Friday 21 September 2012

Fun catch-up, with an unfortunate ending.

So, feels like not long ago that I wrote my last post, but a lot has happened since then!  Had an awesome catch up with Hannah on Monday - it's been far too long since we last saw each other!  Just hung out in the arvo, then made the fateful decision to go to the trampoline club for Monday night training...

In my last post I think I talked a lot about all the sports I was trying out/wanted to try out, and had grand plans to join a bunch of clubs.  I did shinty and fencing last week, and also tried out trampolining last Saturday.  It was really fun, and being 9am on a Saturday there weren't many people there either, so plenty of bounce time for all of us :) So I decided to go back on Monday, and since Hannah used to be part of the club she came too.  However, maybe the session on Saturday made me too confident, or maybe I'm just retarded, but for whatever reason on Monday night I tried to do a backdrop (which I had done on Saturday) and ended up lying on the floor for the next hour and a half with icepacks on my ankle while it swelled to the size of a small golf ball on one side.  Then got a taxi to the hospital, where they gave me a cast for the night and told me to come back the next day.

Turns out its just a bad sprain, so they gave me a 'moon boot' which in the doctors words will help me be able to "gimpily walk" hopefully very soon, and for now crutches to aid the walking process.  Have been keeping the weight off it whenever I go outside, partially to avoid looking extra retarded, and also just to give it a break, but trying to work on walking around my room without the crutches.  Have sort of achieved this with the boot on, but not really with the boot off yet - goal for the next few days I guess!

But anyway, as unexciting as the event itself was, it has resulted in a number of different things since.  Firstly would be my first ever hospital visit! (for myself anyway).  Of course it had to be in a different country!  But luckily for me, Australia and the UK have some kind of NHS-Medicare agreement, so I didn't have to worry about sorting out fees and travel insurance etc.  And also luckily, Hannah was there to accompany me to the hospital, and sit and wait with me, and make me rocky road when we got home at 1am.  Though compared to my limited experience of  emergency rooms in Australia, I went through really quickly here!

Thinking of Hannah and lucky in the same sentence though, we actually decided it must have a been an unlucky reunion this time, because even after we got home from the hospital the bad luck didn't stop.  Firstly, we had managed to leave my keys in the gym when we left, which of course presented a problem getting into the building.  Then on top of that, while I usually leave my room door and also my kitchen cupboard unlocked, Hannah had run back home while I was lying on the floor at the gym to get stuff, and had locked both the door and also the cupboard on the way out!  So we had to call security and get them to let me into my room, and then improvise with the stuff I'd left drying on the sink to make the rocky road!

Have to interrupt that train of thought for a second though and say that despite being a little unlucky, Hannah was amazingly prepared for someone who claimed to have never accompanied someone to hospital before!  She put in warm socks - something I was very thankful for after hopping across the wet ground on one foot in just a sock!  She also put in a pair of pyjama pants, which saved me from having to change to the weird hospital ones when they went to put the cast on me.  All round lifesaver at the time really!

Another thing I have found with injuring myself is it really shows you how nice some people can be.  First of all the people from the gym and also the trampoline club who helped me - none of them knew me, but they were nice enough to sit there and distract me, not laugh at the tears that managed to work their way out, and also practically carry me to the taxi!  One of the guys has even been nice enough to help me since - carrying my stuff home from a class, and sending me a message to see how the hospital went.  As well as them, its just the small things like friends offering to walk somewhere with me despite how painfully slow I make it, and also complete strangers asking if I need any help or just holding the door open for me.  If you're ever losing your faith in humanity, injure yourself and it will probably be restored!

Another thing it has affected has been class attendance - as with every semester, I had very good intentions about going to every lecture at the start of the semester, but I have to admit my attendance this week has been somewhat sporadic.  This is partially laziness, and partially the fact that the painkillers they gave me at the hospital apparently make me feel sick.  Missed my first tutorial for one of my courses this week cos I took painkillers before I went to the class right before it, and then sat there feeling like throwing up the entire time.  Also had to leave choir on Tuesday night early for the same reason :S  I guess I'll be able to catch those up though.

Probably what I'm most bummed about is that after deciding on the sports I wanted to join, now I can't do any of them, at least for a few weeks.  And same goes with the gym, which I only just joined!  Am hopeful I might still be able to have a bit of time to do them after my ankles better though.

Anyway, enough about my ankle.  I have still managed to do one or two fun things this week.  Went to choir on Tuesday - which was good before I started feeling sick.  Am enjoying singing again, even though I'm so rusty that the high notes feel very high now!  Also trying to decide whether or not to take part in the upcoming 24 production of the Mikado - sounds stressful, but also definitely an interesting experience.  Then had dinner with friends downstairs, and then met a bunch of my roommate's friends when they came over for a drink.  And last night I managed to drag myself to the first monthly Stammtisch - basically an opportunity for Germans and learners of German to get together at a pub and speak in German/English.  That was fun, and a chance to meet some more new people, as well as hanging out with people I already knew :)  Tonight I plan to go try out the gospel choir, and then after I think I'm meeting up with some friends for a 'Scottish night', which should be good :)

Goals for the immediate future include - going to Broughty Ferry to visit Jenna and sample some apparently delicious Scottish steak pie, visiting St Andrews, and of course visiting Edinburgh!  The further immediate future is also to get back to being able to do some sports/exercise...  Wales and Ireland are still hanging around in the future too, and hopefully by then I'll be able to walk.  But for now I definitely need to spend the rest of the afternoon catching up on German homework and tutorial readings - fun times I know!

No comments:

Post a Comment