Always an Adventure...

Two of my friends (and students at one of my church classes), Teresa and Debbie kindly agreed to take me to the hospital today for my checkup. The doctor told me, I have "jin bu" which means improved. He was happy to see some bone growth happening! Look at all that metal! You can see here, a plate on the back of the fibula, lots of nails holding the bone together, and that one big screw which is my biggest impediment to walking! You can go into the October archives to compare the original wound with today's progress. It's almost better but still a few more weeks until I can do water treatment. You can bet I'll be having a nice long bath once that time comes!

Well besides doing random internet quizzes, planning my lessons, and doing physio - will soon be cleared for "water treatment" (which i think entails doing exercises in water so that I can exercise my ankle without putting weight on it), I have been doing a lot of cooking. This week I've made: cheese biscuits curry apple crisp honey mustard chicken and potatoes with green beans ginger beef stir-fry and fried noodles pasta with alfredo sauce and orange salmon apple and peanut butter Ok, maybe the last one doesn't qualify as cooking, but that's what I had for lunch one day when I didn't feel like cooking, and didn't have a lot else to choose from in my house. Dr.'s update tomorrow, if I have anything interesting to report!

I found the amazing death predictor from Sarah 's blog (can you tell I have lots of time on my hands this week) and decided to try it out. The results literally made me laugh out loud! Charlotte: At age 73 you will realize that you actually died three years earlier, and have been dreaming all the events since then.

To continue the movie them e, I picked up this meme from over at Michelle 's blog: If your life were a soundtrack, what would the music be? Here's how it works: 1. Open your library (iTunes, winamp, media player, iPod ). 2. Put it on shuffle. 3. Press play. 4. For every question, type the song that's playing. 5. New question - press the next button. 6. Don't lie and try to pretend you're cool. Opening Credits Whole World in His Hands - Passion Waking Up "Pleasing Your Heart" (in Chinese) - 5B2F First Day of School "Sweetest Thing" - U2 Falling in Love "Beauty for Ashes" - Crystal Lewis Breaking Up "Beautiful"- Lowana Wallace Prom "Until the End" - Joshua Life's Okay "Angeline" David Tao Mental Breakdown "Revive me" – Shane and Shane Driving "Homeward Bound" - Simon and Garfunkel Flashback "Better Together" - Jack Johnson Getting Back Together "Numb...

In a moment of weakness, I made a cup of delicious English Toffee Cappuccino from Tim Horton's, which came as part of a care package a few months ago. I drank it slowly, with relish, and savoured its sweet, caffeinated scent. I miss Tim Horton's. I miss coffee. To my credit, I have been abstaining from coffee and tea since my accident when the doctor told me caffeine could negatively affect and slow down my bone regrowth. Also to my credit, I drank two glasses of milk and took 4 calcium pills that day. In another "aha" moment, I discovered that one of my favorite coffee shops nearby has decaf! Why didn't I think of that before???? Now who wants to wheel me there for a cup of coffee?

I wanted to put up some new colors, and make the blog a little simpler/easier on the eyes. I like the new pic a lot, but I might go for a completely different color scheme soon. Any votes on which color I should use next??

I still remember the first time I discovered that you could freeze cookie dough in my first year of college. What a brilliant innovation, especially when you live alone. I'd made snickerdoodles back before my accident, and there was still some dough in the freezer which I pulled out and baked yesterday. It was perfect, as I was able to give little packages of cookies to 4 different people who have been helping me, driving me places, and coming over to do some stuff around here. A great little gift when I can't get out and buy something for them!

Well this isn't my actual x-ray, but it is rather similar to what I have except the plate is higher up and the large screw isn't connected to it. I have a doctor's appointment next Thursday, where hopefully I'll be able to take pictures of both the original x-ray and the current one. This week I've gone out on my crutches once, and gone to physio twice where I met some Filipinas who are care workers taking some elderly ladies to physio. It was neat to chat with them while the electric current was being shot through my leg. It's nothing much, just a mild tingling feeling. I also have a heat pack I can apply every day at home. That's about the extent of my physiotherapy right now. It's time for mid-terms again, so I have a few days off of class to plan my December lessons, and try to find other ways to amuse myself. I've been trying to think through going out by myself (like is it possible, how could i do it, where should i go) and have concluded th...

I'm so happy to have this splint instead of a cast. Let me count the ways: it's ok if it gets a little wet, so i don't have to be as careful in the rain/showering etc. it smaller than a cast, so i can wear most of my normal pants again it's more comfortable i can take it off, wash, lotion, apply heat, and massage I almost fell yesterday, it was really terrible. I was getting my folder for today's class and I lost my balance. I actually hopped around for almost a minute trying to get my crutches back under me and stable, and I finally made it to the tv and steadied myself on it. I was shaking for about 10 minutes afterward. But it also occurred to me that it probably would have looked really humorous to anyone watching, almost like something out of a movie like Home Alone. haha I can laugh because I didn't actually fall, but it was really scary.

Amanda is reflecting on where she was 20 years ago, and inspired me to post: 20 years ago, 1986 : I was 4 years old! Living in Killam, Alberta and getting ready to go to Kindergarten, which incidentally was directly across the street from the big white house we lived in. Played with "auntie" Carol, and my sister Sarah. 10 years ago, 1996 : I was 14 years old, living in Castlegar, BC and in grade 9. My high school had 4 color-coded hallways: lockers, walls, chairs and desktops in the classrooms were all that color. My locker was in the orange hall. 5 years ago, 2001 : I was a freshman at Briercrest and surviving my first Saskatchewan winter. 1 year ago, 2005 : I was just in Yilan, doing my thing... not to different from what I'm doing now, except I could walk...

A sort of infamous common Taiwanese phrase that has been known to drive foreigners here crazy is "You think too much!" (Ni xiang tai duo le!) But after my doctor's apt. I really have had a lot to think about... A. I can't walk for 6 months true But now I know WHY. One of the 9 screws they put into my leg during surgery is a really long one which horizontally connects the broken bone (Fibula) to the larger Tibia for stability. But since walking and especially weight bearing causes some movement in between bones, and despite what you may think, metal is NOT as strong as bone, there's a change that if I stepped on it the wrong way/turned funny/stepped too hard on it that that metal screw could break, and it would be nearly impossible to remove if that happened. But there's some good news: while my doctor wants to respect the original 6 months given by the surgery doctor, he said if they see positive healing sooner (by say... january or february) I ...

thanks for the encouragement after my last entry. still waiting on the doctor's appointment tomorrow, so don't want to say too much yet. I remember thinking in the hospital... i'm using my cell phone an awful lot... i'll bet my bill next month is $100! Well I got the damage today, NT$2, 967. In Canadian dollars that's $103.00. That's a little pricey. Actually, apart from hospital bills, I've spending a lot less money than I normally do, since I'm going out a lot less than I normally do. I suspect I'm actually saving quite a bit by not buying my daily tea or coffee, not "browsing" the night market or other fun stores around Yilan, and not eating out. More tomorrow!

well i'm going into my 3rd week back in class and my 5th week total since my accident, and i'm feeling tired. tired of crutches and wheelchairs and not leaving my house apart from work, and not being able to do stuff for myself. my one surgery has changed to two surgeries again, and maybe (i'm really unclear about this part) i won't be able to walk until the largest screw is removed, which might be 6 months. originally i thought i'd be walking in Feb. how can it be so long???? I don't really know what's going to happen, but i'll have more info on thurs when I visit the doctor again. i've been wondering if i'll have to go back to canada for awhile if it looks like my recovery is going to be really complicated, but what would i do there? i can still teach, it's just the getting around that's difficult at the moment. I need to get better on my crutches. I still get tired pretty quickly after walking on them steadily 5-10 minutes.

Take this quiz at QuizGalaxy.com heh.

Yesterday was exactly one month since my surgery and today something exciting happened: my cast was replaced with a half splint!! I went to see the doctor and he said if I was really " guai " (well behaved, usually said of pets and little children) he'd allow me to put a splint on my leg instead of a new cast, and also let me start physiotherapy sooner. This was good news to me, so I transferred to another hospital where their whole second floor is physio (another word added to my Chinese vocabulary: fu jian ke ). Actually it looked really fun, with lots of little machines for people to do exercises to regain mobility in various joints. But I wasn't there to exercise today, but to get the splint. It was a really cool feeling, first he put this hot putty-like substance over my leg and foot, and shaped it, making sure my ankle was at 90 degrees. They warned me that it would feel really hot, but to tell you the truth, it's the first time my toes have felt warm in...

Well, a week has passed and things have gone reasonably well. I taught 19 hours last week (my max is 26) and classes themselves were fine. My students were all very curious about my injury and I received a few cards and many well wishes. Getting to and from school has been a bit of a gong show. I had to blow dry my cast when I got home one day, as it has been raining all week. I've been wrapping it in plastic food wrap (a little more attractive than a garbage bag), but so far the schools have ramps/elevators so I don't have to climb up any stairs. Being pushed in a wheelchair can be a harrowing experience at times. The wheelchair my coworker borrowed for me has an interesting feature. On the bottom of the handles are what look like bicycle hand breaks, but don't be fooled - their function is to move the top of the seat back so the person in the wheelchair is in a reclining position. I discovered that if I forget to warn each new pusher, I'll get a sudden jolt when they...