Hi All 👋 Feel free to join in this weekly challenge whenever you find yourself thinking “I’m a fan of…” (see below for how to).
This week’s Fan Of… is best wishes & being home. A massive thank you to all you awesome folk out there around the globe sending me your best wishes
For those of you that follow me, you’ll know about my recent unscheduled visit to the hospital. It all started last Wednesday with what I believed was a simple stomach ache. Come Thursday morning, it was still there but not really any worse. It was my day off so I’d already decided to head to Cumbernauld Park to boost my autumn photographs, & a bit of a sore stomach was not stopping that. Still no real issues, until lunchtime, & my first inkling that all was maybe not as it should be.
At midday, I decided to phone work & let them know that I wouldn’t be in for my 5 o’clock shift the following day & then everything (including my pain levels) started to accelerate. Within the next 3 hrs, my wife filled out the patient questionnaire on the NHS Scotland Website, was prompted in a huge red box (seriously, you can’t miss this big red box) to call an ambulance immediately & I was blue lighted & nee-nawed to Monklands hospital & there diagnosed with suspected appendicitis.
I put up a quick blog on Thursday evening (from my iPhone — ain’t technology a wonderous thing), just to let you guys know I’d be off the scene for a while.
Friday was a day of being prodded & poked by various knowledgable looking people, a CT Scan, & a lot of blood tests. Apparently the norm for appendicitis is an age bracket of 20-30 years old; since I’m kicking down the door of 50, they wanted to make absolutely sure that there wasn’t something else going on.
1730 rolls around & I’m off to theatre, a new one for me. Now time didn’t just accelerate, it disappeared. I’ve never had a general anaesthetic before, so wasn’t aware of what it was like. To my mind, it seems like a switch was flicked off, & some time later flicked back on. The anaesthetist had told me to think about something good as I was going under, so I remembered back to the Jurassic Park ride in Universal Studios, Hollywood, that my wife & I went on so many times, & in particular the theme music. I was humming this in my mind when I went to sleep, & was still humming it when I woke up again, wierd
Friday night was pretty uncomfortable & sleepless & Saturday afternoon I was discharged & back home. In all, I went from a sore stomach, to being back home with no appendix (and an increased sense of smell–what the?) in a little over 48 hrs (did I mention they shaved my left thigh).
I’ve still a long way to go before I’m back to normal. Although the procedure was done using keyhole surgery, it is still very invasive & I have 3 entry wounds to heal (I’m held together with upwards of 20 clamps at the moment).
I’ll be taking it quiet for a while & hope to start getting back to normal with more regular Fan Of… & Water Water Posts in a couple of weeks (sometime in November).
Again, a massive big thank youfor all the support & best wishes from you guys, makes everything a bit better when you know you’ve got folk rooting for you.
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1. Create a Fan Of… Photo Post.
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Take care & I’ll see you all in November
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