1st Day's Summary: Absolutely Knackered

I am back at work today and it was not the easiest start at all.

I started the day with two bad news, actually the worst news about two colleagues in Turkey. That was the biggest punch in the face... Nothing more to say about this, really... Just so sad.. 

And later, just getting back to my same old routine. I had a meeting at St Paul's and if I am being honest, with the crutches it was not the most pleasant journey. I had to change 3 different tube lines and now I understand how important to have disabled friendly tube stations and I also understand how we usually take the things such as walking or going up and down at the stairs as granted, when we are healthy. At St Paul's, there was a construction at the escalator and that caused me a slightly swollen right foot which I have been keeping elevated since I came home. But I am not complaining because it is still good to be able to function as before even if I am still quite slower.

There is another face of wearing surgical shoe which is slightly fun and highly silly. :) I was trying on my work clothes this morning and nothing looked okay with the huge black surgical shoe on my right foot. So I have decided to distract people by wearing a quite short dress which I believe perfectly worked. Hahaha. I told you that it was silly, or is it? :-P

I am soooo tired now and really wanted to go to the bed early but my dear(!) upstairs neighbour decided to drill some walls at 11 pm tonight and also hoover all the sh*t later. The only(!) thing I don't understand is, what can you drill for more than 30 mins if you don't aim to make a colander out of your wall!!?? Hey neighbour, if you read this blog... Just FYI, I don't like you! 

I will give it another try to sleep now with the earplugs on.

Until next time!

x

And, here we go!

I went to the clinic today and they took the bandages off. I ve seen my foot for the first time after the operation and here you may see some pictures when the lovely nurse Andrea was working on it.

Last time with the bandages on..

And there she goes..

Cisco phone is in the background :P

And just little adjustments to go..

Still very swollen on and around the big toe. Although, it looks quiet okay from the front. 

But you can see on the side that there is still a looong way to go to fully recover.

My doctor asked me to see him in 4 weeks, and till that time I should still wear the special shoe because the bones are not fully healed yet. 

It feels weird to think that some bones are still broken in my foot! Ugh!!! Gross! :))

Until next time!

Burcu

GJ 1214b, another one!!

Dear Extrasolar Planet GJ 1214b,

You put a childish smile on my face and you are making my day. First Kepler 22b and now you! Kepler seems more of a place that we could survive on though, but it is way too far (almost 600LY).

You have water, FYI we LOVE water. and you are only only(!) 42LY away. Well, nothing like Venus or Mars are close (keep this between two of us but they are not very useful apart from that book about Women from Venus whatever..) but still, you guys make me so happy.

You might have some kind of habitants on you (our scientists say that it is massively hot for the habitants but maybe your habitants survive at the high temperature!) and I want to talk to them, if you dont mind. I will use English this time, because the last time I talked to Kepler's habitants in Turkish here and unfortunately still haven't heard anything back. (click and see) And if you consider all Hollywood movies, you guys tend to speak English..

Hi GJ 1214b habitants,
First of all, i come in peace so please do not attack. Your planet looks like an orange and you know what, I love orange. You are like a big dreamy fruit and it is almost made with water. And guess what we love water too. I think you may look like a fish or an octopus or an alien or a nice mixed of all. Anyhow, I would like to meet. I am a great host and can boil a hot water and put it on an orange (as in colour) mug to make you feel home. Contact me here!
x (as in kiss)
Burcu

So back to you dear extra solar planet.. I will put a picture of you below. Then everybody can see what you look like! And also the link for whom want to know you better.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GJ1214b

I am giggling like a child now :)
Big kisses (as in XX)
Burcu

Just checking

It's been almost a year and I was just checking if I like it now. Nope, I don't!

Still 3 weeks to go to finish the whole year, though. You never know..

...Oh heaven, oh heaven
I wait with good intentions
But the day it always lasts too long
Then I'm gone...

This and that and boredom

I know earlier I said "until something exciting happens" but unfortunately it seems like nothing exciting will happen any time soon. So here is the deal, I am back here with my full boredom. Feel free to escape now :)

I still lay down on my back but the more boring thing is, even if I am on a sick leave, I am still working. I had a phone-meeting today, will give a web-training tomorrow and have a web-meeting on Wednesday. Nice, isn't it?

You might say that it is a good thing to keep myself busy with work since I cannot move anyways. But trust me, it isn't! It isn't because the medication I take, makes me sleepy and I can't focus on work right now! There is a good reason people call it 'sick leave', right? Blah!..

There is slightly better news on my foot. Despite what I thought about the post operation symptoms, the biggest issue I have now is the cramps at the back of my leg. I asked my Pilates teacher if I could do anything to stretch those muscles to relax a bit for a change and here is the solution.

While you sit on the floor, you put your legs on the Pilates roller as you make a cross with your legs and the roller. And you raise your body on your palms to give your weight on your legs and roll the roller slowly up and down to help the muscles to relax. If you suffer especially on one leg more than the other like I do, you may put your good leg on the injured one to press it harder. That works quite well on me and now I can bend my leg much more easily. Below, you can see a similar Pilates roller to mine.

I am looking forward to Thursday when the doctor will take the bandages off my foot and finally I will see my foot for the first time after the operation. Quiet scary and also exciting :)

As you can understand from the name of the post, there is not one topic so I also want to talk about my trashy magazines which keep me entertained during this staying home period. It is not that I will talk bad about them actually it is quite the opposite. I remember couple years back in Istanbul, I happened to buy these kind of magazines too, during a holiday or a long trip etc. There is a major difference between these two experiences. Here it comes..

The ones that I had read years ago were pushing the readers to lose weight, to spend more and giving an impression as you should defo do anything that they say to be accepted in the society. The new ones try to make the readers feel comfortable in their own body and suggest relatively cheaper options for the gals who want to look like the celebrities. That is a plus I guess. Good call Burcu! Well done!

Oh mine, are you still reading? Even I am bored of myself and now cutting this off! :)))

Until anything( hopefully something exciting) happens! :)
Burcu

Boredom inspires me..

A quick charcoal sketch of my brother..

Update on my foot

Today it is the 6th day after my operation and I am feeling pretty okay. I still use my crutches and wear my post surgery shoe (will keep wearing it for another 5 more weeks booo), but the pain doesn't trouble me so much anymore. So far so good..

You can see the last condition of my foot below. A bit blurry and looks a bit unreal and colourless but that is normal, doctor said. That is normal for a charcoal sketch :P

Until something exciting happens! :)

And here is the pain..

I talked too soon when i said it was not hurting yesterday. Pain woke me up this morning. I took a paracetamol and also a strong pain killer, well actually two of each. Now I am feeling a bit better and so sleepy. I don't feel like writing now. ufff
Until next time..

Safe and Sound

Hi all,

I had the operation yesterday and spent the night at the hospital. Despite all my fears, it was a very smooth operation and wake up from the anestetic. I liked my hospital room a lot. The bed was so comfy. If they asked me to stay another night, I wouldn't mind I guess :) you can easily see it from my face below hehe :))

Now I am home, and my super brother, whom I feel so lucky to have around, is treating me like a princess. Now my little foot is resting at home and watching telly :)

Despite the blogs I had read before or things that I had heard, my foot is not giving me a hard time yet. It is only tingling a bit but not unbearable yet. I hope it continues in this way. It actually gives me the courage for the other operation in couple of months on the left foot. But it is too soon to think about that! Focus on the l'il right one now :)

Later, for now..

Tomorrow is the day.

I went to this appointment today and finally agreed having the surgery tomorrow in the private clinic.
Finally, tomorrow evening it is. I will have a super cool Friday night plan which is to take hard core pain killers and spend the night at the hospital.

I have had another surgery years ago and I remember that I was not scared. But now, if I am being honest, I am not any brave at all. I guess the reason is I did't have the best experience last time while I was trying to wake up from general anesthesia. Anyway, I shouldn't scare myself. Heads up!!!!

Yeah, what was I saying? The surgery is tomorrow evening and I will work tomorrow! Haha :) I even have a meeting in the morning, thankfully not face to face and I don't need to show my white, scared face to anyone :)

I hope things will go smoothly and I can get back to my normal life as soon as possible.

Until next time..

Tick tock tick tock, it is getting late..

I ve been in my bed for about 2 hours now and still got spinning eyes and non-stop processing brain.

As you know, my operation was postponed and now and I am back to work since Monday. Funny it is that I am so busy this week. I was supposed to be away if the operation happened as planned, for god's sake, how come am I this much busy then??

I have got another doctor appointment tomorrow in a private clinic. This doctor is a friend/colleague of one of my friends who himself is also an orthopedist too. My friend suggested me to see Dr Jones tomorrow and we will decide if I will be still having the surgery within NHS on Monday or with this new doctor in the private clinic, hopefully on Friday. I am so confused now!! I wish I had it on the 6th and already got rid of it.

On top of everything, because of the cancellation now, I will have series of meetings just about 2 weeks after the surgery and guess what?? One of them is in Newbury! I have got no clue how to get Newbury while I won't be able to drive. I guess, I will wake up at 5am and jump on my bloody crutches to take the tube to Victoria and then take the train and then take a cab.. Damn!! I need a driver!

My bro will be leaving on the 19th and thanks to the cancellation again, he will be only staying with me 1 week after the surgery. I will be off for about 2 weeks and the second week I will be alone. Sweet life, isn't it?..

That is funny because I was thinking the reason of not being able to sleep 5 minutes ago and since now I am writing all these, I know that. I cannot sleep because I am just over thinking again. At least this time I ve got fair reasons.

I have to wake up early tomorrow morning. I have got early meetings again. Tick tock tick tock I am so annoyed!

Burcu

So called surgery day.

Some of you have already known that I was supposed to have an operation tomorrow. It was due at 7:30 on Monday. The dearest NHS, sent me a letter on late Friday and canceled it without giving any reasons or explanations and rescheduled it on the 13th. I received this letter on Saturday and there was a number to call in case I have got any complaints. When I tried to call the number to ask the reason, I figured out that they wouldn't answer any calls till 9am on Monday.
Super cool, eh?
My brother came all the way from Istanbul to help me out during and after the operation and now the date is postponed without giving any explanation.
My meetings are all messed up since now the recovery period will be pushed a week ahead too. I am so furious, and unfortunately only thing I can do right now is to hope that it won't happen again!
I used to appreciate NHS but now, WTF!!