This whole vascular surgery journey has taught me a heck of a lot about the vascular system that I simply didn’t know before. Having all my previous surgical experience firmly planted in orthopaedics, this has been a roller coaster ride of learning and discovery.
It has now been 3 weeks since my last surgery, and time for a scan and an update on how the graft is doing.
Continue reading “Scan update: the magic of collaterals?”This is the truth. You might say I am seeing the worst in a situation, being melodramatic, or perhaps scaremongering. But this is the raw truth of the situation.
Because several medical staff failed to listen to what I was saying, did not properly and thoroughly investigate all of my symptoms and therefore missed the fundamentals, I could have lost my leg.
Continue reading “You could have lost your leg.”We were so excited when New Zealand went 24 days absolutely Covid – free… then there’s the drama of the last few days with 5 new active cases – all from people entering New Zealand from overseas. Still, aside from that, the super rugby franchise came to an arrangement – so that we can now host a Super Rugby Aotearoa championship – a round robin between New Zealand teams. Aaaaand…. the Highlanders season ticket that we had thought was turning out to be a waste of money, suddenly came alive again!
Continue reading “Life with 1.5 legs: the return of LIVE rugby!”The pool opened again this week, after more than 2 months of being shut. So guess where I went?! Yep… I was on the doorstep the moment the opened for the first time on Thursday!
Continue reading “The struggle is real”As you know, I have nerve damage in my lower back, and right before this Coronavirus thing kicked off, I had been for an MRI and seen a nerve pain specialist who had then, as a result of what the MRI was showing, referred me to a spinal surgeon. The idea was to talk through the symptoms, results of the MRI and whether surgery would be an effective option to help alleviate some of my pain symptoms.
Continue reading “Dealing with lock down nerve pain – the story of the nightmare leg”