Archive for the ‘ouch’ Category

Ouch 8

Posted: 06/08/2012 in ouch
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it’s been a while since I’ve whinged and whined about my low pain threshold so thought I would give you all a brief update on my recovery.

The stitches have been out for just over a week now and despite a huge chunk of dead skin peeling away a couple of days later the wound itself although still tender and a little inflamed appears to be healed over with just a little flakiness remaining although I am massaging Bio Oil into it several times a day which will no doubt improve the dryness. The exciting news from this weekend is that I was experiencing some general swelling of my hand necessitating having to take my wedding ring off but then I bashed my thumb and realised that I could feel pain just in front of the original would site. There is still no sensation at the tip of my thumb but I’m getting some really peculiar sensations down the length of my thumb like pins and needles. In addition to this although difficult to explain if I run my fingers over my thumb it feels strangely detached almost as if it’s not my own like that sensation you get if you sit on your hand for a long time and then touch it.

Reading back over that last bit I’m not sure what I’ve written makes sense even to me and I know what I’m trying to say but still I’m excited because things are changing and that’s got to be good. I’m now almost entirely analgesic free which whilst not always especially comfortable my bowels are grateful for the lack of codeine which was wreaking havoc on my somewhat sensitive constitution.

Not a lot of other news to report so I’ll leave you there.

Have a great week.

TTFN

Mr Bunny Chow

 

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A walk through South West London

Posted: 28/07/2012 in ouch, photography
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I hate public transport it’s full of the great unwashed.

I’d better start that again.

It was a beautiful day when I went to get my stitches out so instead of catching the bus from Wimbledon to Tooting where the hospital is I decided to walk and take some photo’s along the way.

I’ve done a little more post processing than I normally do but I’ve tried to give them all something of a vintage or retro feel and think it’s been quite successful. I know that apps like instagram have made this look über trendy at the moment and for once I’m happy being on trend because it’s a look that works for me.

I loved this rather tatty beetle especially with the faux coca cola air cooled sticker in the rear window.

There must have been something in the air because I kept finding retro stuff to shoot.

as usual I stopped and smelled the roses

can you spot the mini bomber squadron?

A little slice of the country in the middle of the city

of course it’s not all green and pleasant.

Not a huge amount else to say but I hope you enjoyed them as much as I have.

Thank for all the message about my thumb I’m much more comfortable now that the stitches out and might stop whinging and whining at some point in the near future.

TTFN

Mr Bunny Chow

now what do I do?

Posted: 27/07/2012 in Mr Bunny Chow, ouch
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oh bloody hell now what do I do, I’ve been nominated for a blog award and whilst I’m very grateful to MarantoPhotography for nominating me to receive the One Lovely Blog award I’ve always felt these sorts of awards to be one step short of being chain letters.

Here’s some recognition now you have to think of fifteen other people to nominate for this same reward.

Well I’ve spent my life being pretty anti-establishment so I’m going to thank Maranto Photography as I know her intentions were pure and instead of nominating anyone else I’ll just mention a couple of blogs that I regularly visit and enjoy in the hope that some of you too will find pleasure in them.

I stress that there is no pressure or obligation on their part to respond, I just enjoy their Blogs.

In no particular order.

Bassas Blog the diary and adventures of a Caucasian Shepherd Dog

Yoonanimous the often hilarious misadventures of Yoona a mother of two young boys.

2Summers the adventures of Heather an American (don’t hold that against her) expat making a new life in Jo’Burg, her tale is often heartbreaking but always told with good humour and warmth.

Crappy Pictures  The woman is a genius, she draws my life and makes me giggle.

Japan Camera Hunter I check in on Bellamy and his eclectic mix of camera porn on a daily basis, just to remind myself of all that I can’t afford. His regular in your bag feature is a particular favourite.

now I’m supposed to list seven things about myself, see I told you this whole thing was a bit chain letter like didn’t I, still at least it’s not lying to me about poor billy who’s been dying of leukemia since 1984 while his Nambabwean uncle is trying to get out of the military and would like to deposit millions into my bank account if I could just send them the details.

  1. I can’t grow a beard, I just get patchy stubble which is ginger, blonde and greying, I wouldn’t mind if I didn’t have to shave but I do so it irks me.
  2. My eyes creep me out and I gag if I try to put contact lenses or drops in, this is ok because I don’t mind glasses.
  3. I’ve just noticed that I’m wearing a lilac shirt and am not actually all that embarrassed, I guess you reach a certain age and just don’t care anymore.
  4. I won the National Schools Wildlife Quiz when growing up in Zimbabwe (a bit like mastermind for kids)
  5. I have a weakness for all things mechanical but especially watches.
  6. I spent six months of my life living like a hippy on a Kibbutz in Israel.
  7. I own a gas braai (barbecue) and prefer it. I should probably qualify this before my family disown me, charcoal in Britain is invariably soaked in paraffin and makes your food taste crap, proper hardwood is unavailable.

That’ll have to satisfy your cravings for knowledge about me.

 

Having my stitches removed this afternoon, it can’t happen any sooner, as they’re starting to itch and pull now.

have a great weekend and

TTFN

Mr Bunny Chow

 

 

Who are you?

Posted: 25/07/2012 in Africa, baby preparations, being dad, Bunny Chow, Courtney Boots, Mr Bunny Chow, ouch, photography, Project 52, Rhodesia, Zimbabwe
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when I first started this blog I’d never even read another blog or even given much thought over to blogging as a means of communication.

My early posts were mostly long rambling complaints about terrible customer service I’d received from a succession of terrible companies and restaurants and I was seething and boiling over to the point of driving my nearest and dearest to distraction so rather than continuing to vent my frustrations on those nearest me, I started ranting, initially on blogger and then shortly after emigrating wholesale to WordPress. Rather than finding a niche early on as my anger faded I began doing a few reviews and even wrote what remains my biggest hit as far as search engine traffic my glowing review of the service provided by the Courtney Boot Company. As a side note, nearly a year on from getting my boots back I’m still wearing them daily.

I also began writing a few posts about becoming a father for the second time and my thoughts and feelings surrounding that as almost everything I read or heard would discuss the mothers thoughts, fears and perspectives, that’s not to put those down it’s simply a comment about the lack or support I could find for us blokes who’re too tough and macho to talk about our feelings with real people, and where there is plenty of support out there for mums there’s not a lot out there for dads.

In the run up to the new year I gained a little fervour for food blogging and launched www.mrbunnychowcooks.com which initially gained great traction but fell largely by the wayside when I managed to stab myself and began my Ouch series, I also began my project 52 at the start of the year, rekindling my long-held passion for photography and bringing another change of focus to these pages.

Anyway what I’ve been meaning to get around to with all of this rambling is what initially brought you to www.mrbunnychow.com do you visit regularly, do you know me personally, do you like reading about me blowing a gasket, do you like looking at pretty pictures, do you subscribe or just pop in occasionally having seen a link or comment on another site.

Blogging success has never been and never will be my aim I’m just a curious geek wondering who my readers are and why you are.

Please do comment below and let me know as much or as little about yourself as you are comfortable with.

alternatively you can always send me a private message via rantingmrbunnychow@gmail.com

I hope you’re all well out there

TTFN

Mr Bunny Chow

Ouch 7 the recovery process

Posted: 23/07/2012 in ouch, photography
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Apologies for the delay to this post but I’ve been doing my best to avoid the computer for the last week or so.

My surgery went ahead as scheduled or rather rescheduled on the 12th and the initial prognosis is good, upon opening up the side of my thumb it has been established that there is no tendon damage and that whilst there was a lot of scaring around the median nerve it too was in tact so they were able to do something called neurolysis which essentially consisted of un-sheathing the nerve and cutting away the excess scar tissue, this process is unlikely to return the sense of feeling to the tip of my thumb but should theoretically at least do something to stop the nerve from sending phantom signals back up into my hand and arm saying it’s in pain.

Hold on I’m not sure that makes much sense so I’m going to try to explain a bit better the reasons I was pushing for this surgery in the first place, not having any feeling in the tip of my thumb has not been the end of my world, it’s made my typing a little clumsy and I’ve burned it while cooking a couple of times but what has been unbearable is that the median nerve that serves the thumb has known there was something wrong with it and sent random shooting pains back up through my thenar (the pulpy bit of your hand beneath your thumb) and into my forearm. These pains have been fairly random but were largely brought on by things like having to drive long distance especially in difficult conditions like heavy rain or stop start traffic where I might subconsciously be gripping the steering wheel harder than normal. My boys also have an uncanny ability to single out this weakness and bite, kick or grab out at it resulting in often days of being unable to sleep properly.

Right back to where we are now they’ve done the surgery, I’ve been through a week of being stoned out of my box on happy pills that barely dented the pain nor helped my sleep and  I’ve been back to have my dressing changed and spoken with a specialist hand nurse who’s given me some simple exercises and things are definitely improving, I’ve run out of the hospital prescribed happy pills and am now just subsiding on over the counter analgesics, these do seem to be working though and whilst I’m still getting cramping through my thenar it’s believed by the specialists that this will improve with time and I may even regain some feeling in the tip.

My stitches come out on Friday and they’ll take a decision then as to whether or not I will benefit from physiotherapy, they will also decide then whether I will need to return to see my consultant surgeon in either two months or three as this is the soonest that things are likely to have settled down enough to judge if there has been any permanent improvement and whether or not further surgery might be necessary.

I’m allowed to drive again once the stitches are out which will be of huge relief to the wonderfully patient and kind Mrs Bunny Chow who has borne the brunt of childcare duties and been running around trying to do the school runs etc.

I’ll leave this there as I’ve pretty much exhausted my patience for one-handed typing.

thanks again for all the kind messages and support.

TTFN

Mr Bunny Chow

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Ouch 6

Posted: 11/07/2012 in ouch
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you’re probably wondering how I’ve been able to type this so soon after surgery to my thumb and the simple answer is that I haven’t had the surgery yet, I went through all of the de-lousing, fasting, stressing and panicking and presented myself to the day surgery unit yesterday at the prescribed time where I waited and sat about for a while before a kindly nurse led me through to the inner sanctum and went through the checking in procedure with me, checking that I’d done everything I was supposed to, ensuring that I’d removed my wedding ring watch etc, fitting me with an ID bracelet explained the infamous backless gown, paper underwear with flattering giant access panel and super sexy anti deep vein thrombosis leggings.

I then got to be fitted with an ID anklet just in case I managed to lose my id bracelet when I was told that my surgeon was there to see me, excellent I thought she’ll just want to discuss what they’re doing again and prod and contort my battered thumb some more before making some drawings and explaining her plans. My initial assumption was initially proved correct, she battered, prodded and contorted me whilst asking if she was causing any discomfort, I nodded in the affirmative to all of her prods and pokes whilst doing my best not to scream, when eventually after all this (she was probably only at it for five minutes but it felt like hours) she said that unfortunately she was going to have to cancel my scheduled surgery due to an emergency that had come in. She then went on to apologise that I had wasted my journey and time off work and that of my carer etc. She then went on to say that she would try to fit me in again after her holiday in 3 to 4 weeks.

I fixed her with my best steely gaze, she obviously understood this to mean that I was preparing to wreak havoc or cry, either way she suggested that on second thoughts that although due to the complexity of my procedure only a consultant would be able to undertake my operation she would speak with Mary the bookings clerk and see if she couldn’t perhaps postpone one of her scheduled operations from Thursday (12.07.12) until after her holiday and slot me in then.

At this point I was dismissed to go and get back into my normal clothes, disposing of my gown, sexy socks and flattering paper underwear.

I was then taken in by a kindly nurse of the old school who could clearly see that I was rather unimpressed and given a strong sweet tea and a biscuit whilst Mary ran around and did her thing, presumably with some success as I’m to present myself for surgery again at 12 tomorrow.

I do hope that they actually go ahead this time as I’m in agony today from Mrs Surgeons proddings and pokings and not sure if Mrs BC can take any more of my grumpiness.

TTFN

Mr Bunny Chow

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Ouch 5 the De-lousing begins

Posted: 05/07/2012 in Mr Bunny Chow, ouch
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I’ve mentioned previously in my ouch posts that somewhere along the line between stabbing myself and now I have picked up some sort of superbug/infection that could cause major problems to post operative patients and as such beginning this morning I have to put ointment up my nose three times a day, wash my entire body and hair with a special antibiotic soap (hair’s only every other day) and then powder my armpits and groin with an antibiotic powder, in addition to this I have to obviously wear fresh clothing (I do anyway although trousers may go a couple of days) but much to Mrs Bunny Chows joy and delight also a fresh towel and bedding daily.

English: A ruptured MRSA cyst.

This photo from Wikipedia should give you an idea of why I’m going through with the de-lousing.

If you really want to know more about MRSA (no it’s not just one bug) but a type of bugs then have a read through or just accept that whilst it doesn’t seem to have affected my life so far too badly aside from never-ending coughs colds and sniffles and more spots and the like than your average pubescent.

Wish me well and think of the poor long-suffering and very sweet Mrs Bunny Chow.

TTFN

Mr Bunny Chow

Ouch 4

Posted: 25/06/2012 in ouch
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woohoo, great news the NHS have finally pulled finger (pun wholly intended) and scheduled me in for my thumb operation on Tuesday the 10th of July.

I’m not going to go into great detail explaining my injury again but you can read my older posts here or just go through life happy in the knowledge that I stabbed myself whilst being an idiot and not paying suitable attention to what I was doing.

My numerous visits to hospitals and healthcare professionals afterwards also meant that I picked up a nasty superbug type infection that I’m not allowed to treat until the week before my surgery, meaning lots and lots of niggling sickness, colds flu’s etc.

The only thing I can be truly grateful for is that I stabbed my thumb not the neck of my mate that was behind it.

Be safe, be careful and remember that whilst knives are cool and macho they are not toys and should be treated with respect.

TTFN

Mr Bunny Chow

Project 52 Week 22

Posted: 07/06/2012 in ouch, photography
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I’m late, I’m late for a very important date.

Week 22 proved to be incredibly challenging for me as the theme was self-portrait and try as I might I didn’t like any of the clichéd shots I kept taking of myself either arms extended or gurning into a mirror and with time limited and self-conscious double chin hatred precluding all of the shot’s I kept trialling from being shared I decided to think a little more about who I am as an artist.

I’m a father, I’m a dog walker, I’m a husband, I have a job managing a small office, nothing there spoke to me either, not because I’m not proud of all of the above but because I wanted to capture something deeply personal and there are plenty of other talented people out there who do all of these things successfully.

Then I began thinking about what has helped shape my style and personality most since I began this project and kept coming back to my thumb injury for which I am still awaiting an operation date from the NHS.

Self Portrait

I’ve winged and whined in these pages before about my sore thumb and how I have battled to ignore its constant aching over the last 6 months and I’ve gotten better at keeping quiet about it and not boring my friends and family but the long drive to the Vale of Glamorgan and back over the long weekend brought the stark reality back home to me. It is still bloody sore and I can’t shrug off something like a long drive as easily as I once could.

So there you have it my excuse reason for not showing you a picture of my ugly mug but instead a shot of my poor sore left hand.

In my last post I promised you some exciting news and I may have gotten over excited as the news is hugely exciting to me but perhaps a little droll for all of you. None the less I no longer need to borrow The Falklandislander’s Canon EOS10D (although I still have it in my possession) as I managed to find a battered example for myself for the bargain price of £50 from the lovely people of www.cameraworld.co.uk they were open and honest about the condition of the camera but I couldn’t be happier, it’s alloy magnesium body bares it’s scrapes and scratches with pride and so far appear to be purely cosmetic. I mean come on this camera was over £1000 when new and it’s now mine.

Sure I’d love the have the cash to throw at a slightly more modern system but I love the feel and weight of this camera and it’s relatively low value gives me the confidence to take it everywhere with me.

You’ll be seeing plenty of pictures from it in the coming, months week and years I can assure you.

TTFN

Mr Bunny Chow

P.S. this weeks pic was actually taken with my HTC One X phone but pictures from the Canon are coming soon.

Ouch 3!!!

Posted: 01/02/2012 in iPhone, Kindle, ouch
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Superficial palmar nerves.

Image via Wikipedia

for those of you that have been following my saga I wanted to give you an update on the state of my thumb, if this is a new story line to you then you can catch up here before continuing.

After much badgering of my GP and the appointments clerks at my local hospital I finally managed to see a specialist hand surgeon for an opinion as to what could be done about my hand.

He sucked his teeth in obvious irritation and said that I should have been refered within a week of the injury and that he would be writing a strongly worded letter to my GP advising him of his displeasure. He then said that there were two lines of thought on late presenting nerve damage, the first being to go ahead and operate as soon as possible anyway and the other to allow any scar tissue to form and inflammation to dissipate before attempting surgery.

The kindly surgeon then refered me for X-Rays whilst he went off and spoke with some colleagues for further opinion. Mr Surgeon came back to me a short while later to say that he wanted me to see a different surgeon at the plastics hand clinic at another hospital on the other side of town the following morning.

Being in agony after kindly first Mr Surgeons manipulations, pokes and proddings as well as the thought of rush hour traffic I decided that public transport was the order of the day to get across London for my early appointment, this was needless to say as unpleasant as can be expected of any brush with London’s transport system and I spent the majority of the journey with my nose wedged firmly in the armpit of a fellow commuter whilst trying my best to read my kindle.

On a minor aside this was the first time I’ve taken rush hour public transport in some time and I was amused to count four other kindle readers within a radius of a couple of metres, they’re obviously taking off.

Anyway I’m waffling, I made it to my appointment on time even though I’d given myself plenty of extra time to arrive early, I checked in and was seen relatively quickly, by NHS standards anyway by a specialist nurse, who repeated much of the previous days excruciating poking and prodding as well as tests to establish relative muscle wasting and retained strength as well as examining my X-Rays from the previous day.

He then disappeared for the best part of an hour with brief revisits to inflict more pain and ask more questions before reappearing with another slightly less kindly but equally professional looking Mr Surgeon who explained to me that he believed that I had indeed partially severed a branch of my Median Nerve which he also gave a very long and complicated name and also suffered a minor fracture of my thumb at the joint where I had managed to stab myself.

He also promised to dictate a strongly worded letter to my GP about the importance of quick referrals in cases of suspected nerve injuries. He then went on to say that in consultation with his registrar Kindly Mr Surgeon number one, he believed that the fracture had now healed itself and that there was now too much scarring and inflammation of the muscles surrounding the nerve for surgery to be immediately successful and that he would be referring me for physiotherapy before re-assessing me in a couple of weeks.

He also recommended that I regularly massaged the wound site and my hand with moisturiser, and try to use the thumb as much as my pain threshold will allow.

So that’s where we are, I am waiting for them to get in touch with physio appointments and follow-up appointments whilst continuing to consume vast quantities of analgesics.

Many thanks for all the kindly messages of support I’ve recieved and also extra special thanks go out to Mrs Bunny Chow for putting up with my extra grumpy self.

TTFN

Mr Bunny Chow

 

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