drumset 1 - fibula 0

Day 39

2003-09-16T02:57:00.000-04:00

~yawn~

Soooo tired but must update blob first (you really have to read that in a monotone zombie voice...or Shatner...Shatner works too).

~yawn~

Well it's late and I'm tired, I'm yawning so much my eyes are all watery so everything on the screen is all blurry.They say yawning came about as a signal to the herd that it was cool to crash out, there wasn't any danger around, no one was gonna eat you while you were sleeping....that kinda thing....I think it's the bodies way of telling geeks like me to go to freakin' bed....either way I'm feeling pretty confident that there's no imminent danger and I'm gonna crash shortly so I guess the theory is sound.

~yawn~

Anyway...tomorrow is the big day...erm...I guess TODAY is the big day...wahoo!! In a mere 10 hours from now I will be being irradiated again for the umpteen time in 39 days. Hopefully this near lethal dose of radiation (oh don't worry, with much due diligence they ask me if I'm pregnant and toss a lead apron haphazardly over my right thigh) will show the good doctor that my awesome calcium healing powers of doom have prevailed and I can start practicing this walking deal. (I actually do have calcium healing powers of doom, I once grew a 6th lumbar vertebrae out of nowhere and apparently my grandfather grew back a rib that was removed...kinda weird in a not shabby way huh!). I've probably mentioned this earlier somewhere but I AM SICK OF NOT WALKING so a new non-bootish device would rock my world for sure.

~yawn~

Oh...sorry, didn't mean to use my outside voice...what am I thinking...oh yeah I'm not...I've been awake for far longer then I should. None of this blurriness makes sense anymore.

~yawn~

Night Night

Day 35

2003-09-12T19:51:00.000-04:00

Ugh....H U N G O V E R. Last night was the memorial for Kasha, an awesome awesome dog that took leave of me (I was dogsitting) July 22nd and vanished off this mortal coil. Kasha was very much into hanging out with us drunk humans at the firepit so it was only logical that her memorial included us drunk humans hanging out at the firepit...I did my part and got myself drunked up. I can remember quite clearly until 9pm and then I have 15 second snapshots of each hour after that...yeah yeah yeah drinking is evil, whatever...I'm sure by someone's definition I'm an alcoholic so let me clear the air by saying right now that I have no problem with being alcoholic, if that upsets you, brings up memories of your uncles 3rd cousin's sister's stepmom's boyfriend that was an alcoholic or in anyway offends you then please hold down the ALT key and press F4....

...go ahead I'll wait....

ok, now that the morality police have left I'll continue. The party was good, nice send off for Kasha although she won't be forgotten that easily. The fibula held up well and I was pleased to see I was in one piece in the morning (although I felt like I was in several pieces) but let me tell you...I'm SICK of this broken leg thing. Everyday I think I'm more sick of it and then the next day comes and it's even worse. After I get over my little hissy fit about it all I then I remember that the next x-ray is this Tuesday and, with any luck, I'll be able to boot this %^$ing boot...actually I'm not going to boot the boot, there have been several reservations made for the boot as a few people have seen the lucrative possibility of such a boot after my little vip concert deal! I think the first non-fibula related use of the boot is scheduled for the release of Return of the King this December 17th...the boot will be on loan to a friend along with crutches and possibly accompanied by an x-ray or two (how the hell are they gonna know it's not his!)...personally I would rather watch the movie taped to the ceiling with pins being jabbed in my eye then ever wear the boot again but I guess the boot hatred will quell the further away I get from it.

Well, I'm still hungover and am, by and large, fairly stupid today so I think I'll indulge my stupidity and go watch TV...mindless TV.

Day 33

2003-09-10T01:57:00.000-04:00

Well I guess a quick update is overdue...I've been very busy with Counterstrike you know! Actually I've been very busy in general (remember we talked about cripple people being busy) and have not been overly whimsical or whatever the fuck you call whatever the hell out I'm talking about. I'm generally pissed off about the whole thing, I don't know why but the arbitary and invisible force field known as '1 month' has set off some primal switch and I just wanna walk.

Anyway, the fibula is doing well. There is little to no pain although I still occasionally have the odd bit of surprise night time pain but very very few and far in between really. The frustrating part right now is exactly what the (competent) doctor said, I am totally at the point where I want to start walking on it and it's frustrating the hell out of me. I'm actually heeding his recommendations (I'm not screwing around with this) so am forcing myself not to try it but I very strongly feel I could walk on it if I tried and I very much have strong inclinations to boot the boot and free my fibula but the good doctor was VERY direct and to the point and pretty much exactly described how I'm feeling about the whole thing (I believe he called it being 'cavalier') so I'm going nuts but not walking on it. This is like quitting smoking, it's something I REALLY REALLY want to to do but I know I shouldn't so I'm not. I just can't wait for the next x-ray.

ARGGGGGGG...

Actually ARGGGGGGGG is a good segway into this last quick little stupid tidbit. It's actually the reason I thought to update my blob, I figured 'hey, if I'm looking at something this stupid and completely unrelated to anything important in my life then the least I could do before going to bed is update my freakin' blob'...so here I am. HERE IS the stupid thing I was looking at. Ok, off hand, how many things can you find wrong with the fact that I was looking at a Pirate Sodomy book at approx 1:15am on a Wednesday morning? I really need to get a life.

But since we're talking about it...I don't know, something about the whole thing just cracks me up, the Amazon suggested 'Perfect Partner' book, "Buy Sodomy and the Pirate Tradition: English Sea Rovers in the... " and the 'Customers who bought this item also bought:' is pretty interesting as well but the comments...well the comments are great!

A bit dry and overwordy at times, but definitely worth a read
-Captain.Roberts from Las Vegas, NV

Big deal!! We all knew that pirates sleep 3 to a rack!!
-rlarvick from Sioux City, IA

This is a very good book about pirates and their lifestyles and I would recommend it to anyone.
-scubame from Burel Phillips - Tacoma, WA

Cats who are abandoned are known as feral cats and are not, as a rule, very sociable.
-SKelly5500, Philadelphia, PA

Day 29

2003-09-07T12:40:00.000-04:00

[NOTE: Even though this is dated September 7th it was actually written Sept 6th so as far as you're all concerned, this was Day 29 of my fibular reduced life]

This is blob-in-absentia as it appears my blob is down at the moment so I'm currently utilizing the multi-functional notepad.exe. Thanks to Robert and the other Robert and everyone else for letting me know that the blob is uncoperative and giving 'Page Cannot be Displayed' to people; when I logged into it I got a whack of interesting java errors...actually they're not very interesting errors at all to be honest, pretty repeative and boring really. I emailed the blob people and got an auto-response that I'm still not sure is offenseive or nice

We wanted to let you know that we've received your support request. While we give priority to paying users, we are making every effort to respond quickly to all issues we receive.

Should I feel warm n' fuzzy cause they're letting me know their machine received my email and they're making every effort to respond quickly or should I feel offended that I'm not given priority because I'm not a paying user....meh, it's a nice day and I'm feeling pretty caffeniated and good moodish so I'll stick with the warm n' fuzzy feeling.

To be honest I'v actually gotten quite attached to this little blog phenomena (although I still don't like the word blog) and it appears there are quite a few of you with even less to do then me who are reading this pretty regularly so I'll probably move my little blob over to my own server shortly to avoid any of these little issues....god forbid Robert can't get his daily fix of inane chatter from fibula girl! I'm also starting to look past my fibular issues and am beginning to think of days that including walking and skipping and jumping and smashing boot casts and burning crutches and all that kind of stuff. With any luck I'll need a new blob name and URL soon (accepting suggestions) as once fibula girl walks, fibula girl dies and is reborn as something non-fibula related but fear not, I'll still keep the stupid and useless chatter format you've all grown to love.

Anyway, enough with the flights of fancy (always wanted to say that) and on with the fibula updates. The fibula is doing good although the body attached to the fibula was pretty pissed off last night. I was formulating a post for all you fibbies when my PC decided to lash out at me in the form of freezing everything and emitting a WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
(wow got some sweet-ass formating on the CLAPST noise...for all you non-geeks, that's called a blogspot 'bug') noise that was quite unenjoyable...it does this every once in a while and a long time ago I decided to save myself some time and frustration and just call it 'crazy-loud-annoying-pc-screaming-thing' or CLAPST for short. So first I had the CLAPST happen but luckily I regularly save documents in progress (mostly due to CLAPST) so was no big loss, just annoying. Once I was back up and running I continued writing, (and I'll tell you right now...it was fantabulous...you have never seen writing like this before, it was the stuff the word legend is all about, it would have brought about world peace and unbroken fibulas), and was just about finished when Internet Explorer decided it was done for the night and closed down...just because...well because it wanted to annoy me. After swearing at Internet Explorer I reopened it to find...well I found nothing, apparently some sort of quantam continuance field was breached when Internet Explorer closed down so all my wonderful words were sucked out to nowhere. Scientists are trying to figure out what dark matter is...I'll tell you what dark matter is...it's millions of lost fragments of bloated Microsoft data apps....we need to defrag the universe I tell ya.

Hmm...I appear to have gone off track...I'm getting distracted...writing in this notepad thing is confusing, my idiot neighbour is again ensuring our grass is not more then .006mm tall (note to everyone, if you hate your spouse so much that you spend 4 days week mowing...get a divorce), there are %$%%ing flies attempting to enter my eyes (Why can't the flies be happy with the other 3995 sq feet of the house? Why must they invade my personal space?) and I've just lost hold of the small amount of concentration I had so I think I will end this blob-in-absentia.

Ps - I'm hungry

Day 27

2003-09-04T00:29:00.000-04:00

So the Mogwai show was, as expected, FUCKING AWESOME...3rd time seeing them live and those guys rock like 12,000 men even more so. If you haven't seen this band live then I feel sorry for you and if you have and didn't like it then you're insane and I feel sorry for you and if you're one of the people that we offered extra tickets to and didn't go then you're really fucking insane and I feel sorry for you. If I won billions of dollars I would have Mogwai play for my breakfast every morning....well maybe most Sunday brunches. At any rate the trip was uneventful injury wise which is a good thing for me and a boring thing for you. If it makes you feel any better our other friend got dazed and confused pretty much immediately (it is a mucho intense show) and disappeared for the rest of the night...not very exciting I know but it's better then nothing I suppose.

Lovely folk at the Phoenix and Craig from ATG Concerts really rocks, very nice of them to set me up in the sweet spot right beside the sound booth. Got my own table and chairs and prop box to put my leg up on! The bathroom trips were tiring (about 20 odd stairs down) but thanks to a friend who was my crutch caddy I did ok. On the way from the bathroom I was amazed at her ability to part the crowds for me until I got close enough to hear her yelling out, "DRUNK ON CRUTCHES COMING THRU...DRUNK ON CRUTCHES COMING THRU", I wasn't drunk....I was tipsy at best. Dr. Kicker of Elves was also of assistance when leaving the building, he ensured that pretty much anyone within eye sight was looking directly at me, this was accomplished by various traffic guard like hand signals and shouts of, "CRIPPLE COMING THROUGH...WATCH IT NOW...CRIPPLE COMING THROUGH...HOLD UP THERE...CRIPPLE...COMING THROUGH...CRIPPLE...".

What can I say...my friends are idiots...but they're loveable idiots just like me.

Day 25

2003-09-02T17:20:00.000-04:00

So x-ray number three is over and done with. Didn't turn out as well as I had expected but at least I had a competent doctor again (the original one), at the very least he was willing to spend more then 30 seconds with me. I first got bitched at for doing the walking motion thing and then he went on to explain that although I'm feeling alot better and am thinking about getting cocky (well he used the word cavalier) with it I should not in any way, shape or form attempt to put pressure on it or take it out of the air cast as the next 10-12 days are critical to the healing process. I was a bit apprehensive about accepting this diagnosis so he went on to show me why, he illustrated with the x-ray as to why I shouldn't apply pressure...I'm still not allowed to sign out the x-rays yet so here's my really crude drawing of what I can remember from the x-ray, I'm not giving a very good illustration but all those little lines are separate breaks and look like little jigsaw puzzle pieces but if everything heals as is then I'll be fine but if I move any of those pieces, even slightly, I'll end up with ankle problems for years to come (like my little boot friend from the restaurant, he said he's been in and out of surgeries for 7 years now).

I mentioned to the doctor what the previous idiot doctor said (namely that I could probably start walking and remove the cast in 10 days, which would be now) and he visibly guffawed and gave a facial expression that clearly indicated that his previous, "Do NOT listen to any doctor that tells you you can walk on it, EVEN IF THEY ARE DOCTORS FROM THIS HOSPITAL" was definitely directed towards the idiot speedy doctor I last saw. When I pressed him on the previous doctor's competence he very nicely suggested that the previous doctor had not reviewed my x-rays in detail!

So, I have to go back again on the 16th for more x-rays and if all is well I might get a new splint thingy. (Yes, the prospect of a new splint thingy is exciting to me). Realistically I'll be walking with a cane until November...sigh....

In other news, tonight is the big night out on the town...going to see Mogwai who are extra special swell guys and hooked me up with special broken bone seating and everything. I'm so overwhelmed with excitement at the prospect of leaving the house and going somewhere other then the hospital that I must go wheel around rapidly....

Day 23

2003-08-31T12:10:00.000-04:00

Wanna know what's more fun then nighttime surprise-intense-wake-up-pain then having to go to the bathroom? Well nighttime surprise-intense-wake-up-pain then having to go to the bathroom and then having the toilet overflow.

The toilet incident prompted me to go on a hunt for the toilet plunger at 5am, being 5am I was not really awake so the decision to descend the stairs on crutches in the darkness seemed like a perfectly good idea...let me tell you all right now that it was not a good idea. I did ok for the majority of the stairs but on about the 6-7 last stair the inevitable happened and I lost my balance...losing your balance on stairs is ill-advised at the best of times losing your balance on stairs, on crutches, in darkness with a broken fibula...well that's downright heart racing. Somehow, I have no idea how, I did not get hurt but from what I can remember I did what can only be described as something that belongs in a Jackie Chan movie.

When I first lost balance I started to descend but quickly caught myself with my right crutch, so the descend was halted and I was listing at about a 32 degree angle with one foot on the stair about 3 stairs above me....that woke me up rather quickly. After about 30 seconds of contemplation the crutch digging into my armpit begun the process of cutting off circulation to my right arm so I figured action was necessary. I can't fully recall but somehow I almost got myself pretty much straightened out and then again gravity did the 'kick her when she's almost down' thing and again I begin to move on a very direct and very accelerated path towards the floor. Luckily the left arm still had circulation so that kicked out and again my final descent was stopped albeit the edge of my crutch was precariously balanced on the edge of the stair so I decided to act quickly (well again gravity helped) and my left crutch slipped down the stair, I again just barely caught myself with the right crutch and in the end did this crazy rapid crutch walk descent with the broken fibula up in the air and the other leg trailing helplessly behind. I have no idea how I didn't hurt myself but I didn't, I really wish I had a video of that as it would be nice to slow-mo though those sets of events!

So anyway, the toilet is now fixed (there's also an amusing story about getting up the stairs on crutches while holding a toilet plunger but maybe I'll jot that down another time) and I've learned another valuable lesson which I can impart to the world...don't go down stairs on crutches when you're half asleep and the stairway is very dark. Otherwise, the fibula and I made a breakthrough last night and we went out to dinner at the local restaurant, was nice to see lots of people and leave my house in a non-hospital related event. My broken fibula even made a friend as there was a guy at a table beside ours that inquired about the circumstances that lead to my fashionable boot and then moved to show me his fashionable boot...it was a very touching moment and I no longer felt out of place as now I wasn't the only one with the boot...who knows, maybe others noticed and are thinking it's a fashion trend...maybe big boots will spring up across the nation and then I can sell mine on eBay for thousands of dollars and then go live like a queen on the shores of the Congo.

Hmm...re-reading that last sentence has made me acutely aware of the fact that I've not yet had any coffee so I think I'll go remedy that.

Day 20

2003-08-28T20:53:00.000-04:00

Well I thought to myself...it's about damn time you updated the blob and you know what...I did it!

Sorry for the delay between postings, I truly do not intend to be one of those folk that start something and then just let wither away and die. I was actually quite busy with work stuff due to a little gem called SoBig so, for the love of all that is holy and my fibula please PLEASE PLEASE scan you machine with an updated virus scanner or check out Trend Micro's free online scanner (if you're not sure if your virus scanner is updated then check out the online scanner). Not only does this little virus worm into your computer and use it to continue spreading, it can also turn your machine into a relay point for spammers..yucky yucky spammers.

Anyway, enough with virii and spam and on with the fibula talk....

The fibula is doing pretty good, it's not longer painful to keep it down for relatively reasonable amounts of time and I've sort of kicked the T3 habit although I'm still doing 1-2 per day. Night time is still sprinkled with little periods of surprise-intense-wake-up-pain which is always nice at 4:30 in the morning. Of course, surprise wake up or not, my body equates waking up with going to the bathroom so it's just awesome to wake up suddenly in intense pain and then immediately have to go to the bathroom which can be a challenge at the best of times without a broken fibula, crutches, a narrow dark hallway and a dog that is nonplussed at the idea of moving. I'm assuming I'm doing something crazy in my sleep to cause that kind of pain as I don't get it any other time, I've toyed with the idea of tying the damaged fibula leg down but I think that would lead to even more chaosity if I did one of the mid-evening wake up deals (vision of wedging myself in a doorway or dragging a bed across the room leap to mind).

Other then the night pain thing everything seems to be on schedule. I'm even regaining some of my world famous stupidity/cockiness and have, on two occasions (one being about 35 minutes ago) waved common sense in favor of thinking I'm far more resilient then those crazy medically trained professionals know and have attempted things which only people with healed fibulas should be doing. The first incident was on Sunday night when I was feeling pretty invincible so decided to take the fibula out of the air cast....let's just say that my leg looks pretty gross (all black spots down the back of my leg where the dead blood pools) and that overall that was not a good or smart idea. I was pretty careful after that up until today when I relapsed into stupidity and felt that I could put mild weigh on it (really mild) and mimic the movements of walking, my logic was that this will speed up my recovery time...well, suffice it to say that I'm sitting here with an ice pack on the fibula and I've just popped a T3. I think it was more the movement then the weight really but either way I know realize I was pushing it a bit....lesson learned I guess (well for a few days anyway).

I've also managed to make it outside for adventures on my own the past two days. So yesterday, after 14 hours, or something ridiculous, the day before staring at a screen and fighting off virii the other day I just started to go loopy and HAD to go outside. So I gathered up the crutches (or, apparently 'sticks' as they are known in Lithuanian or 'stretchers' as they are known in Croatian) and packed up my trusty backpack with supplies (I had no idea if I'd be in one of those 'I've fallen and I can't get up' scenarios so I decided to be prepared) and headed out. I actually made out pretty well, no stories of tragically comedic falls (sorry) or situations (sorry), just a super slow wander into the orchard. I did about 600 feet or so in about 2.5 hours! The dog was pretty pleased with it all. I actually went a bit too far as the last 50 feet or so were sorta painful so today I shortened the trip and just did a wander straight across the backyard, with a few breaks here and there and over to visit with the horses. On the way back I got a bit cocky and tried to mimic walking so here I am. Next x-ray is Sept 2nd so I'll just take it easy on until then.

DAY 19

2003-08-27T03:04:00.000-04:00

Been very busy (cripple people can be busy too ya know!). Will update the blob shortly, sleep gets priority right now!

Day 14

2003-08-22T22:23:00.000-04:00

Sorry I haven't been around for a bit, I'm not lying at the bottom of a staircase,I haven't fallen and I can get up...well sorta. I was about to update the blog (or as a friend calls it, blob) last night but the gods weren't into that so they struck down dead the fiber card I (and hundreds of others) connect to so I had no internet and didn't get it back till the wee hours of the morning when I was sleeping...I had lots of interesting and witty things to say but oh well, the cable company screwed up, that evil evil cable company.

At any rate, my loss of connectivity gave me the opportunity to watch Bowling for Columbine as I had not yet (believe it or not) seen it. I can't begin to say how great the movie is, let it suffice to say that I've been a HUGE fan of Michael Moore for some time now and this documentary just blew me away as it did others considering the amount of awards it received (Oscar, Cannes, to name but a few). I could rant and rave and go on and on and on and on about all thing he riles up in me but for now I'll be nice and save bandwidth and in the spirit of Michael Moore I will do my own little, minuscule, girl with a broken fibula part and hopefully recruit at least five more people in the simple task of going and renting or buying this DVD if you have not seen it, everyone should see this movie and by renting or buying this DVD you are supporting Michael Moore and enabling him to continue to make films by making him appear attractive to large media companies...it's important that you buy or rent it...don't leech this one please. I would STRONGLY suggest you watch the segment in the 'DVD extras' called 'Return to Columbine 6 months after the Premiere'...even if you don't think you'll like this movie, even if you think it's stupid...please, humor fibula girl and watch this movie...it is actually important and it actually about something. At the very least take a few minutes to peruse his sites that I linked to above.

I'll spare you all my hyper political rants for the moment and just leave this short n' sweet.

Day 12

2003-08-20T19:21:00.000-04:00

Well after 5 mins playing with PHPNuke, 20 mins playing with Frontpage (18 of which were spend bitching about how stupid it is) and 40 minutes of K-I-C-K-I-N-G A-S-S at Counterstrike last night I found this and that entertained me for quite some time last night. I can't believe that I, the hip happening fibula-girl I thought I was, had no idea 4:20 or April 20th had some much significance...thank you Youth Ministry for explaining it all!

4:20 (420) (4-20)
n. Commonly known as the time to smoke pot. It has come to mean everything from the act of smoking, the stuff that's smoked, and the optimum smoking time. Because 99% of today's culture DOESN'T know what 420 means, it has become a code people use to identify and talk with each other without outsiders knowing. Also known for the date, April 20th, which is the day to smoke pot all day, "the hippie holiday." Most pot smokers use 420 for just that, but, this date also happens to be Hitler's birthday which most possibly connected to or resulted in the selection of the April 20th date of the Columbine tragedy.

Note: I get a large amount of emails trying to correct me, saying that 420 is actually the California police code for possession of marijuana. Sorry- but that's an urban legend.

Yeah...ok...that's the urban legend! I don't wanna get up in anyone's kool-aid but lemme ax you somethin'...are you ballin the banger or are you bent on the bling-bling with no bones, no boo boo and no buggin breezy? I think it's bunk you bust a cap on my chassy and cheeba...don't even be talking about my cheba and my chedder you chicken head (little known fact: the mentally underdeveloped were called in Blade Runner (aka: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep)). I'm just chillin and chizzlin not clownin'...everything is coo and hopefully you're cool wit dat cracker. Don't be creepin' around my crib like dat dawg trying to dip out and deebo my chronic...don't dis me like that. That's federal and I hope you really feel me as I'm fiendin to fi'n and I don't care about no 5 0. I'll be flashing and flexin' and I don't care about your floss foo. I'm not a gangsta..I don't need no gat. I'm G-money and I think you'll gell with me. hold up, hold up, hold up, I gotta say holla homie, how about you hook me up with a hottie who got hops. I'm straight and it's all good, I ain't jawsin'...I ain't jocking no to jigga...I'm just trying to kick it. I think it's the lick that some people are lighting some trees. Lo-lo, it's M&M to mack the mack and I get mad hops and mad skills when I say my bad to the man. Nah-uh! Nephew, no diggity I'm off the heezy...you're the one off your rector so don't bump into no one-time and open up a can on your onion or you be outie 5000 partner.. I got phatty peoples, I'm not no player and I don't like poodles or po po. I just wanna be posted and not punk anyone's props.

It was about there that I got bored of doing italic tags and crawled (literally!) to bed!

This morning was interesting. Woke up to horse pandemonium and after sending the fibula-breaker out to assess the situation found that one of the horses, Billy, had pulled a Houdini and gotten out of the pasture. Of course Billy is a suck so he was just wandering about trying to get in while Charlotte (the queen mama of the herd) just stood there looking at him like an idiot (she really and truly has this, "...sigh...what have you done now..." look!). So I attempted to explain to the fibula-breaker (who I might add was hung over and in pajamas) how to catch old one-eye (Billy only has one eye, the other eye had to get removed due to cancer a few years back) and put him back in the pasture but fibula-breaker got all caught up on semantics and didn't understand what I meant by halter so in the end he packed me into the Jeep and drove me over and I explained what a halter is (much different then fibby-breakers definition of a halter!)then balanced on a crutch and threw the halter on. Then fibby-breaker avoided electrocution on the electric fence and got Bill reunited with everyone and, in the process, got stung by a big ass wasp which I initially found mildly confusing as, being some distance from him, I couldn't figure why he was ripping off his shirt..erm I mean pajama top...and running around screaming. In the end everyone and horse survived and I WISH I had a camera as a one-eyed horse, a hung over and shirtless guy and me on crutches must have been an interesting site!

Overall I'm feeling much better today. Maybe it's healing or maybe I'm just psychologically relieved at the x-ray results but overall I feel much stronger today and am not freaking out and stressing out over every little movement. Well that's it for today, got some visitors coming, a fly that I must kill (the %$%^ing thing keeps going right for my face) and I might even take advantage of my relative non-hatred for designing webpages today!

Day 11

2003-08-19T16:41:00.000-04:00

First off a warning to anyone visiting fibula-girl's home...I am beginning to suspect my broken fibula was less the result of an 'accident' and more the result of sabotage....that's right...sabotage. Today at approx 1300 hours (EST) I heard a huge boom and found my non-fibula-breaking roomie was at the bottom of the stairs holding her right ankle and wincing in pain. At the top of the stairs, with an evil smirk, stood the fibula-breaking roomie (although he claims he ran out when he heard the boom)....although non-fibby breaker is luckily ok I think that two ankle injuries within 2 weeks is a bit much for mere coincidence...don't you?!?

But now for the news you've all been waiting for....well the news I've been waiting for anyway...I got x-rays today and...drum roll please....no ankle shiftage which is good news!! I was also far more coherent today so actually saw the break...it just looks like a little line but apparently it quite severe as, according to the doctor, it takes a 'tremendous' force to break it. I wanted to take the x-ray to show all you fibbies (technical term for one who follows the recovery of fibulas with interest) but he said I couldn't as he had to "report it" (which I'm slightly suspect of but I digress) but that I could sign it in a few weeks so no pics for now. To be honest I wasn't terribly thrilled with this doctor (the original specialist is on vacation), initially he just walked over and told me it was broken (well DUH!), I could probably start leaving the cast off in 10 days, etc and then told me to come back in two weeks....when I started asking about the initial diagnosis, why my toes were black n' blue, why my ankle hurt and the fact that I was scared silly by the first specialist who spoke of pins and plates and regular x-rays he decided he probably should take an x-ray and after that decided I shouldn't really attempt anything fancy like removing the cast, etc . All I know is that the first specialist's exact words were, "No matter what any other doctor here or elsewhere tells you, no matter when, I am telling you right now that if you put any pressure on this foot in the next 3 weeks you will have to have surgery", (the emphasis on the words were his), so I'm apt to take his word for it and even more apt to believe he was specifically talking about Dr. Speedy who he knew I'd have to see so I specifically requested that my next appt is with the original doctor as I just didn't like Dr. Speedy at all...if my appt is any indication this guy must see about 100 patients a day...and that's if they actually challenge he 60 second diagnosis.

BUT in the end there is good news...the ankle has not shifted!! So no surgery this week! Odds are if I can maintain my no-whacking-fibula streak I'll be ok and will be speed walking by the end of November!! The other night I actually caught myself daydreaming about all the things I'm going to do when I have two good legs to stand on! When they took my foot out of the cast for the x-ray I also noticed a HELL of a black bruise on my ankle but the doc said this was just due to gravity pooling the dead blood down there...hopefully he's right but, as I said, I'm looking for a 2nd opinion as I just don't trust this guy 100% but the x-ray looked good and he did explain (after I asked) how he could tell the ankle hasn't shifted so I'm confident in that diagnosis for now.

The trip into the outside world was quite exciting as well, got a Tim's coffee, got to check my work messages while I was in reliable cell territory and, sorry to go off on a tangent here but..on behalf of everyone in the world that has to listen to voicemails, I plead with the stupid to HANG UP if you don't want to leave a message....and let me clarify that for you...I mean to say HANG UP before you hear the beep....got that, before you hear the beep. My voicemail message is adequately long enough for any semi-animated person to hang up the phone in that give time period if they don't want to leave a message....why do people wait to the beep then hang up? Out of 27 voicemails, 11 (or 41%) were hang-ups...thanks, I really appreciate wasting my time to hear your earpiece hit the receiver.

In other news, I've received correspondence from the Russian Princess who has procured a, "beautiful bottle of Stoli", to assist in my recovery and has suggested using me in royal experimentation to determine the effects of Stoli and anti-fibula-pain drugs - of course I am always up for the advancement of medical sciences so who am I to turn down such an offer! And yes Poco...I do agree that 'cocktail' is a "really funny word" but that's for a different type of blog altogether!

Day 10

2003-08-18T15:26:00.000-04:00

Well a BIG thank you to Stuart from Mogwai for forwarding my email to ATG concerts. I had emailed Stuart last week asking if there was anyway they could accommodate fibula-girl at their upcoming Toronto show and just got an email from a lovely fella at ATG who's gonna check it out for me. To be honest I'm absolutely flabbergasted I got a response and I could go on saying all sorts of lovely things about Stuart, Mogwai and ATG but it might give them the reputation of being nice guys so I'll stop now! I would do a happy dance but...well...you know...

Otherwise I'm still in a fair amount of discomfort today...maybe the calcium/magnesium tablets that a friend suggested are beginning to fuse my bones together...at least that's what I've chosen to believe at this point in time. I get new x-rays tomorrow so place your bets now...is it healing or has the ankle shifted? I'm going to try and run away with the x-rays tomorrow too so I can scan them in so all you armchair-google-doctors can give me your unprofessional input!

Have somewhat regained a fraction of cell service....my cell service sucks at the best of times but since the blackout has been totally dead in the water. My RIM started going nuts this morning receiving the 1st of 547 messages (all the mailing lists I was on changed to temporary addresses due to blackouts so my filtering rules weren't working) and I was able to use my RIM to check my cellphone messages...I thought I'd have tons of messages but luckily Bell Mobility saw fit to limit my Inbox to a maximum of four messages...thanks Bell Mobility for giving me yet another reason to hate you, I was getting bored bitching about all the same stuff anyway.

Apparently the paintball team did ok yesterday but we still lost by 50 points...have I mentioned that I hate my fibula?

I put some books under my desk (aka: dining room table) to raise it up a little so I can fit my huge boot cast up on a chair as typing sideways was getting annoying and semi-painful. Between the superhigh table and my wheelchair induced countertop view I'm beginning to feel like a little kid again. I'll probably get nosebleeds the first week I'm able to walk upright again due to elevation.

Day 9

2003-08-17T19:24:00.000-04:00

Sorta in a pissy mood today. My leg has been hurting more then usual since last night and I'm just going through one of those periods where I'm just sick of the whole situation. The palms of my hands are totally sore and tender from the crutches and wheelchair so I've taken to pushing myself around backwards in the wheelchair which is both convenient and semi-relaxing....it's like I'm just a passenger looking at the scenery getting further away. I can't believe it's only been a week and I have 2 more weeks until I'm sure I won't have to have surgery....I feel like my leg's been broken for at least a month. I'm also kinda freaked out at these newer pains...I don't know if it means I've done something really bad or if my muscles are starting to freak out from lack of use...my leg always feels super tight and swollen even though I've got the top of the aircast off and am icing it and keeping it elevated....whine whine bitch bitch moan...I'll spare you today's cynicism.

[WISTFUL THOUGHT OF THE DAY: Missed my paintball team's game 6 today...paintball was about the only thing that kept me half sane....god help you all.]

Day 8

2003-08-16T17:51:00.000-04:00

A friend just IM'd me with some info that brightened my day but may upset others...apparently the Radiohead show is postponed which gives me hope that I will one day see Radiohead live without having to attend some mega-million event in order to do so (the Amphitheatre was the closest to a small venue that they'll likely ever play around here). I've tried alerting friends but I guess Bell Mobility figures us hicks don't need cell service so has negleted to reconnect area towers.

2003-08-16T16:36:00.000-04:00

Well we didn't lose power anymore which was convenient. Lots of visitors yesterday hence the lack of updates. My entertainment physician, Dr. Kicker of Elves, dropped by albeit not in socks and underwear as he had promised (that promise was made to the fibula-breakin' roomie and not me). Along with my daily prescriptions he also furnished me with a mixed cd of humor which I have yet to listen to and a 'Yeah Yeah Yeahs' Cd which I have also yet to listen to (gimme a break, I just woke up) however I'm sure it will remove thoughts of broken fibula as Dr. Kicker of Elves has an inordinate ability to perceive aural stimuli that tend to be quite pleasant.

Duly noting his duties as entertainment physician he also delighted me with the movie 28 Days Later, even going so far as to traverse all the way back home to retrieve his own DVD player as ours would not work....now THERE is a man dedicated to his job!! I must say that the movie was quite entertaining and even made me forget about my fibula for a couple of hours (although last night I did give much thought as to how quickly a person with a broken fibula would last in the situation presented in the movie...upon contemplation I figure I'd last about 7 seconds.) All in all an entertaining afternoon with the Dr.

The fat orange cat from work and Fez dropped by to ogle the fibula and drop off my Blackberry which is pointless right now as cell networks still suck but it was a lovely visit albeit a bit short. A little later on my good friends from the outback of Ontario surprised us with an impromptu visit and dazzled us with talk of free bucket trucks! We were attempting to ascertain the value of a service whereby lovers could rent out the bucket portion of the bucket truck for exotic lovemaking but are unsure of the legality and insurance requirements of such a venture at this point in time...I'll keep you all updated though in case you are in need of such services!

Was a whirlwind of a day for fibula girl and added with the extreme heat I was beat and headed to bed after all the visitors had left and slept until late this morning. It's not as hot this morning but a pool or reduction of several degrees would make my broken leg feel less swollen and smaller then a humpback whale....on that note I guess I should go throw some frozen peas and fries on the fibula...

[WISTFUL THOUGHT OF THE DAY: In a few hours the Radiohead show will begin and I will curse my fibula with renewed vigor.]

Day 7

2003-08-15T12:55:00.000-04:00

Apparently the city close to us has just lost power so we may be next so if you're trying to get in touch and I'm not around that would be why. Due to fibular problems I will be staying right here if you need me and we are totally self sufficient up here...probably better off then most of you! So if power does die again for a while and any of you need anything...feel free to head here!

2003-08-15T12:31:00.000-04:00

Well that was fun! First three hours were EXTREMELY boring as I was here alone but then the roomies came home and helped me outside where we BBQ'd, ate ice cream (so it wouldn't go bad ya know!) and played dominos. Power came back on this morning (obviously) so all is good in broken-fibula land. After some reseach, (you'll need to translate from german to english), I have decided to blame the entire thing on my cousin and his little MSBlaster debacle as allegedly some power stations use systems that utilize the DCOM model which is what MSBlaster exploits. Who knows but it's not beyond the realm of possibilities that they would not want the general public to know that such a vast outage could be caused via computer exploits...plus it sounds so much more exciting then lightning strikes! Apparently the Niagara region survived due to a smarty-pants hydro engineer who saw the domino effect coming and pulled them out of the grid.

So anyway, back to real life. The fibula needs attending so I will report in later.

Day 6

2003-08-14T14:52:00.000-04:00

Well la-tee-dah I'm in my new office (aka: dining room). Mr cable guy showed up and hooked me all up so now I'm upright and no longer have to balance a keyboard on my lap, my mouse on a book, be four feet away from the monitor all whilst my broken fibula is elevated....I'm hoping the aforementioned weird position was the reason for my sucky Counterstrike preformance the last little while but I guess I'll have to check that out a bit later.

Anyway, the move was exciting and the new scenery is very nice indeed. I have two big windows and can see outside and have Grasshopper to keep me company (there is a very valid reason why I have a tarantula and why her name is Grassphopper but I will expand upon that another time). Apparently the fat orange cat from work will be stopping by later on with a variety of fun stuff including a digital camera so I will have pictures to delight and amaze you with at some point in time.

I'm also beginning to get a few emails here and there from this page which warms my heart and also amazes me as it shows that people are actually reading this! Some people I know and some I don't....Hi to all of you and thanks for taking the time out of your busy life to say hi to fibula-girl....how sweet! I've also gotten mention on my friend/co-worker's page which is pretty snazzy (both the mention and the page)...he's a super-duper clever progammin' fella so check out his custom site as it's real purty lookin'!

Well I have more to write but there's a mean looking hornet buzzing about in here and i'm in a wheelchair so the hornet wins and I'm going to wheel on out of here for now...

2003-08-14T10:22:00.000-04:00

Here is your horoscope for Thursday, August 14:
Share your experiences to help others through a challenging time.

See, this blog is a good thing!

A soothing voice is the only kind that makes sense. Harmony will prevail when enough people are tired of living in dissonance

They lost me on that part and to be perfectly honest I think that last sentence is rather depressing....it's like saying, 'Murders will stop when all the murders have killed the people they needed to'.

Oh well, enough astrological hooey. Thus far today I'm hurtin' and rather bitter. Since late last night my leg is hurting quite a bit in a place I previously recall no pain, for demonstrative purposes I've made a little diagram (hey I have the time so why not clarify!).I really wish they could have been more clear about what a slipped ankle joint feels like, at the moment I'm keeping myself calm by theorizing that the current pain is far above the point where the ankle is. And yes yes I know...go to the hospital blah blah blah...but seriously, a trip to the bathroom is a HUGE ordeal, a trip to the hospital is like flying to Australia for me and I shudder to think of getting in and out of the car, all the bumps, etc PLUS I'd be really dismayed to get there and either be told there's nothing wrong and/or we have to wheel you into surgery now. I'll ride it out and see how I feel later on, maybe the pain is just amplified by my morning body's lack of codeine. Maybe if I stop talking about it I will stop thinking about it...

Yesterday I learned that broken fibulas can bring families closer together too. Being in a sitting position in front of MSN for 99% of my day apparently has a plus side and I finally got the chance to figure out my cousin's MSN address and have a little chat with him. He's gone to the dark side and is working for Unkie Bill! I bitched him out for the recent MSBlaster worm and he has personally accepted all responsibility and has apologized of behalf of Bill so everyone can stop talking about it now....well he didn't really accept responsibility or apologize on behalf of Bill but please...feel free to discontinue talking about it (or at the very least emailing me about it)!

The broken fibula has also revealed that my roommate (the fibula breaker) has a fake-meat phobia...yes yes I don't eat meat, it's a personal decision that in no way affects the rest of you so no worries, you eat your whole cow raw and with extra blood - I honestly do not care. Anyway....he was preparing a stir-fry last night and said he was going to section off a portion of it for me before he added his meat. I mentioned that I have fake-meat beef strips he could add, after staring at me for a few seconds he said, "Em...No". Long story short, no matter how I explained that it simply involved opening the package and dumping it in amongst the vegetables he still refused! I thought he was slightly bizarre with his refusal to use bank machines to deposit money but this takes the cake...the boy is odd! If you'd like to make fun of him or berate him in any way, shape or form feel free to send me an email and I'll forward it on to him!!

On an exciting note the cable guys is coming today (between the oh-so-convenient hours of 8 and 5) to install inet outlets in my office (aka: dining room) which will rock as 1.)it's a change of scenery and 2.)I won't be stuck smack dab in the middle of the living room all day. All my broken fibula accessories (crutches, wheel chair, meal tray, pc, etc etc etc) take up quite a bit of room in there so I've pretty much taken over the couch and coffee table. Plus in the dining room I can just stay in the wheelchair instead of having to hop in and out of the chair to get to the pc and stuff.

On that note I guess I should get some work done...btw, I'm actually getting TONS more work done then normal. I just did this audit thing yesterday that I've been trying to do for months and months and I have completely finished it in one day....telecommuting....who knew!

Day 5

2003-08-13T12:52:00.000-04:00

Flies really will rule the world one day. These little %$#&s know how to keep just the right distance from me and then taunt me with the flybys. I'm absolutely sure they are even organizing these flybys as there'll be no activity for a while and then, when I least expect it, there's about 3 of them buzzing my head and coming right for my eyes and stuff....they're evil...and not the good kind of evil either. I need a medical assistance frog that will just hang out in the room and nail them one by one...actually a gecko would suffice too I guess.

Anyway, doing ok today. Beefed up the T3 dosage this morning in preparation for a shower. That was an event of epic proportions! Started off sitting on the edge of the tub and ended up doing this crazy acrobatical bendy-girl routine reminiscent of a Cirque de Soleil act. At one point I was standing up in the shower with my broken leg up on the counter outside of the shower then I whacked the showerhead with my head and it began spouting water out into the bathroom so I did some crazy acrobatics to hold myself up while attempting to stop filling my bathroom with water! Somehow I survived unscathed and my bathroom floor ended up with more water on it then I did but hey...I'm feeling nice and clean! I think I'll have to invest in one of those shower chairs and a removable shower head!

A wicked little tray table that fits my wheelchair magically appeared on my doorstep this morning but I'm pretty sure the neighbor was involved in that (thank you!). Also got a happening fruit, cheese, cracker, chocolates (Walkers Chocolates...mmmm) , etc basket from work which is totally nice and unexpected (thank you guys...esp mom whom I'm sure is the mastermind behind it all!!). I'll have to get the camera out later and get some shots of everything...that's a project for later! though...have to plan out my entertainment.

Well time to get some work done...

Day 4

2003-08-12T21:15:00.000-04:00

Well I had a pretty exciting day, spend a total of about 3 hours combined outside on the porch which was pretty nice. The non-fibula-breaking roomie rigged up a temporary ramp for me to get outside and the fibula-breaker hooked me up with a hand-crafted board so that my leg is super elevated while I'm in the wheelchair. Earlier my foot was feeling pretty tight so I opened the Aircast and saw that my entire foot and ankle were pretty swollen, way more then before. I iced it and stuff and although it doesn't hurt I'm kinda worried that this means something bad has happened like an ankle joint shift but then we sorta figured that maybe it was because I've had my foot down alot due to be in the wheelchair so this board solution works out pretty well. This will also be good for Thursday when the cable guys come and put a new outlet in my office (aka: dining room), that way I can just wheel right up to the PC instead of having to hop in and out of the chair to the couch, etc.

The non-fibula-breaking roomie also hooked me up and souped up my ride so now I have a basket on the back of my wheelchair which is pretty sweet. Now I can actually get stuff back and forth from the kitchen instead of having to do the balancing act/one foot wheelchair ride! I gotta take a pic of this baby soon...it's pretty sweet I tell ya!

2003-08-12T16:20:00.000-04:00

Just had a lovely little visit with my friend BobbieT. Along with delighting me with his company, communist sentiments and strange antics he also was nice enough to carry my wheelchair out to the porch where I delighted in the outdoors while he taught the fibula-breaking-roommate how to coolify his hotrod van! Bobbert was also kind enough to harvest a few vegetables for me (a whack of fine tasting cherry tomatoes and two cucumbers I didn't even know about) and enjoy a lovely 'No-Name' brand creamsicle with me while we discussed our (individual) plans for global domination...all in all a delightful afternoon visit!

As an aside, I don't know why but I've taken to yelling 'FREEDOM' ala BraveHeart every time I'm alone and encounter a particularly difficult room seperator (ya know that bit of trim that seperates carpet from linoleum and stuff).

2003-08-12T12:51:00.000-04:00

Was quite exciting, last night I got to sleep on my side. I went to sleep on my back and woke up on my side, I'd imagine there was quite a bit of pain getting in that position as getting out of it sucked but it was nice to wake up in a semi-comfortable postion.

This morning I was wheeling around doing my best Star Trek loser impression. I was trying to make a work related call and my cell service sucks so I was wheeling about the house holding and staring at my phone like it was a tricorder waiting for it to pick up signal...was comedically pathetic looking I'd imagine. I eventually figured out that holding my roommates's cell phone up to my ear along with my own dramatically increased cell service as well as made me look even stupider as I was holding 2 phones up to the same ear....maybe I just need one of those crazy ass 17-foot antennas attached to my wheelchair...hey I already got the compass so it's not like it'll look weird or anything.

I've also decided that a ramp is necessary to expand my wheelable territory... as a plus it would probably stop me from looking pathetically sad sitting in the doorway in a wheelchair. It's just a a drop of maybe 3-5 inches but it may as well be 30 feet as there's no way in hell I can Evel Knievel that sucker without serious fibular reprecussions. With a ramp I would add an additional 20 feet of nice flat concrete porch to my daily wheelings...I could go outside without a huge ordeal which would be beneficial for oh...I dunno...say that you want to figure out who the hell is doing the 120 point turn on the tractor for the last 45 minutes, etc. Of course there are some engineering concerns involved in all this ramp talk as I"m not really interested in doing a tragically comedic routine and jettisoning off the end of the ramp onto the lawn or anything but I'd say that will be a moot point in a week or so anyway as I'm beginning to form the biceps Miss Universe with all this wheeling about so I'd be able to put the brakes on rather fast if I was picking up speed!.

All in all I'm starting to get really fed up with the 'boot' (aka: Aircast). I keep thinking I want to take it off as if it's a shoe or something. My leg is always numb or has pins and needles (which is an AWESOME AWESOME feeling when you can't really move it) and the damn 'boot' thing is just heavy and hot and clammy. I think I am officially begining to hate the 'boot' and I am open to suggestions on how to completely destroy it in the most satisfactory way once I'm done with it. So far I'm thinking that bashing it and running over it multpile times with the front end loader would be fun but I'm sure all your sick and twisted minds can come up with something better (hey, you're reading about a broken fibular...you're obviously demented!).

As a side note my one roommate (the one who's been spoiling me rotten with delicious foods, not the one that breaks fibulas) has just made me cauliflower scrambled eggs....it sounds weird but it's actually really really good. So lunch time is over and it's back to work....if you need me, you know where I'll be.

Day 3

2003-08-11T15:45:00.000-04:00

Welcome to day 3 of the saga of the broken fibula (btw...the newest posts are at the top so start at the bottom first!). Managed to do the butt crawl up the stairs to bed last night and it was actually way less of an ordeal then I thought and thus far has proved to be the easiest movement related activity I do. It was weird sitting at the top of the stairs though, my staircase has never looked that steep and the 10 feet to my room seemed like a vast gap across a bottomless pit! But I made it and ended up having a pretty good sleep with the exception of waking up in the morning sans codeine...that was pretty uncomfortable but luckily I had my T3s stashed in my little travel backpack so popped one then waited until it had kicked in before heading back downstairs. I'm pretty sure the full gravity of the situation hasn't hit me yet as I'm still thinking of this as a temporary injury and I'll be back to normal in days. I can't believe I'm realistically planning possible hikes for December...just nuts. I wonder when I will go stir crazy? Maybe I should start a pool!

My friends brought over a newer, snazzier wheelchair which rocks. It's much sportier then the one I had and has cushions, a bell and even a compass (so I know which direction I'm facing in the house I guess!). The wheelchair is really helpful and trips to the bathroom and kitchen aren't such an ordeal anymore. I even got to cook my own food last night which was exciting and humorous at the same time as I feel like a little kid as I'm about level with the countertops! My dog is also a bit more used to the wheelchair and Aircast today and no longer is skulking about giving them a 3 foot berth and dirty looks! I'm very lucky that my dog is intelligent and I live in a place that I am fortunate in that he can go outside by himself via the doggy door (aka: rip in screen door!)...it still really sucks that I can't walk with him or go on hikes with him for a while...oh well.

Alot of people are asking about work...specially how broken fibular and work get along. Well due to the fact that I'm not supposed to jar or apply pressure to the foot for at *least* 3 weeks I've decided that it's best I stay at home and go mental instead of risking permanent damage. Luckily I have VERY cool management that have allowed me to work from home. I'm in the telecommunications industry so I can pretty much do my entire job from home and I can participate in meetings via conference call, etc. I had the option of using my short/long -term disability but I'm going to go insane as is just sitting here so at least work will keep me somewhat occupied and realistically I'll likely get WAY more done.

Until next time....I'll be right here.

Day 2

2003-08-10T10:04:00.000-04:00

I guess some background is necessary to start. On the evening of Friday, August 8th, 2003, whilst chasing my roommate around in water fight mode, I tripped over his drumset that was stacked in the hallway and hurt my leg ALOT...being stupid I waited until the next morning to decide that a huge swollen ankle and being in excruciating pain while doing absolutely nothing was a bad thing so had my friend drive me to emergency, long story short I broke my fibula. Will be at *least* 3 months before i can walk...that's if everything goes perfectly. The next 3 weeks are critical due to the fact that I broke the 'brace' bone, if I in anyway jar or apply pressure to my foot during this time I risk misaligning my ankle which will result in surgery, pins, plates, scars and even more time not walking. The specialist dude was quite adamant about stressing this and coupled with the pain I am quite inclined to believe him. SOOOOOOOOO...for the next 3 weeks I am totally out of commission. I have to go get weekly x-rays to ensure I've not 'slipped' my ankle...if I have I will require surgery pretty much immediately. I have this crazy Aircast thing on which is better then a cast but still sucks. At least I can take it off if necessary although they recommended I not for a while. Basically I will not be back to 'normal' for quite a while.

It all sucks hardcore but it could've been worse, I'm pretty set-up at home here...friends have helped move my pc downstairs and everything is close by....the Tylenol 3s help as did the shots of codeine and morphine! I can crawl to bed at night, I have crutches that I'm still wrestling with and I even have a wheelchair! So far there's quite a bit of pain involved and this not walking thing REALLY sucks. I've already got tons of offers of help so the only thing I am lacking is a functional fibula.

Although I've been adverse to the word blog for quite some time I figure this is an excellent opportunity to explore the world of blogger and to also chronicle the saga of my recovery...it's also an effective way of communicating my well being without having to repeat every detail over and over and over to concerned folk. I know everyone means well but I've only spoken about this to three people so far and I'm already sick of talking about it! I'm also sure I'm still in shock and that the gravity of the situation hasn't yet sunk in so odds are I will need a place to vent as I imagine things will get very frustrated from time to time.

So, no hikes, no RadioHead concert, no more paintball team this season (and we were doing so good too!), no more tai-chi and probably no Mogwai on Sept 2nd....just the internet, Counterstrike, my house and the word blog.