Recovery Day 12
It’s Sunday
morning (19th Oct) and once again some challenges in sleeping due to
the pain. I’m thinking maybe those small
extra pills the Doctor gave me are doing what they’re supposed to be doing for
relieving pain.
An
interesting morning I can say. This is
the first time I’ve be a ‘virtual guest’ at a wedding. My 2nd cousin was getting married
yesterday and I was invited but due to the fact I’m in Taiwan of course I
couldn’t attend.
When I
turned on skype, a message from my uncle saying call me on skype as you can say
hello to everyone at the wedding. A
12-hour time difference met that it was only around 7pm Saturday in London
(Canada). Once we got connected my uncle
walked around with his phone and allowing everyone to say hi to me and of
course vice versa. It was so cool to see
everything there and of course the bride and groom. The mother of the groom said to me “thank you
for coming”…hahaha
We skyped
for maybe 15 minutes or so, but enough time to say hi to my attending relatives
at the wedding.
Lee told me
afterwards a little bit of bad news and that the breakfast eatery was too busy
to deliver breakfast to us. I gave Peter
(taxi) a call and asked if he had time at some point if he could stop at a
place to pick up some ‘fan twan’ and deliver to us. He was here in 10 minutes with fan twan. He told me that Sunday’s are not very busy
for him so I didn’t feel too bad for asking him to do this. I have to do whatever means possible in order
to get food since it’s too difficult for us to go out and buy.
Tonight for
dinner we called (my favourite) beef noodle eatery and a drink place for
delivery. Beef noodle soup with some
kimchi (Taiwanese & Korean) plus some beef fried rice. Drinks were pearl milk tea and some type of
lemonade.
One thing
that is very different here is that there are no delivery charges whatsoever on
the food being delivered. The price of
the food is what you pay. We tried
giving a little extra $ to the delivery girl the first time and she replied by
saying no, we cannot accept more money.
So then why in the Canadian culture and probably most other Western
Countries, we feel obligated to pay delivery charges?
The end of
a good day with the stomach full J
Recovery Day 13
It’s Monday, beginning of the
3rd week since the accident.
Feeling good and slept better last night. Hopefully the rollercoaster effect of pain is
past and this week will give me energy leading as I move forward.
Recovery Days 14 - 15
Both Lee and I are trying to
be more self-sustainable as each day goes by.
We hobbled (me on crutches, Lee with a walker) slowly across the street
and down the sidewalk a short distance to a beverage shop to get a drink. Normally this walk would take maybe 2 minutes
but it was like 15 minutes by time we arrived.
I can maneuver much better with the crutches outside rather than using
the walker. The walker is good inside
the apartment. The only thing I’m
experiencing with the crutches is that they’re not as stable and not very easy
using stairs. Slowly but surely the
healing process will succumb my injury.
Also today I went next door
to the travel agent and booked various trips for when my sister and brother in
law arrive in February. One cannot be
too early for booking. So far I will
take them to Taipei, Kenting and to the Penghu Islands. They arrive on the 9th February
for a couple weeks – one of the weeks being Chinese New Year.
Lee and I ventured out today
and took a taxi to Caffe Bird and had lunch and stayed there for a couple hours
simply taking in a different view than inside the apartment. I think my isolation is beginning to pull at
me and time to get out..haha It’s a warm
day today more so than the previous few days but was nice to feel the sun
warming up the body.
Recovery – 3 weeks out
Three weeks today was the
accident and how do I feel and do I notice improvement? Yes.
With that said, I couldn’t sleep well last night due to shots of pain
going through my hip and thigh area. Not
sure why it seems sometimes more intense now than it did at the beginning.
I’ve decided to go back to
school next week but only for teaching my two theory classes. Yes this is against the Doctor’s orders but
I’m thinking that I feel good and for the theory classes I can sit down as well
and for only 2 hours I’m confident I’ll be alright.
Initially the Doctor said
don’t go back to school until after the x-ray (this coming Friday) but once I
found out that I must pay the teachers substituting for me from my own pocket,
I prefer to go back sooner rather than later.
This was a surprise to me
just as much as it is to you.
It’s Saturday so not sure
what we’ll do but probably like most any other day. Order food and watch TV. It will be too busy to go anywhere, as with
me on crutches/walker and Lee using the same, it’s cumbersome and inconvenient
to do anything especially if there are a lot of people around.
Lee’s sister went to a local
night market and brought us some of our favourite food for dinner. (bbq corn on cob, onion pancake, squid balls
(like fritters) and favourite drink, pearl milk tea)
Eating well as we’re watching
Mission Impossible 3…haha
Sunday 26th October
First thing this morning Nana
(Lee’s sister) arrives with breakfast.
What a nice surprise but I was only in my underwear. Not too worry as she saw me and assisted me
in the hospital when I had less on. She
brought us fresh fruit and (fan twan).
Today Lee and I decided to
venture out for our second time of shopping.
This time I would leave the walker behind and utilize the new
crutches.
I can now say the crutches
are much easier to use than the walker!
Peter first took me to the
bank then off we go to Carrefour. (nearby shopping centre)
We didn’t purchase as much as
last time due to the fact we didn’t have a shopping cart this time but rather
used a basket sitting on Lee’s lap while sitting in the wheelchair. The basket can only hold so much. (good thing)
We knew that Lee’s sister and
their mom was coming by today for a visit so as we left the shopping area Lee
called them to say we were on our way home.
Shortly after arriving back to the apartment his sister and mom arrived.
Was good to see them as it
was the first time since first arriving home from the hospital 3 weeks
ago. We had some snacks and watch
Discovery Channel for a couple hours.
As I was sitting there one of
my students texted me asking if I would be home as he wanted to stop by to give
me something he purchased in Taipei. He
went there Friday and spent the weekend there.
He dropped in around 2pm
handing me a small shopping with different treats inside. What a thoughtful student and he’s very
respectful. He’s one of the
international students studying at NKUHT (from Singapore). He asked when I would return to school as he
said the students miss me…haha
Tuesday 28th October
I went back to school today
for the first time since the accident. I
decided that I should be able to teach my theory classes since there are chairs
in the classroom for me to sit down.
Another reason is that I need to pay (from my pocket) any teacher who is
replacing me and teaching my courses. I
feel good and going a little stir crazy here at home anyway.
It’s a 2-hour class from
16:30 to 18:30h with a 10 minute break between periods.
Peter (taxi) took me to
school and I arrived around 15:00h.
Analeigh was already out near the entrance waiting for me and she
organized a wheelchair for me as well in case I needed it.
Prior to my class start time
many students came by to see me in the office and brought me food and the
smiles and laughter they had was overwhelming.
It felt so rewarding to be back and I think the students were happy to
see me as well.
Class went well and we had a
review for an upcoming test. A test they
were to have today but because of the circumstances I postponed it until next
week.
Peter already new what time
to come pick me up so he arrived at the same location where he dropped me
off. I just had to have my latte so we
stopped at a nearby 7-11 on the way home.
The other interesting thing
today was that another professor (Dean of Research) contacted me as he is
organizing the National Bread Competition for next weekend. He use to be head of the Baking and Pastry
department prior to his new role at the university. He is actively involved in competitions and
other events that involve the Baking and Pastry sector.
About a month ago he had
already asked me to participate in this 3 day event but now since the accident
my role had to be altered slightly.
I will still be part of the
judging jury (6 judges – 2 from France, 2 from Australia, 1 from USA and
myself).
There are 6 competitors – 3
on Friday and 3 on Saturday. These are
professional Bakers/Pastry Chefs and the winner will represent Taiwan at the
upcoming Cordon Bleu International Bread Competition held annually in
Paris. A few years ago a Taiwanese Chef
one the Championship and now one of the most well-known and successful bakers
in Taiwan and located right here in Kaoshiung.
He has even written a book and a movie is or has been made about his
journey from a student to his now known position.
This competition is also part
of the Kaohsiung Food Show, which is being held at the new Exhibition Centre.
(just down the street from where I live)
One of my students will meet
me at the entrance of the exhibition and escort me to where I need to go since
I will be in a wheelchair. Should be
interesting/exciting and hopefully not too painful for me..haha
29th to 31st October
First of all ‘Happy
Halloween’ to those die-hard tricksters and treaters.
Went to school for the second
time on Thursday for my other 2 hour theory class. It went well as usual but somewhat awkward
standing/sitting and moving about with crutches. I have the Japanese student who consistently
sleeps during class. I’ve done as much
as I can to alleviate this but nothing seems to be working. He continues to tell me it’s because I speak
too quickly and he doesn’t understand.
Yes this might be part of it but I know that is not the sole answer…haha
The big day of this week was
my return and check up with the Doctor for my injury prognosis. We just returned from the hospital.
Lee now has his cast off but
must be careful and slowly put pressure on his foot and continue to do so as
the healing progresses with caution.
As for me the prognosis was
not so good. Apparently the screws,
which are through my hip and femur bones and moved outward slightly. The Doctor showed me the xray after the
operation and the xray from today and one can see that the screws have
shifted. He said this is due to either
putting pressure on my leg or side to side movements. The fracture is vertical so any sideways
motions can/could cause this. I need to
be extra careful (which I am already).
This made me somewhat angry at myself because I have been careful and no
pressure whatsoever on my leg and moving slowly.
The Doctor said that if this
fracture has not healed in 6 months then a second operation with a bone graft
will probably be necessary. OMG
Nooooooooo way do I want this to happen.
I am already as it is 3 months out of commission and it totally sucks. I cannot afford any negative results from the
healing.
As we left the hospital,
there was a group of small pre-school children all dressed for Halloween. It
look so cute. There were maybe around 12
kids with 4 or 5 adult chaperones (also dressed up). Not sure if they were going to an event or
leaving an event but it was darn cute.
(see photos)
Later in the day Lee’s sister
came by with lunch and a couple of lattes.
That hit the spot for sure.
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