Wonderfully weird weekend

Has been almost a week since being in touch! That's not because nothing has been happening, quite the contrary.

On Friday Lea and I travelled over on the Blueridge Ferry to visit my brother Vincent and his partner, Dixie in Moutere, Nelson.

It was a pleasant trip though hopping around on crutches was somewhat challenging and inhibiting. There is a twist to this that I'll explain at the end.

On arriving at my brother's after a 3 hour boat ride and 2 hour car journey we had a few celebratory ales. Always love catching up with Vincent and Dixie as they are really relaxing to be around and of course the drinks didn't hurt.

On Saturday morning after my morning coffee I got out my guitar and Vincent and I played some songs with backing vocals from Lea. Later in the morning Lea and I went to Nelson to check out Dixie's market where she sells their home-made pottery and screen printed pillow cases. Lea enjoyed checking out what we call the arty crafty stalls. Of course after a tiring morning we needed to reward ourselves with a few more liquid refreshments.

As promised there was a sting to the tale of the hip disability. A bit of background first!

Earlier in the week I had noticed my left foot becoming a little red but no other issues as my hip was mending well. On Friday as we travelled to Nelson my lower left leg started to swell and become tight in the calf. This continued through until Saturday night when we decided we should get it checked out. An appointment was made for 10:00 Sunday morning.

On awaking Sunday the leg was still swollen but no worse so there was a lengthy debate whether it was bad enough to be looked at. The women voted that it was better to have things ruled out than be worrying about it.

When we arrived at the doctor's after a 2 minute inspection the verdict was a suspected blood clot. I was marched directly to jail, in this case Nelson Hospital.

Two hours later after a scan the clot was identified and blood thinning injection administered.

I am so glad that I took advice, swallowed my pride and had the leg checked because as the doctor pointed out a blood clot can move to the lungs and can be fatal.

Some interesting observations have been made recently on my fortunes and unusual facts have been discovered.

1. I was one out of 250 cyclists in the race who had a serious crash.
2. There is a one in ten chance of developing a blood clot after hip surgery
3. The doctor located two adjoining veins in my upper leg where most people have one. There are one in a 100 who have this irregularity.
4. My resting pulse of 40 has created some concerns and interest amongst the medical teams I have seen recently.

It is times like this that you appreciate loved ones who help you and give you support.

Thanks to Maria who sent me a book called Crutches and a lovely get well card.

Thank you all the readers and followers of my recent posts on Depression who told their stories and empathised with my battles.

Due to being on a different lap top and no access to photos I am limited on what I can post.

Back home now and time to rest a lttle more. It would seem my recovery might take a little longer due to the clot. Injections initially and tablets for the next 3 months to thin the blood will be required.

I suppose I better get to some posts now and make a few comments before my followers desert me, thinking they have been forgotten!

Before I go here is the link for an original called Know You're Not Alone that I wrote on a train for Lea about a year ago.

Be in touch soon!