Wednesday, 11th August 2010 – Much comfort in a catheter and hospital food
18 Aug 2010 Leave a Comment
in Words Tags: catheter, mental health, nurse, pelvic fracture
Tar 1 - Ing 0
There is much comfort in a catheter and hospital food
Having a pelvic fracture placed me in the orthopaedic ward along with some grannies (apparently pelvic fractures are common with the aged) and an Oppi Koppi car accident casualty.
We all had one thing on common, the relief of a catheter. My ambulance ride two days before had ended in a very painful cry – not for meds, but for a bedpan STAT! I didn’t care who was there to hold my pelvis together while I was displayed over a potty, the bursting bladder was almost as sore as the 3cm long and deep gash over my eye.
An ordinary thing like being in a hospital ward turned out to be an extraordinary experience for me. Firstly a nurse is an angel with invisible wings and secondly hospital food is good! A nurse’s endless task of dealing with the sick and broken deserves more recognition. The old lady in my ward who refused to eat, kept asking for her husband who never came (I’m not sure he even exists) and who kept obstructing her life line drip only ever received kind words and reassurance from the nurses. I named her Mrs Bones because that’s all she was and her nonsensical babbling made me appreciate my mental health, cognitive skills and nurses.
Monday, 9th August 2010 – Women’s Day. I broke my bum
18 Aug 2010 Leave a Comment
in Words Tags: ass, Bike, Bum, Ischium break, Pain, pelvic fracture, Recovery
I broke my bum.
I’m the first in my group of friends to have a real pain-in-the ass!
To be technical, I broke the right hand side Ischium (the sit-down bone) and with that the pubis bone broke at right angles to the vertical bum-bone break. As with most things that are circular, like the human pelvic girdle, many pelvis fractures are multiple.
Mine is a ‘stable’ fracture, not that I’m feeling very stable, but it does mean I don’t need surgery. All I need to do is limit how much weight I can put onto my right leg. I must spend the majority of time in bed or using crutches and am looking at a 6-8 week recovery time.
What a pain-in-the bum!
What happened?
We were around 22km into the 110km Sungardens Carousel Classic cycle race doing around 33km/hr. We had a good pace and a nice peloton, but the chickypoo in front of me was erratic. Her speed was not consistent and she didn’t keep her line…….. I should have known better. NOW I DO!!
All I remember is seeing her slow and swerve for something ahead and my front wheel hitting her back wheel. I didn’t even have time to think “oh bugger” before the tar and I were intimately acquainted.
For the record:- Race number CL 955 (take a dive) and my bike also got badly injured.
