Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Gardener Re-jigged

It was lifting heavy stones into a wheelbarrow and heaving that wheelbarrow some hundreds of metres that did it. The first and last time I get a hernia.
Here I was thinking only old and reckless people got them. Humph!
As you can see though, post-op, I've made it intact to my own room-with-a-view at The Alfred Hospital...
...where, I have to admit, it's kind of nice to be dandling about, reading Granta # 102, 'The New Nature Writing' and allowing myself to let events transpire, sometimes drowsing. It helps me to be surrounded by courteous and smiling staff, when I have felt like being neither courteous nor smiling myself, but have a middle part that groans and winces.
They forget, of course, that patients may like a glass of champagne after surgery, but I guess having a fine surgeon makes up for the omission. Besides, I did at least get a few cigarettes out on the windswept street, clad in my hospital-wear, no-one battering an eyelid...
I was writing this as part of  my self-devised therapy before I'd got home, longing as I was to see my Very Patient Curly-Tailed Woofer. I'm delighting now to be sliding into low gear - no more hard labour for this old and reckless man! 
 Is this the beginning of a new lightness and nimbleness?




22 comments:

  1. Dear Faisal,
    My friend I am sorry to hear of your mishap.
    I am in full agreement when it comes to champagne after surgery, and if I am ever in the position of spending time of my own in the 'big white building' I shall make sure that somehow I get a glass or two - or at least a small glass of cassis...
    I shall be thinking of you and hoping you get well and are back on your feet sooner rather than later - and no more rejigging!
    Bye for now
    Kirk

    PS
    AGA's father has been spending time at the Olivia Newton John Wellness Centre (attached to the Austin Hospital) and told us that he was allowed glasses of beer! (champagne not being his 'thing')

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    1. Kirk, hello. I'm not sure if being in the Olivia Newton John Wellness Centre would make me any better, but I'm sure it helps to smile through calamity!
      Thank you very much. I didn't, of course, expect anything like champagne and was lucky to have got my roast lamb dinner that night. I've learnt now not to push it too hard, not to push wheelbarrows too hard, and am looking forward to doddering about a bit more, in a foggier state, with less ambition...

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  2. Do post-operation drinks? That is so uncivilised. I see medical services are getting as bad down there as over here... at least a waggy-tailed friend will be happy to see you again. Get well. Cheers!

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    1. Yes, can you believe it, Roger, no champagne after surgery - it is barbarian, is it not? The next thing you know they'll be taking cheese off the menu! Thank you, my friend...Zara and I were very happy to re-connect! You take care too.

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  3. Ouch. Pity poor Faisal. A glass or three of champagne and a couple of cigarettes should be mandatory after such an experience. Do please be up and about again soon, eh? (Perhaps just leave those sodding rocks wherever they may be). Dave

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    1. The rocks, David, can roll where they like.
      I'm a bit piecemeal at the moment: some of me is is in the present but some of me is still catching up with the past and some of me is drawing a curtain across the future. What will it be next? Raised mixed therapeutic beds? After-tea strolls? Daytime television? Yikes! Ta Dave.

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  4. Snap ! I too have sustained the same injury and have just seen a surgeon. Perhaps there are many more gardeners of a certain age with the same problem ! Get well soon and enjoy the rest.

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    1. From what I gather, Paul, we being a bit of a hard-nosed breed, we gardeners, hernias are not uncommon. My 82 year old mother has had two, and she still climbs up on a ladder to trim ficus.
      Never again, for me...the pain is just too awful, and if there's nothing I dislike more than crap gardens it's pain, especially where organs and internals are concerned. Thank you for the condolence.

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  5. Oh my! I do hope you have a speedy recovery. I suspect champagne not being in the menu may may have to with pain meds? Of course you would certainly be in the right place if the two didn't play well together. Take care!

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    1. If they'd only supplied champagne, Bonnie, where and when required, NONE of this would have happened, I'm absolutely sure of it...thank you darling Bonnie.

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  6. Faisal,
    I herniated a disc a couple years ago which I am certain gardening contributed to. I am almost able to do what I once did but I am much more careful about the lifting and moving I take on. Luckily, I have 2 grown sons that are always willing to lend a hand when needed. Get well soon and be just a little more careful. I'll be toasting to your health during cocktails this evening.

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  7. A man of your abilities, Michael, ought to have two sons to carry out the plans to get nearer the vision.
    I'm getting happy enough now, in springtime, to see things get a bit out of hand because they're getting out of hand so healthily.
    Will I be quite so resigned when summer hits? I will probably have to be. I'm not sure I'll be thrilled to see the garden get undone without me giving it as much as I have, but maybe I have to stop worrying. Gardens are meant to give you health, not take it away from you,after all.

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  8. Wishing you a quick recovery all the way from Minneapolis, MN!

    :-)

    Pearl

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    1. That's a wonderful blog you've got there Pearl - not quite like any I've seen before! Thank you for your kind thoughts, Faisal.

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  9. Hey Faisal what a blow! I hope you are out and about soon! Have you checked out yet?

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    1. The worst thing, Billy, is the effect of the anaesthetic...I still feel sort of knocked out. I'm back home now, spending hours just watching the birdlife in the garden. No gardening. I'm getting used to the idea of letting things slide ( a bit ! ). Thanks mate for your encouragement.

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    1. Thank you Velma! It was key-hole surgery so I guess I won't have to look like Frankenstein, or Frankenstein's midriff, anyway. I kind of like the process of recovery.

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  11. Gosh, Faisal, I missed this worrying news but fortunately have read your newest post so know you're okay. Rest up, let the garden go, it will still be waiting for you when you feel up to facing it again.

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    1. Carol, support I get from you and others like you, here on my blog, crazy as it seems, really helps replenish me.
      I'm gardening already. OK, I'll admit, I've been furtively gardening all along, in one kind of form or other. It is, for me, a lifeline.

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  12. dear Faisal, having spent quite a lot of time in hospital over the last few years, I feel for you - it is a very weird space. I hope your low gear recovery time isn't too long, and by now you must be blissfully reunited with your beloved S.

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    1. I'm unfamiliar with hospitals Sue, and feel for anyone obliged to be in one for long.
      The best part of the day was seeing the food arrive!
      Zara's my bestest friend and does much to help me get back to feeling normal. X.

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