30 May, 2009
Didn't get the NHS Library job
I got a letter this morning from the NHS saying I didn't get the library job I went for interview for last week. That was quick! Big organisations like the NHS usually take ages to decide about these sorts of things. Anyway, at least they've supplied a phone number for feedback as to where I went wrong. I suspect that it's just because I've not worked in libraries for so long. we'll see. Shame, because I actually fancied that one. Funnily enough, I also got a letter from NHS24 saying that the Test Analyst job I applied for was on hold while they made preparations for Swine Flu. I'd given up on that one ages ago. Nice to know it's not all over altogether ...
28 May, 2009
Pond
The electrician's just finished connecting up the power supply for the pump for the new water feature in the pond. Denise is away at the moment, so I've tested that it works, but I've left it to her to connect up the hose and do the final placement of the pump, so she can do a grand switch-on. The pond's full of frogs and tadpoles, so I hope this pump isn't going to suck any of the smaller ones in and mince them up ... everybody go "eeew!" I'll post a short video clip of it going once it's all set up. I took a couple of pictures of two frogs sitting side by side looking straight up out of the water, and I'll post that once I've put the phone software on this new laptop.
Oh, yeah, the old Gericom laptop is trying to die at the moment (screen keeps going blank) so we replaced it with a nice cheap Acer one. It's good, but there are still bits of software that I need to install before we're fully up to speed. When the old laptop started acting up, I moved our iTunes database onto my desktop upstairs, which can be a bit of a pain, as I now have to go up to my study to update my iPod. I might consider moving onto the new laptop: should have plenty of space with a 250 GB hard drive. It took all day to move it up to the desktop over our wireless network, so I'm not sure I can be bothered.
Oh, yeah, the old Gericom laptop is trying to die at the moment (screen keeps going blank) so we replaced it with a nice cheap Acer one. It's good, but there are still bits of software that I need to install before we're fully up to speed. When the old laptop started acting up, I moved our iTunes database onto my desktop upstairs, which can be a bit of a pain, as I now have to go up to my study to update my iPod. I might consider moving onto the new laptop: should have plenty of space with a 250 GB hard drive. It took all day to move it up to the desktop over our wireless network, so I'm not sure I can be bothered.
Interview
I had an interview for a library job today, at the NHS Management library, in Edinburgh. The library provides management information, documents and articles for health service managers throughout Scotland. Very interesting little library, about the size of the Newham School of Nursing library I worked at back in the late 80s, but with more shelving instead of a work table, so there are about three times as many volumes as I had at Newham.
16 May, 2009
14 May, 2009
Bits of news - my leg, and our China trip
The last few entries are photos I've had on my phone for a while, but I thought I'd post them just so that you all know I'm still here. The bike rides were good fun. Made me feel human again, after having been stuck in the house for nearly a couple of months. Yesterday's ride was only about four miles, but it's quite hilly round here, and I am totally out of shape. I need to lose weight again, as I've been comfort eating and getting no exercise, except hauling myself up and down stairs on my crutches. I think I got through four family bags of sweets over the last 7 or eight days! Fat bloater or what? Yesterday, I on put a shirt that used to be roomy, and it was definitely tight around the belly. Oh. My. God.
I'm still unable to wear my funky new leg, not because it's too tight, but because it's bunching up my skin behind my knee (eew!) and pinching it. I think my leg's just changed shape slightly, and the old casting just doesn't fit any more. Not too much of a problem, as I'll be seeing my Prosthetist again next week, and maybe I can talk her into re-casting - she's reluctant to do so if she's only going to have to do it again a few weeks later: these laminate sockets are expensive to produce.
So I'm trogging along on my original leg, which fits OK, but limits how quickly and how far I can walk. The site of the wound I had is still very tender, and I have to be very careful about where the seams are on my stump socks, because they can press on that spot and become very uncomfortable very quickly.
This is the big news, if you don't know it already: because of the setbacks, we've had to give up and cancel the China trip. It's a walking holiday after all, and there aren't any guarantees that I could manage it. Instead of being something to aim for, for me it had become a looming shadow, stressing me out. I had been wanting a surgeon to take a look at the recurring sore area on my stump, but only because I wanted it resolved quickly so we could go on this holiday. The doctor put us right, saying that no surgeon would touch it while it was still healing (which it still is) and by the time it's healed, it would be too close to the holiday to heal properly from any surgery I had anyway. And, there is no guarantee that it would heal well either: I still have folds, creases and bumps in my skin from my amputation, so any new surgery may just add to these. We're really going to have to wait and see what happens with the healing process, so I'm just taking stronger doses of the neural pain inhibitor.
It was a huge disappointment to have to cancel it, but we are stuck with the situation, and we have to get on with it. It's not realistically feasible. At the moment I can only just manage walking up the village and back.
So, this summer we're going to have a couple of weeks in the Puerto Pollensa on Mallorca, which we've had very positive reports about from friends who have been there, and then the idea is to have a completely different Big Treat Trip, possibly a touring / camper-van holiday in New Zealand around Christmas. That feels like a decent substitute, doesn't it? We'll lose the deposit on the China trip, because the company we booked that through don't do this sort of holiday, but that's OK; we can live with that if we get something nice to look forward to again.
I'm still unable to wear my funky new leg, not because it's too tight, but because it's bunching up my skin behind my knee (eew!) and pinching it. I think my leg's just changed shape slightly, and the old casting just doesn't fit any more. Not too much of a problem, as I'll be seeing my Prosthetist again next week, and maybe I can talk her into re-casting - she's reluctant to do so if she's only going to have to do it again a few weeks later: these laminate sockets are expensive to produce.
So I'm trogging along on my original leg, which fits OK, but limits how quickly and how far I can walk. The site of the wound I had is still very tender, and I have to be very careful about where the seams are on my stump socks, because they can press on that spot and become very uncomfortable very quickly.
This is the big news, if you don't know it already: because of the setbacks, we've had to give up and cancel the China trip. It's a walking holiday after all, and there aren't any guarantees that I could manage it. Instead of being something to aim for, for me it had become a looming shadow, stressing me out. I had been wanting a surgeon to take a look at the recurring sore area on my stump, but only because I wanted it resolved quickly so we could go on this holiday. The doctor put us right, saying that no surgeon would touch it while it was still healing (which it still is) and by the time it's healed, it would be too close to the holiday to heal properly from any surgery I had anyway. And, there is no guarantee that it would heal well either: I still have folds, creases and bumps in my skin from my amputation, so any new surgery may just add to these. We're really going to have to wait and see what happens with the healing process, so I'm just taking stronger doses of the neural pain inhibitor.
It was a huge disappointment to have to cancel it, but we are stuck with the situation, and we have to get on with it. It's not realistically feasible. At the moment I can only just manage walking up the village and back.
So, this summer we're going to have a couple of weeks in the Puerto Pollensa on Mallorca, which we've had very positive reports about from friends who have been there, and then the idea is to have a completely different Big Treat Trip, possibly a touring / camper-van holiday in New Zealand around Christmas. That feels like a decent substitute, doesn't it? We'll lose the deposit on the China trip, because the company we booked that through don't do this sort of holiday, but that's OK; we can live with that if we get something nice to look forward to again.
Dog in the house!
This is Hyper, who normally lives with our friends Malcolm and Fiona, but this is her staying with us for a few days while Malky and Fiona went off on holiday. It was really nice having a dog in the house, actually; she was really good company, and very well behaved. Hyper is often found, as here, stubbornly refusing to live up to her name - but when Malky and Fiona came to pick here up, she did nearly unhinge herself wagging her tail so hard she was almost hitting herself in the eye. Very cute.... and after he spots me
This is his "what are you doing now?" face. I get that a lot. Not only from Simon ...
Finally got out on my bike a couple of times
There's a funky trigger gear changer. Works really well.17 April, 2009
Leg, work
Well, my leg has finally healed: there's still a little redness, and a tiny scab that feels like it's still quite deep, but I've started wearing my old leg, which isn't as tight as my new fancy hi-tech one. As the sore has healed, it's revealed that there is still some sort of foreign body under the skin, right under where the amputation scar crossed my shin. Frustratingly, that's still tender, but at least I'll be seeing my consultant, Dr Hutton, on Monday (20th), so we'll see what she says. They might suggest a small investigative op, just to find out once and for all what's going on. It might just be another stitch fragment, in which case, they'll just need to make a little nick, take it out, and I'll be good to go again in another few weeks.
I see my prosthetist the following week, so we'll be able to take the outcome of Monday's consultation into that meeting and have a better idea of what we're going to do next. I need a new casting for my Epirus-equipped foot, because, at the moment, it's just too tight; but they might need to put that off if they do decide to suggest an operation.
I've been for another interview. This time at West Lothian Council for a Service Desk Analyst in their IT Department. It's not a huge department, and there are only five Service Desk Analysts, plus the manager. If I get it (and there are no guarantees, with over a hundred good applicants, apparently) it'd be a real financial step backwards, and it might be a bit stressful for my first job after such a long lay-off, but it'd be paid work, and in a large organisation, where there should be plenty of opportunities for advancement. I should hear by end of play today if I've got it. If I don't hear anything, I'm to assume I've not been successful. I hate that, not getting back to their interviewees (although I do understand they can't communicate directly with all their applicants, not in those numbers).
I see my prosthetist the following week, so we'll be able to take the outcome of Monday's consultation into that meeting and have a better idea of what we're going to do next. I need a new casting for my Epirus-equipped foot, because, at the moment, it's just too tight; but they might need to put that off if they do decide to suggest an operation.
I've been for another interview. This time at West Lothian Council for a Service Desk Analyst in their IT Department. It's not a huge department, and there are only five Service Desk Analysts, plus the manager. If I get it (and there are no guarantees, with over a hundred good applicants, apparently) it'd be a real financial step backwards, and it might be a bit stressful for my first job after such a long lay-off, but it'd be paid work, and in a large organisation, where there should be plenty of opportunities for advancement. I should hear by end of play today if I've got it. If I don't hear anything, I'm to assume I've not been successful. I hate that, not getting back to their interviewees (although I do understand they can't communicate directly with all their applicants, not in those numbers).
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