Destroy the Office

Jamie, who sits next to me in the office has started the process of moving out of the office early by destroying (accidentally) the binds on our window. he managed to rip it off the ceiling so that I won't go back up. I figure when they finally move out we won't care much about the stuff left behind but he's a little early.

So its hot in here as the sun is right on us for most of the afternoon. fortunate then that I'm off next week.

Admin

The Knee's too bad at the moment trying not to do anything to dramatic in case I bugger it up.

The preparation for the op is begining at the moment the whole thing seems to be mostly filling in forms I imagine the op will be quicker than the admin!

a huge pack arrived in the post including a lot of detail about how things happen and what can go wrong. I guess that you have to be fully informed before you go in , but its a bit EEK!

New Office

its a bit purple

apparently its a neutral colour in our company. Something about not clashing with the company colours!

It all very nice if a little unfinished at the moment. It's based above Victoria station and we share the building with the Met and the Daily Telegraph.
I was there for a meeting about new changes to our Customisation system and we had it in one of the new brand new rooms in the new building. the room was call Pong and like every other room at the new office it is named after retro computer games. I spotted the following rooms, Pong, Defender, JetPac, Elite, Glaxians, Centipede, Tetris and Asteroids.

A bit Geeky I know, but it is a very nice office. It should be nice to move in after I've had my op (everyone else will be moving in while I'm away on the 9th)

Nice Sofas and carpet

Well private is a bit different!

The Friday appointment with the consultant went smoothly and quickly. The place was very nice and we didn't have the hour wait like the NHS version. I even think the weather was nicer.

So he gave me the full physical again, basically bending my knee at funny angles until either it went click or started hurting. He said that its definitely a big tear to the cartilage and maybe some damage to the ligament. That means the cartilage is worst than we thought and the ACL is probably better.

The result of all this is two operations; one to cut out the cartilage and then much later one to fix the ligament.

So we fixed up a date for the first op. I will be going to the BUPA Hospital in Harpenden on the 4Th June.

It will be a day case, so no stay over night, but I will get a general anaesthetic while they do the op, which will be keyhole. This should reduce the pain and make the knee move more freely, rather than it locking up and not straightening completely, as it currently does.

I will be out of action for a couple of weeks, afterwards, while the bruising heals. This means that I'm probably going to miss uSwitch's move to the new offices. Hopefully the problems and the chaos will have died down by the time I get back (yeah right).

Ring-a-Round and the NHS side step

I've gone private

Took a bit of phoning around to different secretaries in different hospitals, but I've got an appointment to see Mr Kitson, the consultant, this Friday at 4pm.

It at the same hospital, just a different wing. It had to be the same hospital because though a little slight of hand the records from the scan are available only if you stay at the hospital. It seems that the NHS don't allow you to transfer your records to a private hospital and make you go through the whole process again. Fortunately we may be able to get around this as I'm not moving hospital, just moving within the hospital.

It's call the Elizabeth House wing and according to the official NHS map its just around the back.

So hopefully things will start moving very fast and I will be sort real soon

Meniscus Tear, er that will be bad news then.

Bad news


This whole being injured thing is a very frustrating business I've been putting up with a wobbly knee for about five months now and I just want to be able to walk a bit faster.
The visit was quite frustrating as well with a long wait of over an hour and then about a three minute talk before it was all over again. Many thanks to my Mum for driving me there and waiting with me.


The doctor said that the MRI was inconclusive about the ACL, but showed that there is a meniscus tear Apparently this is the pad between the bones that acts like a shock absorber
He said that I should have a bit of keyhole surgery to cut out the bad bit of the cartilage and so they can put in a camera to have a look at the rest of the knee and work out what state the ACL is in

so I will have to have two lots of surgery and so two lots of recovery.

Checking on the web once I got home, about a meniscus tear, a site said they normally cut out the torn bit as there is no blood flow to that area so no chance of it healing.

So the doctor says we should get me in for an operation. I told him I've sort out some private cover when he started talking about getting me in for the surgery. he gave me the business card of the lead consultant for the clinic a Mr Kitson and said I should ring the number on the card and book an appointment to see him. At which point that ended the NHS' involvement in the process and with it the meeting, he wished me good luck.

back home and I call the number on the card and unsurprisingly I get the answerphone.
so its stop start again as I said very frustrating...

Uncle duties

Great news !

I got a phone call, while at work, from my sister, Claire.
She rang to say I will be wanted for my Uncle duties around about the 25Th Nov as she expecting again

Congratulations to Claire and Ed.
Brilliant News...

Finally!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So I got a text this morning from my Mum saying that a letter had arrived from the hospital. Hurrah! so rather than wait until the evening, I rang home and Mum read it out.

I'm off to hospital next monday morning, hopefully to finally find out the damage and some idea of what it will take to get my leg fixed.

Still waiting

Come on, Come on, Come on

Nope still nothing in the post from the NHS, apart from a request for blood. I've got my private medical all sorted, I've even got a card to say I'm a member. All that I need to do now is tell the doctor... So I'm waiting and waiting for the next appointment so I can find out the results of the scan and get some fixin'.

The knee isn't too bad at the moment and I can walk around reasonable well at the minute without my stick. and apart from the odd bit of swelling and locking up it will behave itself so long as I don't try to run or turn quickly.

Oh but I can go biking. Which is great because the weather is good and Watton at Stone is a great place to cycle around with lots of bridleways and country roads.

Insurance final payment

another £959.15 which is a bit closer to what I figured was right

So I got some more money for the Insurance company but in the accompanying letter they said that the calculation for me was correct and that Jason's was wrong. That would make it so that most of the money would have been in the 150 pounds limit and so I would have got next to nothing, making the policy completely unsuitable for the trip. They couldn't really ask Jason for some of the money back so in stead the paid me using the same calculations. so we differ in our payments only due to the cost of the medical bills.

I think the insurance company was completely wrong to promote this policy as suitable for any kind for trip where injury is a possibility. The only thing is had going for it in the end was if the trip got cancelled for any reason, then I would have got a full refund.

I guess that this latest amount is the best I'm going to get out of them without recourse to the law and all I can really do now is make sure no one else has to have this problem.

So I'm going to write Alan at Crystal with the results and suggest to him that they really should not use towergate chase parkinson in future or at least use that policy for that trip.

A bit of Stick

We have just had a pool night at work.



I'm not the greatest player on the planet as was demonstrated by my need not to play any further games after the first round.

During the night and as I've noticed more since, quite a few people have complemented me on my wide range of walking sticks. Trouble is though, I've only got two so I'm not sure what's going on.

One is my Mums (A simple wood stick with a easily gripped handle) from when she injured her leg a while ago. The other is my Dad's from Austria, from when injured his foot on some coral on the Great Barrier Reef, it black wood with lots of cool carvings on it (very voodoo/mojo).

Still I suppose its a talking point and I'm getting a little fed up with the question 'So how long will you be needing the stick for?', as I've still now word from the doctors about my scan results!

Scan Friday

You wouldn't believe how hard it is to stay completely still for twenty minutes!

Friday was my Scan, at long last. So off I went to the MRI department of the same hospital as last time.

When you get there you put all your stuff and valuables into a locker with a metal key! which I had to leave in the lock... as you can't take anything metal into the room!
The machine is a huge (10ft high) cylinder and you lie on a little tray which rises to about 5 feet off the ground, which is a bit high when your leg is tied down, and slides in and out of the machine. I looked like I was in an iron lung with just my head sticking out of one end of the machine.

For the exam you have to stay completely still, otherwise the image it produces is blurred and you have to stay that way for about 20 minutes which so hard. First you lie there and think about moving and then you think about not moving and you get tense. So you have to think about not being tense as that's moving too and you go in circles in you mind;

don't think about moving, think about something else, keep still, don't start laughing, OK think of something serious so you don't laugh, oh no now your tensing up, relax so you don't move, don't think about moving....arrggh!

Another thing I wasn't prepared for was the noise. the 20 minutes it takes is broken down into 2:45-3min chunks or very loud banging and buzzing as the machine works and so you have to wear noise protection.

The hospital was fine, if typical in its confusing amount of corridors and staircases. The staircases featured a lot of rope and netting I guess to stop anymore trying to top themselves. The Psychiatry department is probably on the top floor.

The only thing really annoying about the whole experience was that I won't know the results until I have another meeting with the consultant so I'm waiting for another letter in the post.

3 Times - there and back

A nice sunny Easter weekend. I managed to go out cycling three times. Once around the village, once up onto the ridge to the north, well small hill, and once across to the next village Datchworth via our church.

Very Healthy, and fine so long as I don't need to put my left foot down.

Although I'm a bit sore now! might have to buy a softer seat!!

New Bike

for my knee you understand.

as part of the cycle2work thing I spent my 350 quid voucher at Halfords, not the most helpful people on the planet, and got a mountain bike.

its a GT Aggressor XC.3 I think, well its a hardtail, has shimarno (er!) breaks and its blue! for 299.99 GBP

I also, because it was the Easter weekend, got 50 quids won't of extras thrown in which was every nice. So I got the bike, a BIG lock (weights about half as much as the bike!), lights, some bike clip thingies (suggested by my Dad who knows heaps about cycling) and a suitably odd looking helmet.

So I'm all kitted out for the easter weekend

End of an era

No more Reno or Craig at work

It was a case of a couple of speeches, some silly presents and the usual trip downstairs for a large amount of beer.

Other traditions were held including a caption competition (were a picture (or two in this case) of a person is doctored and a funny caption added and everyone submits them and then they are all voted on by email). I've never actually won this event (we used to do it most Fridays) but I did manage to come third this time.

This of course happened on Thursday due to it being Easter weekend.

No more Julian either, he left a few days earlier quietly with little fuss.

They're back!

From Canada all safe and well. Except, of course, the ones that are staying out there. The word from Bryn is that its been a very successful trip with a pass mark for the level two exam of around 90%.

I'm very glad for them but also a little sad and envious that I wasn't there as well.
Hopefully there's always next year...

£612.95 and the Departure Lounge

No not the final amount for the Comic Relief shave-a-thon (that was around 400 quid if John A ever gets around to collecting it). Its the cost of 4 tickets to this years Leeds music festival.

By a lot of luck I managed to get four tickets (Russ,Vicki,Nick and Myself) after we had given up all hope. All the websites where saying they had all run out. Russ had been trying the night before but they were all overloaded. So we thought it was going to be like last year with the tickets going before you have any real chance to get them. But fortunately I tried again just before lunch time and one of the sites let me thru and buy some.

So far its an interesting line up and should be good

Carling Weekend: Leeds Festival line-up August 24 and 26

Friday, August 24

The Smashing Pumpkins
NIN
Lostprophets
Fall Out Boy
Funeral For A Friend
+44
Klaxons

Saturday, August 25

Razorlight
Kings Of Leon
Interpol
Maximo Park
Ash

Sunday, 26 August

Red Hot Chilli Peppers
Arcade Fire
Bloc Party
Panic! At The Disco
Angels And Airwaves
The View
We Are Scientists

In other news the Company Departure Lounge, what we call it when someone has resigned and is on their notice period, got two shock arrivals.

Reno, who you may remember as the one who bust his arm boarding and Craig the Lord of Dark things musical and Tech support.

Reno is off to a Mortgage company who look after their DBAs (his job) better than here.

Craig on the other hand is one of the handful of original company employees and as such did quite well out of the parent company buying the company and so has decided he can't be bothered working any more and is going off to travel and write scary music.

It's no understatement to say that this place won't be the same without them.

Rose Nose Day

Poor old Simon, one of our Tech guys, Simon has had long hair for four plus years got into a drunken conversation a couple of nights ago and was convinced to have his head shaved for Comic Relief. A major whip round has developed in the office and I think the total is about 905 pounds so far. I think the aim is for about 2500 but its still a good amount of money. I'm giving a half a ton, partly cos it's a good cause and partly cos he does need it cutting! We got the bar downstairs to host the event and even got the company to put something towards it. So it looks like it will be quite a messy night tonight probably all end up on YouTube at some point.

Cash in hand, cash in bank

Well I put the cheque for the amount I did have into the bank so I can at least pay off some of the loan.
Just had a call from Alan he's talked to the insurance company and they said they would compare my claim with Jasons and get back to him. I'm not in any rush but I would like it sorted at some point.

Also its the last day to put my uFlex benefits. I'm going for Private Medical, Personal Pension, Season Ticket loan and the Cycle to work scheme.

The Season ticket loan is after tax, and quite large (plus three grand) as I'm travelling in to London from my Parent's, but interest free.

The Personal Pension is pretty much a continuation of the 8% contribution the company was paying into my scheme before all this flexible stuff started. The two main differences are its paid monthly so if you quit you don't lose back to the last six month payment and two I'm putting extra 3% which will replace the additional payments I was making from my bank account. The advantage of this is that I save the National Insurance Contributions and don't have to do extra paper work to get the tax back.

The Cycle to work scheme lets you save the tax and NI but you have to buy a bike. I my case, with my knee, this isn't as mad an idea as it seems.The knee is fairly stable now and the motion of riding a bike is fairly straight and won't stress the knee too much. And I have to do some exercise because I'm doing zero at the moment. It seems actually to be a bit of a shock to the system, if you suddenly stop being very active (like stop ski every day) you're body can't work out its energy levels very well and it can play havoc with your sleep patterns.

Lunch with a Friend

Jason looks a lot better
he's had the surgery and so has been out of it on drugs for the last couple of days. we had lunch today at Noodle Noodle near Victoria station (good food, big portions). He got his insurance claim but it was for a larger amount that I got around 4500 so I've got to have a word with the Insurance company cos that can't be right, its more that I got and I came back first!

A uFlex update as we are part of a group scheme I can join the Health plan without having to be excluded because of my knee. So I will be able to claim for my treatments. WOW