KiwiCat's updates

Given that we moved in spring our plan was to just watch what the garden did, without much interference. We haven’t watered or pruned, just let things be.

The plum, apple, nashi (yes, that’s what it turned out to be) and lemon all need some attention. The peach seems to be fruiting fine, but the tree still needs some care too. The pear, though, has done rather well.

The harvest basically filled a large chilly bin. There’s some wind damage, and a small number have bugs, but most seem healthy and practically fell off the tree at a touch.

We’ve never had a pear tree before so some quick research told us it would be best to chill them before ripening at room temperature. So into a borrowed fridge they’ve gone.

All going well we’ll be able to eat some and bottle the rest.

The tree will obviously also benefit from a feed and a prune, which means next year’s crop ought to be awesome. But for now, we have no complaints at all.

To be clear, I was at the hospital at 7 and in surgery at 8:30, but yes it was an early start. All went very well, the surgeon is pleased, so now it’s a matter of recovery and exercise.

Warning: some of the detail below is a bit graphic. If you’re squeamish perhaps skip this one and just know I’m sore but it will pass.

The surgery itself wasn’t quite as I had previously thought, as was clarified yesterday morning before I went in to surgery. Most of the middle bone is fine, it’s just the base of it that has crumbled. The silicone implant looks something like this:

The long wings to either side slot into holes drilled into the bones and is otherwise held in place by the tendons. The bit in the middle then forms the new knuckle. It’s very clever 🙂

I’m very sore today, worse than last time but of course this is the second time this finger has been cut into, and he’s been drilling into my bones, so no real surprise there. I’m resting it over the weekend and starting exercises on Monday under the guidance of my lovely and patient hand physio. I’m very much looking forward to building up my mobility.

All whent well at 7am this morning, double thumbs up from surgen

On our way home will do an update friday

After a half day at work we’ve now made it to Hamilton and to our accommodation for tonight. It’s in a lovely but surprisingly busy side street just a few streets away from the hospital.

We’ll get takeaways for dinner and have a quiet night.

Early start tomorrow, 7am admission.

On Friday I happened upon a local retailer holding a sale and in the spirit of buying local I bought myself a set of very nice bamboo double pointed needles in five sizes and a nice case, and some locally dyed yarn

Having balled the yan I decided to start on some socks. I’d done the ribbing and gotten 6 rows into the lace pattern when I had to go to church. Returning, things were not as I’d left them.

I didn’t take a photo at the time but my socks had migrated across the room and the needles were no longer smooth and functional. They don’t look so bad in the photo but there are toothmark imdentations at both ends of every needle, plus three broken tips.

It only affects one size, but still very annoying.

I have only circumstantial evidence, but I think I kniw what happened…

Determined not to give up I unravelled the socks and moved on to a simple hat on a (metal) circular needle.

I’m about 4 rows in to the ribbing, but somehow I’ve managed to twist the loop.

You probably can’t tell from the picture but this is definitely twisted.

It wasn’t twisted on the first round but I fumbled the needles and yarn while dealing with something urgent (cats or kids I’m not actually sure) but the end result is I need to unpick at least two rows.. or start again.

I think I’ll look at it tomorrow.

Just as a quick reassurance to anyone wondering, we are ok. We had about a month’s worth of rain in 12 hours yesterday and many of the roads are still closed with flooding and slips. Here at home we had some minor flooding into the garage during the heaviest period, but we never lost power.

The sun is now coming out after morning drizzle. The sea is very brown with dirt washed into it, and never really went out as the water from the rivers and shore kept feeding into it.

But we’re okay. In a day or so the roads will be open again… probably just too late for the long weekend holiday makers. We’re soggy but doing a lot better than some places further south.

Here I am, 1 week from the failed surgery, starting on my second week of leave before I return to work next week. My hand is less swollen than before,  which had the unfortunate effect that the splint kept falling off. I’ve been back to the hand physio who has adjusted it and I’ll see her again on Thursday ahead of the coming long weekend (Monday is anniversary day)

I had thought Monday would be the only disruption to next week but it’s not. As of this afternoon I have the new surgery date: Thursday 29th.

I’m so pleased, grateful we’re getting on with this quickly, and I have high hopes for the outcome.

It does, of course, mean I’m once again going to squeeze in only a few working hours before going on sick leave again, but this is the last foreseeable extended period of that.

My next cancer-related day away isn’t until mid-March, for the next CT scan.

On the home front, I’ve finished and blocked a knitted shawl. The drying process was sped up a bit by my ‘helpers’.

They swear they didn’t shed on it, nor pull any threads.

I don’t really know where this week has gone, but it has. I was going to post a picture of my bandaged finer, but it’s quite an ugly sight with splotches of dried blood, so instead I’ll share images of the latest splint. This is how it looks now, probably to be adjusted at my next appointment on Monday.

On the upside I get most of my hand back since this latest splint only covers the one finger. On the downside, it’s quite sore and I’m less physically capable than I’ve been for months which is quite frustrating.

But it’s a beautiful day, and I’m sutting on the deck enjoying the breeze so no real complaints.

Yesterday I was in Hamilton for my long awaited hand surgery. I broke my finger in July, had the x-ray initially misread as a simple self-healing break, had a fresh x-ray in September that revealed the truth that the bone was smashed and needed surgery, and then had to wait for an oncologist go-ahead. Having finally got that, I was ready to go.

I figured I would end the day in one of two places. Either it woud have self-healed in such a mess nothing could be done and I would just have to live with an unbending finger, or the surgeon would be successful and I would have some level of mobility restred.

To paraphrase Arlo Guthrie, as it happens there was a third possibility I hadn’t even counted upon.

As the surgeon explained, initially the surgery went well. He located the broken pieces and reassembled them and they fit together nicely. There was a bit of a gap where the bone is naturally hollow, so for extra support he took some bone from the top of my wrist and fitted it in snugly then screwed it all together and it looked great. Pleased, just before sewing everything back up he tried bending the joint… and the part of the bone that had seemed undamaged fell apart. In his word, turned to mush.

It seems that there were tiny, invisible cracks in it that were just waiting for some pressure.

So what happened? Well apparently my body isn’t healing bone, which is a rare side effect of some cancers. He’s never seen it happen like thi, but it can. In retrospect there were a couple of ominous clues. Firstly, there had been no calcification.That was noted on the September x-ray, and was the same yesterday ehen everything got opened up. Secondly, post-surery in Auckland I waslow on potassium, which is stored in the bones. Clearly my body is doing something else with it and not directing it to my poor broken finger.

At this stage I’m presented with three options. Firstly, he could leave it alone. It’s now floppy at that joint (currently held straight by a splint) so will get in the way. This doesn’t appeal. Secondly he could remove the mess and shorten my finger. Essentially amputation. This would be better than a floppy finger but still not appealing. The third option is a posthesis, a replacement. This is my preference, and I think his too.

It will take a few weeks to order and manufacture, but then I’ll be back to have the bone removed and the silcon replacement fitted. It won’t be a long erm perfect solution, eventually my finer will stiffen up and no longer bend, but that was going to happen after this repair anyway. In the meantime,  once it’s done, my healing will depend very much on how diligent I am with my exercises. I plan to do everything I can to get full mobility back.

So it turns out yesterday was effectively just a dress rehearsal.  I’m sore, but the main event is still to come. Another opportunity for me to work on my patience 🙂

Hi drop you a note, surgery went well, on my way home will be their around 10pm

Do a follow up tomorrow…