Six months down the line

It has been six months since I've had the halo brace unscrewed from my noggin. Nine months since I broke my back in three places. A year since Greg and I said, "We're out of here, Old Life, we're going to go be jobless and live out of our car!!!"

Such good follow through.

The halo is a distant memory now, and I only really get reminded of it when people I haven't seen for a while ask, "How is your neck?". It's fine. It's not sore. It has a lot of mobility now, but I think most of that was recovered in the first three months. I've almost entirely stopped turning with my torso. I have picked up the habit of rubbing the scar on my forehead when I'm thinking, the one which has the tissue fused with the bone and gives me a dimple when I frown. But the scars ain't no thang. The fringe covers them, and even when it doesn't, they aren't very noticeable.

That said, I was on the bus the other day to go to work, and saw a gentleman standing up who had the EXACT SAME SCARS!! Only older looking. I wanted to say something to him, but wasn't sure how to open. "Hey, remember those three months where you couldn't bathe? Sure glad that's over!"


Here's my current range of motion:

That head tile could actually use some work. I was thinking of taking up yoga.

The last thing I was waiting on was this six month mark to start doing some weight-training again. The doctor recommended not doing any exercises involving my back for this period of time be extra certain it was as healed as it ever was going to be. Now that it is, I can start doing push-ups again!

And waterslides!!!

Scars

Some quick shots of my ~battle scars~.

Six months of hair growth hides them very well.

Except when I frown, I get a forehead dim-ple.

Update!

Whoops! After hand-on-heart promising that I wouldn't become one of those blogs that whinged about the halo and then went quiet when they got the halo off... that's exactly what I did. My bad!

Suppose that's the good news-- breaking my back in three places and wearing a halo for three months has been nothing more than a blip. Lucky me.

You might want to hear about the final doctor appointment, three months after getting the halo off. It went as expected. Three hours of waiting for a five minute consult with a completely new doctor who did not get my sense of humour. He said I could basically do anything I wanted. I said, "Water sliding?" and he did not laugh. But then we were talking about other forms of exercise, and he said, "Just use your best judgement... actually, you went down the waterslide in the first place, so maybe don't trust your judgement" so HE GETS ME.

The X-ray involve me shifting my neck and shoulders into increasingly weirder positions to determine the positioning of my vertebrae. Everything looked good on the scan, so far as they can tell. There is a chip of bone off one of the vertebrae which is hanging out all on it's lonesome, but shouldn't cause any dramas. Overall the doctor was cautiously not-displeased about my healing. He did say not to do any weightlifting that involve the thoracic part of my spine (so nothing above the head) for about six months, and that was mainly because any aches and pains they weren't sure if it would be because of the back injury, or me being a weakling.

Anyway, I don't have to go back to the doctor again, not in a month, not in six months, not in a year. I'm done. Hooray! He didn't even recommend any physio, and didn't seem phased when I admitted that I had been dodgy driving for weeks. Life is finally back to normal.

I still have to wait a few months to do any sort of weightlifting. In particular, I'm not allowed to do exercises that strain the spine, like squats, deadlifts or pullups. The doctor said it's because if I get sore, I won't be sure if it's the injury or just my weak muscles. I should be able to start (trying to and failing) pull-ups in September, but will probably consult with a physio before starting again.

I'm still continuing to build the muscles and flexibility in my neck. Left and right seem spot-on now, and people have commented that I've stopped moving with my entire torso. Great! I feel like 'Up' has fairly good range of movement now, especially if I take it slow-- it gets a bit of a twinge, but only momentarily and only at first. I still can't fully tuck my chin into my chest. No great loss. And when I move my head all around, it even sometimes cracks!

My recovery feels complete. Hopefully the only legacy of breaking my back in three places will be the numerous people who have told me they will never try a water slide.

Two Months

It's now two months since I got out of the halo! Time really has flown. By now I've caught up with most of the people who haven't seen me since I got out. I still enjoy doing my party trick of moving my head in all directions. People love that.


I'm finally able to look up without doing an awkward lean back from the waist and now I'm really able to enjoy the art deco light fixture mouldings in this house. I'll take a picture for you some day, they are wild.

Now I would estimate that I've got about 90% of movement back in my neck. It feels like it's come back very quickly, but I am not really trying to hold back. I'm doing my own little physio routine, which involves:
Looking left, looking right, looking up, looking down, tilting head to the right, tilting head to the left (tilting still feels fairly limited, but how often do you use that anyway?), and then going around the world both ways. In the absence of proper physio, I feel like it's been quite effective. But given that it was my thoracic spine that was broken, and not the joints in my neck, regaining movement probably was never going to be as much of an issue for me as for most halo brace patients.

As I have said to many, many people over the past couple of months, I broke my back in the best possible way.
Then they say, "You should buy a lottery ticket!"
And then I do, and then I lose, and figure I've already used up all my luck for the rest of my life on not being paraplegic.


Scars are still present. Not much to say about them. I have continued to rub the stuck one whenever I remember. I think it's improving? Still stuck but seems to have a bit more give to it. People are constantly amazed that the scars are as small as they are. I had a mosquito bite right in the middle of my forehead the other day and one of the nurses at work mixed that up with a halo scar. Ferocious mosquito.

While on the topic of cosmetic changes, my acne and backne are finally clearing up. Looks like I was correct about it returning to normal once I was doing normal things.
Also, I've lost my halo-abs and regained my pre-halo weight. Looks like everybody was correct about it returning to normal once I was doing normal things!

That's regression to the mean, for you.

Got my follow-up appointment at the end of next week where I have my x-ray taken while stretching everything into different positions. Hopefully that will be the end of the doctor visits, and I can start some real exercise again.

High Five!

Five weeks since I lost the halo! It's gone by so fast.

I'm physically back at work now, which is nice. It's still another couple of weeks until I'm allowed to drive. That's not due to any lack of function. It's a legal thing-- insurance doesn't cover you until you're a month out of a neckbrace. Which I didn't know until I mentioned driving to my doctor-- I wonder if he would have even brought it up if I hadn't!

The follow-up appointment was pretty straightforward (apart from the four hour wait we had when they tried to jam every spinal patient in Perth into a single afternoon). I had some xrays shot in me, and all that could really be seen is that everything's in the right place. The doctor had me move my head up and down-- down's really good for me, but up is still pretty stiff.

I have to go back at the beginning of May to have some more x-rays done with the same movements before he'll sign off on physio. I'm not allowed to have any rough massage or physio, because he doesn't want anyone else to try force my neck, but am free to try and move it around under my own steam.

I mentioned last time I thought I had a quarter of my usual range of movement. I think it's now something like 80%. Left and right are almost to where they should be, down is excellent, and up is still stiff but getting better. I feel like I've got pretty good mobility back, but a couple of people have noticed that I do still tend to move with my torso. That might be as much psychological as physical at this point.

Foreheads hella messed up

Scars are looking pretty good! They're a bit pink but mostly covered by hair. The scar on the left has bonded to underlying tissue and I've been rubbing it pretty hard every day to try loosen it up. Not sure if it's actually doing anything, but it makes me feel better to be doing something.

Apparently the dents in my head are here to stay. The doctor said it could be necrosis of fatty tissue due to that raging infection. They feel pretty deep, but the flesh on the skull is actually 5-8mm deep-- plenty of buffer before the brain case. He said it's definitely not the infection having turned my skull into mush. What a relief! I think there's a bit of nerve damage in the area because touching it seems to prickle the top of my skull. The other rear pin site is still a little tender, but otherwise ok. I'm happy that the two most problematic sites to heal are completely hidden by hair.

So that's the state of me! I'll check back in again after the first week of May.

The Good, the Bad and The Ugly

It has been three weeks since the halo came off! I haven't posted because I have only just gotten out of the shower.

Life post-halo has been a rollercoaster. I've been busy with work (up to 4 days a week now), uni (week 3), and moving (finally living with Greg in an actual house, not car!). I had a couple of drafts queued up but haven't posted anything because they all got a bit navel-gazing.

Stargazing > Navelgazing

The Good:
I'm free! I'm light, and nimble, and no longer top-heavy! I've adjusted quickly. Last night I took my bra off like it was the most normal thing in the world. And I was like, "Wasn't I hanging out for this for three months? Shouldn't this be a big deal?" Then I got distracted by the sight of my shadow of a six-pack and thought no more of it.

I've lost weight around the trunk. I thought it was body dysmorphia, but Greg's mum commented on my skinny top half, so I think there's something in it. I wasn't even trying to lose weight, but you can only jam so much in there! My appetite is still less than what it was. So if you are considering losing weight, consider a restrictive halo brace. Actually, I don't recommend this method at all...

Showers. Are amazing. Never pass up the chance to have another. In fact, pause reading and go have one right now. That's fine, I'll wait.

Sleep is so easy. Though I'd forgotten how to use a pillow properly and kept sticking it under my shoulder. Took a while to remember that the pillow goes under the head. Wow!

I can probably return to work physically once I see the doctor, which will be nice because my coworkers at home are hella quiet.

Apart from Wilson, who can be quite chatty.

The Bad:
I don't get to use "but I've got a broken back" as an excuse to get out of things anymore.

My neck and shoulders hurt. They never hurt at all in the halo, and now the muscles are stiff all the time. I am wearing a neck brace "off and on" (doctor's orders) and a fair bit of mobility has gradually come back, but I've probably only got a quarter of the range that I used to. Since the fracture was T1 to T4, it's probably muscular, but I won't know until I see the doctor. Some physio will probably sort it out but I can tell already, it's going to hurt.

On the muscular note, I have lost a lot of strength in my upper body. My arms are limp little noodles and my neck muscles apparently don't like holding my head up all day, though that's getting better. I've got some dumbbells, so as soon as the doctor allows it, I'm gonna smashing those weights. Hah!

Still can't drive and have to rely on lifts and public transport. Happily the new house is close to a couple of bus lines, even one that takes me straight to uni, so that's actually not too bad.

My posture is a bit better but my back hurts at the end of the day sometimes, and I seem to have developed a little hump around the junction of my neck and back. Maybe the fracture? Not sure, because I haven't seen the doctor with regards to my x-ray. So I'm not sure if that's going to fade away, or if I've got future costume options as the Hunchback of Notre Dame.

There is also the question of arthritis or other related problems in the future, but that's Future Roshy's problem.

The Ugly:
The halo has taken a bit of a toll on my body physically. I have two wounds on my forehead which I have confirmed now aren't even symmetrical! Granted the doctor was probably more concerned with getting my back, not the scars, straight-- but it's an annoyance anyway. On the back of my head, I've got an actual dent where the infection was raging, and on the other side I've got either some proud flesh or an abscess. The topography of my head has certainly taken some knocks. Good thing phrenology is no longer a science because my head right now has some crazy things going on in the areas corresponding to Caution (ironic...).

My shoulder-blades were the only part of the halo I couldn't reach to clean. Subsequently they developed some gnarly backne. Fortunately that is starting to clear up now and I hope won't have a recurrence.

My jawline has also developed acne due to my greasy face, and that hasn't really cleared up yet. My skin used to be fairly good and I'm hoping it will become good again now that I'm back to my usual habits. If it doesn't, I will be so annoyed!


So that's about it in regards to life after the halo. I'm definitely happy to be out of it, but it's clear that unlike a cold or gastro, there might be some effects that linger long after the injury.

Obviously I was very lucky and have had an amazing outcome, and am living the best case scenario. I just find it funny how quickly I've gone back to taking almost-full mobility for granted, and how put-out I am by really quite minor issues. If I was a better person it would be the other way around. :)

Y Halo There

Well my victory post didn't make it up, thanks Blogger app on the iphone.

I'm happy to report that I'm free!

Can't wipe the smile off my dial.

It was a whirlwind day in the end. I rocked up for my last halo clinic early to get the x-ray done, and just as well because an hour later, the line for x-rays was out the door. I think it was Bone Clinic Day because there were just casts and braces everywherrrrrre.

My xray was sent to the doctor who must have seen them, because the word came down that I could have the halo off! Unfortunately I didn't get to see him so didn't get to ask fundamental questions like, "What do I do now?"

Fortunately the halo clinic staff had done this all before, and they whipped it off faster than I could say, "I need this on me another day like I need a hole in the head." It was super-easy. One of the ladies held my head while everyone else unscrewed me. I was expecting a magnitude of pain like I had on the application, but it wasn't even a twinge on the scale of having the screws tightened. It was great.

The only instruction I really received was, "Wear the soft collar on and off, and don't try to move your neck for a month". I'm not forcing things, but I'm pleased to say that I can now nod yes and shake my head no, and these are very exciting actions after three months of doing it all with my waist! The Aspen collar is not the most comfortable thing, but definitely better than the halo.

My neck is still extremely stiff and painful in the morning but limbers up during the day-- to a degree. The thing it probably feels the most like is DOMS-- fine until you try to move it. The bobble-head action never really came, about to everybody's disappointment. I still can't drive for another month which is a bit annoying, but again-- life is still better than with the halo!

In all honesty, the three months with the halo wasn't too bad and I can attribute that to a super support network. I'm not allowed to use the "but I have a broken back" excuse anymore but think I'll be able to get a bit of mileage with "my neck is really sore!". I had a lecture this afternoon that I was late to, and the lecturer, spying my neck brace, gave me a very sympathetic look instead of a dirty one. So I might keep this on for a while.

Needless to say, the first shower was THE BEST THING EVER. I will never pass up a chance to have a shower again. The holes in my head have sealed up and scabbed up already, and aren't too noticable on my forehead (I personally think so, anyway). The first lie-down was also amazing, but I have forgotten exactly where the pillow goes on the body, so it's fun re-educating myself about that. And it is also really nice to hug people without having to warn them to watch out.

Spaceman

Hopefully my last night of sleeping with my head hovering in space. Can't believe it took 3 months to remember to take a picture answering that question, "But how do you sleep?"
(According to my Fitbit, really well.)

Don't mind me, just hanging out.

Tomorrrow, tomorrow, I'll lose ya, tomorrow! It's only a day awayyyyy.

Tomorrow is the day! I have my xray and my doctor consultation, and all going well, the halo should come off. I was talking to my sister on the phone yesterday and mentioned this to her, and she called me out about not sounding more excited. Apparently it's not enough to say, "Yeah I'm excited."?

I'm excited. I'm excited in a mediated way where I am looking forward to it, but because life in a halo hasn't been hellish, I'm not hanging out for it in the way that I might otherwise. Sorry I'm so well-adjusted?

People assume that it's awful, and tell me to my face that they could never have done it. To which I respond that if it happens to you, you just get on with it. Life as you know it hasn't ended. It's just been put on pause.

Of course I can put a lot of it down to the fact that as halo injuries go, mine is the most minor that I have ever come across (and I am really good at google). No spinal cord damage. No neck vertebrae were implicated in the injury. No injury or pain to any other part of my body. I got off easy!

Still, I am excited to get this thing off tomorrow. I am looking forward to taking it off like you do a bra at the end of a very long day. I know that the removal itself will be painful, and there will be some pain afterwards because of the muscle inactivity; not to mention the ligament damage and disc protrusion that happened at the time of the injury (don't think that shows up on an xray so who knows what's going on there). And I've still got at least a month of the neck brace. It's not over when it's over. There are some of the factors moderating my excitement.

Tomorrow is marked in my calendar as "This will be a good day". I'm looking forward to it.

Hello Halo Oh Hell Naw.

I'm sure that most people with external brace kinks are lovely people, and their harmless fetish is just one small aspect of their rich and varied lives. I do not think these people are creepy. Although they have a relatively rare preference, it's not like they chose it out of a catalogue. Your preferences are largely something you aren't in control of.

As grown-ass adults though, your behaviour is certainly something you are in control of. Pretending to be a spinal fracture patient in order to hear the minutiae of living with a halo brace, is super creepy. And aggravating too, because the goodwill that I have wasted on you, has been taken from someone in the future who is genuinely hurting, afraid, and lonely.

I'm sorry to people with a halo brace who try to friend me on facebook in the future, that I will now hold you to higher standards of evidence than I might have before. I would recommend that you do the same thing. Because....

Prism Glasses

How's the view up my nose?

Royal Perth Hospital lent me some prism glasses while I was a patient. They were an absolute lifesaver. Without them my only view would have been of the water stain on the ceiling which looked like someone pulling the finger. As if being in hospital wasn't insult enough.

They wouldn't let me take them home, though. Something about that being their only pair, with a cost of  $180, and wasn't it enough that they were lending me a stick with a hook on it and the high-back chair which eventually became my clothing storage system? They are a public hospital after all.

 Well about a month ago, I found "Bed Prism Spectacles Horizontal Lazy Glasses For Reading and Watching TV" listed on ebay for $7.58 and free postage. They arrived on the weekend and I have to say, I'm was really surprised with the quality.

The glasses are made out of black matte plastic, and they feel sturdy. The mirrors are the important thing. They are well aligned with eachother so that viewing something in your lap doesn't strain your eyes. There is a bit of a gap in the middle where the mirrors obviously don't meet, but it's probably as distracting as your nose is at that distance. Holding things closer to your face makes it more obvious, but that's using them incorrectly so the failure is entirely your fault. The angle of reflection isn't adjustable, and the glasses are quite front-heavy so they fall down your nose, which means that you have to look more down than straight ahead. That's a minor quibble though, given that they cost $8.
 
I'm thinking of ordering a few more pairs to donate back to Royal Perth Hospital. Right after I finish off paying the bill for the MRI.

Wedding Fun

Congratulations to Neil and Sarah. Wishing them a very happy future together!!

Had a great time at the wedding. Don't think anyone noticed the halo at all.

Halo Clinic - Week 11

The modelling gig at halo clinic went alright. I signed a photo consent, and got shot from several directions. They didn't require any of my artistic direction, nor provide any props. I still tried my best to work it.

The poor nurse was there all on her own this week, and had a lot of people to deal with. We were a bit delayed waiting for the photographer, but that gave us more time to chat with with the new fellow in clinic. He was dumped by a wave at the beach. Swimming is dangerous! If the sharks don't get you, the ocean will.

Also, who are all these people who are getting their injuries in ordinary, daily activities? Where are the foolhardy irresponsible people like myself? I swear, every time my dad hears another mundane story like car, bike, or diving accident, he thinks, My daughter, the Darwin Award Contender.

Since posting my last links roundup I have found some more facebook groups dealing with halos, and that has been great. I have had the opportunity to chat to some very nice people about their experiences. People with halos truly are angels.

But, we're almost there, guys! The days may have been long, but the weeks have flown by.  I am now in my hopefully final week. There is the possibility that the xray will show that I have to keep the brace on longer. I am trying not to think on that. I'm doing the opposite, by telling everyone everywhere that Friday is the day. Yahoo!

Trying out some new looks

I've been trying out a few looks given my modelling gig on Friday.

Always wondered what I would look like blonde. Of course now that I've said that, I'll have some horrible accident which will necessitate dying it blonde. 

This makes me look like a nanny.
(my mum really likes it :\  )

Also green eyes and red hair. Not creepy at all. Imagine the halo as some cute sweatband.

Getting in touch with my asian roots.

Like I didn't look like a little boy already.

The lipstick really draws attention away from the bars.

Maybe I'll just stick with the classic look, and rock the Blue Steel.

Sah pretty. 

Ten days, you guys!

Found my spirit animal

Halo Clinic - Week 10

One fortnight left! We are getting there! I can almost taste it. I'm getting more impatient the closer we get. Chatting to people in my clinic, the old fella is getting it off on the same day and he feels exactly the same way.

 The first things I will do:

• Have a shower
• Smash my face into a pillow
• Put a shirt over my head
• Wear a hat
• Hug everybody everywhere

Pin tightening today was fine. Only one needed to be adjusted, and it didn't hurt at all.

Also, this happened:

He's a ~lucky~ boy

Gonna practice smiling with my eyes.

A Poem About Pin Cleaning from the Perth Halo Clinic Poet Laureate.

The twice-daily ritual of pin-cleaning must be,
The worst part of having a halo. You see,
There are four open holes circumferencing my head,
And they are all prone to getting wicked infected.

The little bacterial beasties always attempt to attack,
We must use cotton buds and blue liquid to fight them back.
And also make sure skin doesn't grow up on the pins,
Otherwise you can't tell where head stops and halo begins.

It's been the battleground for many a row,
As a duty my father would rather disavow.
But he keeps returning to the task, like a knight does to battle.
Which is even braver than someone whom the job doesn't rattle.

The task must be done twice daily, every day, every week
Over three long months, we refine the technique.
We have done it 134 times to date.
Only 34 to go.... we can't wait.

Other Halo Brace Blogs

I'm compiling a list of other blogs which talk about having a halo brace. Reading these other peoples' accounts has been helpful. It normalises what I've been going through, and shows the diversity of the experience. I have been upset, angry, frustrated and stinky, and that's fine because heaps of other people have been as well. The same people have also been stoic and philosophical as well, in the face of even greater challenges. That's a great example to follow.

It would have been nice to have found a site with people who are going through the halo experience right now (Feb 2015), but obsessively googling hasn't revealed much. This Facebook group about broken necks, and my halo clinic, is probably the closest I will get.

If I find any more useful blogs, I'll add them to the list below.

----


Kate: Female, Motorbike accident, C2
Very honest and articulate. Doesn't sugarcoat the experience at all. Also a little bit about the aftermath, which is pretty hard to find.
 
the girl at the traffic light junction: Female, Trampoline accident, C1 & C2
Actually looks glamorous in the halo. Trampoline accident is pretty much on-par with waterslide accident in terms of "How in the world did you screw that up?".

Aden: Male, Cycling accident, C1 & C2
His list of Top 10 questions received mirrors my list almost exactly.

Bourney's Blog: Male, Swimming Pool accident, C7 & T1, with paralysis. Based in Perth, Australia.
Written by the wife of a man who had an accident in Bali. I love the photos down the right side showing Simon out and about in Perth.

Nadine (Spinejuice): Female. Home interior decorating accident. C5 & ligaments.
Very detailed about her experiences, and quite humorous.

Olivia Moon: Female, Car accident, C2 & T6. Ended up having surgery. Based in Australia.
Halo brace is a part of her regular blog. Some good photography.

Charlie: Female, Horse riding accident, C2 & C7.

Sue: Female, Car accident.



Single page stories

Katie Pie: Female, Motorbike accident, C2.
Less day to day, but some good info compiled in one place.

Clarisse. Acknowledges the existence of sex in a halo, and uh takes it to the next level. You go, girl.

Sakura: Shows her (lack of) scar.

H2G2: A couple of entries about halo braces. Some useful information about day to day activities.



There has been a dearth of halo experiences related to thoracic spine injuries. As a result I'm not sure what I can look forward to once the halo comes off. Will I have back pain? Will I need surgery? Will I have full movement in my shoulders? And will I ever be able to reach the high cups again??? Suspense to be resolved in 2.5 weeks (and counting).

Good Things About Being an Angel

Let's play the positivity game and list a couple of ways the vest has benefited me! 

• Bartenders and wait staff fall over themselves to help you.
• At High Tea the other day we waited for 15 minutes for a fresh batch of sandwiches. I stuck my hand up, and the waitress was right there.

• Strangers become very helpful
• A woman saw I was trying to blindly put my phone in my bag and kindly and unexpectedly lifted my bag for me, to my total confusion because I couldn't see what was happening.

• Weight loss
• The vest is a rigid shell fitting right over my stomach. There is a hard limit to how much I can fit in my belly at any one time. That, together with increased energy requirements, means that I have lost 5kg! Yippee! 
• (I hope that's not all muscle.)

• You don't have your head falling down awkwardly when you fall asleep watching TV.

• You never have to be designated driver. 
• You can drink your wine with a straw.
• Rock-hard abs.

So many wins! Looks like I might have to keep the vest around after it comes off.

Halo Clinic - Week Nine

Week nine, and we are limping towards the finish line!

This is the face I will make to whoever takes it off.

The posterior pins remain crusty with some "over-granulation". I googled that and saw the gross images so you don't have to. Normal granulation is when the wound heals properly and lovely pink tissue with new connective tissue and tiny capillaries grows over the wound. Overgrannulation is when the wound heals beyond the surface of the skin, which prevents capillaries from moving across the surface of the wound, delaying healing.

To fix it, they kill off some of the proud flesh using silver nitrate. Stings like a mofo, but only for a little while. Then it just continues to sting a moderate amount, all day long.

If the pins continue to cause trouble they ~might~ consider taking it off as of next week (10 weeks!) but I'm not going to hang my hat on it, when I can hang several hats off all these handy bars instead.

It has been quite a lovely week, with seeing a lot of friends, and I'm looking forward to a Hen's High Tea for the weekend. I feel better about attending Neil and Sarah's wedding in the halo, since I've learned the other young fellow in my halo clinic is also attending a wedding. But whereas my only responsibilities are draining the open bar dry ("Alcohol is the only thing that helps with the pain!" gets you served very quickly) and dancing the robot, he gets to fly to Tasmania and be the MC. Game, set, checkmate to Roshy.

The Aluminum Monster

I normally wear a shirt under the brace, and a loose one over the brace, so not many people in public have seen the full kit. Today I happened to be wearing my dress underneath, so here's what that looks like.

This is the height of fashion for me right now!

Hair update

Two months of hairgrowth has taken me from biker chic to little boy.

 

 

Halo Clinic - Week Eight

The left posterior pin has broken a perfect run and lost pressure for the first time, decreasing from 8 to 5. The tightening was unusually unpleasant and has left me with a bit of a headache. However, it has answered the question of, has the screw fused with my skull? Apparently not yet.

The nurse also confirmed what everyone was wondering and said that, "The infection was deep. We were basically down to the bone". Totally unlikely, but I just can't shake the paranoia that when I lie down, the pin will puncture through some rotten skull and pop my brain. That's what I get for scholar googling "halo brace complications" and learning the phrase, "cerebrospinal fluid leakage from a halo pinhole".

Don't never trust Dr Google!

Also, I hope I'm as classy a bobblehead as Clooney when the halo comes off. We have similar haircuts.

Stay gold, George.

Halo Haiku

Combing greasy hair.

Dandruff flurries down like snow.

Goodbye, vanity.

Eating my breakfast.

Eggs spilling from fork to lap.

Can't look down to see.

Fashion? Irrelevant.

No one's looking at my clothes.

Rocking the halo.

Sleeping? Yeah it's fine.

I lie on my side. No probs.

I've said that a lot.

No, I can't shower.

Hosed down like an animal.

Thanks for reminder.

The pins are crusty

Fetid, Oozing, Infected

Totes Unnecesary.

Chores that I can’t do,

Laundry. Chopping. Mopping. Dishes.

Halo’s a free pass.

Only four more weeks.

Goodbye consequences of

Broken-ass neck.

So, your friend has a neck/back injury...

On a forum that I frequent, someone recently asked what they could do for their friend who was laid up with a back injury. It's not often that I consider myself an expert on something. Normally, when I am interested in a topic, I know just enough to know how much I don't know and so usually I couch my information-sharing with all sorts of qualifiers, and so nobody considers me an authority on anything.

I mean, I did/do research in Obesity and Type 2 diabetes for five years, but let's all listen to my friend who read an article last week about coconut water on news.com.au. :)

The Dunning-Kruger Effect. Or, "Unskilled but Unaware of It"

Anyway, I feel like I am now an expert in what it is like to live with a halo brace! So I shall share with you my advice to this generous person who asked what they could do for their injured friend.

Halo Clinic - Week Seven

Another week done and dusted. Well and truly on the home stretch now!

Discussion of the clinic under the classic Demotivational Poster.
  

Take care on waterslides over the Australia Day long weekend, kids.

So, how's the weather (antenna on top of your head)?

I am starting to have a gutful of the halo. It seems to be all I talk about anymore. I do like having an easy conversation starter, and I appreciate that people ask because they care and are genuinely interested. But I have said the same thing about sleeping approximately 98 times ("Yeah, I sleep fine, on my side usually, and with something next to my cheek so it doesn't feel like my head's hovering in air"). And I have said the same thing about showering about 49 times ("I hose down my bottom half and rub the top half with a flannel. Can't wait for a shower!"). And I have said why I have the halo probably about 20 times ("I fell off a waterslide on to my head.")

I should come up with some more amusing answers before I go to tomorrow's birthday party with lots of interested, well-meaning people. For my amusement.

--

I left something behind in my halo clinic today. The nurse came running after me to return it. I said to her, "Thanks, I would forget my head if it wasn't screwed on."

Far out, I'm funny.

--

Speaking of funny, had the best encounter in the shopping centre the other day. Waiting in line at JB HiFi to purchase a Chromecast (It's great!). An elderly man made a bee-line right for me and stood nose-to-nose staring at me, eyes agog. "Are you real?" He gaped.
"Yes, I'm real. I broke my neck."
He turned to his carer/companion. "Is she real? She says she's real."

Bless his lil old soul. :)

Halo Clinic - Week Six

Week Six of Halo clinic is done and dusted! Only five weeks more to go.

Pins are still infected. Back on antibiotics. For those who are following, this means that the nurse from last week wins! Cephalexin this time. Hopefully that does the trick. I feel like I'm doing my part to contribute to the scourge of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

Suh pretty Petri

Funny story about the antibiotics. I dry-swallowed a capsule and it must have got stuck midway down my throat and dissolved. Because I thought I felt a burp coming on and let it out through my nose-- cue twin puffs of smoke from my nostrils. I am a dragon!

Screwed

Greg's mum Tes kindly took some photos of my infected screws. Sharing them here in case you thought having your head screwed on would be a barrel of laughs!

 

This is my Bon Jovi Moment