Royal Berkshire enforced holiday.

[Bryn]

Do you mean that the hospital has its own micro-SDHC cards, or is that a small typo? I hope you're not getting too bored with the whole thing. If you're only going to be there a day or two more then hopefully you'll be able to get back to a more normal diet of music etc. soon. Otherwise we should perhaps try to find a way to smuggle some decent music in for you.

Do any of the streaming services work in there? Wi-Fi is perhaps a no go area.

Best wishes again.

Heh, heh. Damned predictive text again. I meant the SDHC card that was in use in my smart phone.

[Dave2002]

Heh, heh. Damned predictive text again. I meant the SDHC card that was in use in my smart phone.

Thought so!

My smartphone (Sony/Android) is a bit of a pain, so doesn't actually have much music on it. The geniuses that designed the system didn't make it too easy, so unless I take the SDHC card out and try to load it externally - don't know if I can do that - probably need an adapter - I have to go a tedious route, see as follows:

1. Clear sufficient working space on phone to make download possible.

2. Do a download. Probably won't be more than a few 100 Mbytes - unless I trash all the apps.

3. Move downloaded data to SDHC card.

4. Repeat from 1, almost ad infinitum.

There may be other ways which are less painful, but I've not found them yet. This is one area where Apple clearly wins with their iPhones, though I'm not intending to humour them by paying an arm and a leg just to get a new phone.

I do have software on my MBP which allows me to see what's on the phone, but I just don't know if it'll actually enable me to write via the USB cable to the SD card.

Now you've made me think about some of the issues I suppose I need some form of micro-SDHC adapter so I can load up my phone cards with music easily. I do have a 32 Gbyte card, and the other new phone we have here - a Nokia/Microsoft model will go up to 128 Gbytes. The memory cards are cheap enough - if they can actually be used to useful purpose.

Maybe the Microsoft software does do better than Android wrt managing data on the SD cards. I don't know!

[Bryn]

Now up and about on crutches. The aim is for home on Wednesday. Thanks again for all the good wishes. Trying my best to encourage a positive outlook in others here, but it's an uphill task with one or two.

Can't heap enough gratitude and admiration for all those involved in my rescue and repair, from police officers through to cleaners.

[Dave2002]

Keep smiling and positive. Some people may have problems which really bother them, and perhaps for a very long while, so you can hardly expect raising spirits not to be an uphill task for some of them.

You'll need to be careful with the crutches - and if you have stairs to go up and down you'll need to be particularly careful. Mrs D. recently had to try, but we decided to move everything around so that stairs were avoided completely for several weeks. Even the front door step was initially a challenge, though months later not a problem, and crutches discarded after a couple of weeks. Getting in and out of cars was also difficult (as a passenger) for a while.

I had the feeling that going down was more dificult than going up - but probably best not to test this out.

On going physio seems a good idea. This was scheduled for about 2 weeks after the op - and then the physio seemed slightly concerned at the lack of exercise during the two weeks before. We still haven't figured out what the correct procedure should have been. On the one hand the surgeon probably wanted to be cautious, but the physio thought that was a bad idea as she said that muscle wastage would have been worse with 2 weeks of inactivity. Mrs D's op wasn't a joint replacement, but a muscle thing instead. Might be helpful to get a view on that, if you can!

Hopefully also the physio won't be too painful, though it can be. There is a strong temptation not to bother, but that should be resisted, as done reasonably well the benefits are considerable.

Mobility, or lack of it, may be a nuisance too, as you probably won't be able to drive for a while. Maybe home deliveries will be the way to go for supplies for, hopefully, a short while. Are your neighbours helpful, or will they now view you with suspicion following the forced entry?

Good luck with it all anyway.

[Bryn]

Thanks Dave. All very much in line with what I recall from when I smashed the femur, tib and fib of my right leg, and from when my mother broke her left hip.

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

best wishes for your escape and full recovery Bryn

[EdgeleyRob]

Sounds like you are making progress already Bryn,best wishes.

[Pianorak]

. . . when I smashed the femur, tib and fib of my right leg. . .

You don't believe in half-measures, do you! :-) I'll be back in town on Thursday, if you need anything. Take care.

[Bryn]

You don't believe in half-measures, do you! :-) I'll be back in town on Thursday, if you need anything. Take care.

Thanks Pianorak but following my demonstration of no problems whatever handling stairs, my distance has been brought forward to this afternoon l, so I will most likely be out doing my own light shopping tomorrow (there is a convenient bus stop but 50 or so paces from my front door.

[Dave2002]

Good news Bryn, but take care anyway!

[Bryn]

Good news Bryn, but take care anyway!

Thanks Dave. Now home. Will rest a while before trying to catch up on some missed Radio 3 programmes, especially the much praised Nielsen 5.

[Anna]

I will most likely be out doing my own light shopping tomorrow (there is a convenient bus stop but 50 or so paces from my front door.

Bryn, that sounds rather over ambitious to me so soon after the op, especially if you're thinking of venturing into a supermarket (although Waitrose will provide you with a wheelchair), please don't try and walk before you can run!

A near neighbour had the op last year and when I took some books over for her she had a brilliant 4 wheeled walker loaned to her by NHS which had a shelf - a sort of modified tea trolley really - very useful for moving things from one room to another. Did they send you home with various aids?

[Bryn]

Thanks for your kind concern Anna, but I am not in any way exceeding what the physios suggested as current limits. Around the house I am down to using just one crutch but will use two when out and about. As to aids, all they now issue are raised WC seats and the like. No pickers, no sock tools, no shoe horns et al. They now have to be bought from the Red Cross. Fortunately I inherited a couple of pickers from my mother, and have improvised other aids. I will probably get a shoe horn and other aids from one or other or the pound shops today. I have a handy combines ruck sack and wheely 'basket' to use when shopping.

[jean]

As to aids, all they now issue are rairaised WC seats and the like. No pickers, no sock tools, no shoe horns et al.

I was promised a 'perching stool', but it never arrived. I didn't miss it, and I didn't use the 'pickers' much. They seemed to have no mechanism for taking these things back when they were finished with, which may help to explain why they've stopped issuing them. It was summer, so no socks.

What I really needed was a walk-in shower, but fortunately they had them at the gym. I also found the cycling machines there very useful before I was able to do much else. I didn't find the physio I got particularly helpful - the message seemed to be that anything that felt OK was OK, so long as I didn't stretch my leg sideways and run the risk of dislocating the joint.

Four years later, I have practically forgotten about it.

[Bryn]

Thanks Jean. One of the nurses had had a hip replacement a few years ago and her experience was also very encouraging to hear of. I read of one chap in his 50s who, having has both hips replaced, ran a Marathon. I am not planning on that though. Off in a few minutes to do some shopping and pick up an 8 week 'sick note' from my GP. The latter will just about take me to the time I will need my annual PCV medical anyway, so I can kill two birds with one stone, as it were, and get assessed for fitness to return to work as part of the medical. The company I work for during the tourist season does not pay for the PCV medical but I found the ideal doctor to go to. Not only does he charge less then a third of what my own GP quoted but he is also a medical osteopath in private practice. He does LGV and PCV licence medicals as a second string to his bow, so is particularly well placed to assess skeletal issues.