weeks of naturally-shed skin flakes with nowhere to go under the cast were free and off to explore the world.
Brushing this off, the therapist led me through my range of movement, and specified some exercises. Some of my arm muscles and tendons had been taking a holiday and needed to be stretched back into normalcy.
And then I was out, heading off to the taxi rank, almost running through the hospital. So good to see my co-driver. It's been a long time, and I've been missing my twice daily chats with him.
He drove me back to the workshop, handed over the cab and I was driving again.
The shower was, frankly, shameful. Tiles falling off, the aluminium framing dull, the sliding door broken. Still usable, but not a great shower experience. And the bench holding the basin has seen better days. We've got a two metre long vanity at one end of the ensuite - plenty of storage and "work" space, even for two of us at once - but the benchtop is worn and stained here and there.
Bench is being replaced by a new solid slab of wood, we're replacing the integrated basin and taps, and putting new tiles in for splashback.
Total new shower, including floor and wall tiles.
A lot of disruption, especially to a nightshift worker like me. But it will be over in a week or so.
Wednesday, and the long-awaited uncasting. My daughter dropped me at the hospital and I found the fracture clinic. I was a little early for my 1315 appointment, and the clinic was running a little late, so there was half an hour's waiting before anybody called me.
And then everybody wanted a piece of me. I'd been identified for an osteoporosis (sp?) check, by virtue of being over forty and the lucky recipient of a recent break. So this young lady sat down with me, explained the program and the tests required and while she was in midflight, I was called into the plaster room. That was interesting, with forms spread out before me for signing, and three or four nurses trying and failing to get a blood sample.
And then the nurse aimed a circular saw at me. She slid a plastic strip under the cast first, and the saw followed the line of the strip, but if she even thought about beginning to sneeze, I was poised and ready to suddenly be in a distant part of the hospital complex, and no it wasn't the thought of swine flu that was bothering me.
To be fair, it was more a vibrating cutter than a circular saw, but it sliced through the tough fibreglass with ridiculous ease, and I didn't think my tender pink skin would prove to me much obstacle.
One cut each side, no sneezes despite the fibreglass fragments spurting out, and with a final snip of the underwrappings, my arm breathed free once again!
A sorry sight - swollen here and there, shrunken in the middle, sore and stiff and covered with dry skin. The nurse gave me a couple of rubs with some soapy towels, and then I was cast out to await physio.
What with one thing and another, the time had been eaten up, and now my day driver was parked outside on the back of the hospital rank, ready to pick me up so I could begin my shift. Looking at the number of folk awaiting physio attention, and the glacial rate of progress, I wasn't sure I'd finish here before three. Or four, for that matter. My day driver didn't help by indicating that he was having to beat off passengers with a stick.
I waited, he waited, the room full of wobbly patients slooooowly emptied on one side and filled on the other. I remembered to grab a medical certificate, and the doctor gave me another week off. Considering I was planning to work a shift just as soon as I got out, this gave me a bit of thought.
I could take the week, put my feet up, and enjoy my upcoming Queensland trip knowing I'd be geting paid for it. But this would be selling out the cab owner. And my codriver. And me.
I decided to see how I went on this shift. Several hours of driving and I'd know if I was going to be right. If I felt too knocked around, I might take that extra time off.
Finally, getting on towards four o'clock and with my estimation of my codriver reaching sainthood levels, I was called in by a young physiotherapist. I pulled up my sleeve, and suddenly there was a blizzard of dandruff. Five weeks of naturally-shed skin flakes with nowhere to go under the cast were free and off to explore the world.
Brushing this off, the therapist led me through my range of movement, and specified some exercises. Some of my arm muscles and tendons had been taking a holiday and needed to be stretched back into normalcy.
And then I was out, heading off to the taxi rank, almost running through the hospital. So good to see my co-driver. It's been a long time, and I've been missing my twice daily chats with him.
He drove me back to the workshop, handed over the cab and I was driving again.
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Date: 2009-06-15 08:19 am (UTC)