Cast-off!

Just a quickie to let you all know I got my cast taken off last Wednesday - yay! My wrist is till a little bruised and swollen, and very stiff, but generally on the mend. The specialist gave me a soft splint to wear on and off for another week, and I am trying to use my hand as much as possible without overdoing it.

You'll be pleased to hear I am now typing with two hands and am able to wash my hair with both hands too. Today was a major achievement - I bought a take-away coffee and was able to carry it in my left hand! Woo! No more missing out on my lovely store-bought morning coffee! Yay! :)

So all is progressing well. This week I am seeing a specialist in hospital again to check on progress, then after that a physio to get some exercises.

One weird thing: I have scratched all the skin on my left hand and wrist off, leaving a new, shiny and very sensitive skin underneath - when I feel something with my left hand, all the textures are amplified, making for interesting sensory experiences! :)

Ciao,
Mimi "The Hand" Iakovidis (as Ben has taken to calling me lately)

We got the flat!!!

Ok, I guess this needs some introduction.

Ben and I have been wanting to move in together for a while now but things like holidays and football injuries and date-coordinating with flatmates kept moving the dates later and later in the year.

But finally, a couple of weeks ago we started on the seemingly huge and daunting task of flat-hunting. We booked up the calendar with viewing dates and potential move dates, and started scouring the web and whoring ourselves out to estate agents. We weren't enjoying it much, and my current project hasn't made it easy for me to ring agents etc. so Ben was doing a lot of the calling around.

Anyway, on Saturday we sneakily double-booked to see a flat in Barnsbury and we really liked it! It was on a nice quiet circular street with a park in the middle, and it had a garden, loads of storage space, high ceilings and a few quirky features like lowered kitchen and bathroom. We went to see it again a couple of hours later, this time armed with a designer tape measure (we were in Islington and desperate - don't ask Ben how much it cost!). This time we were triple booked and the other people viewing it were making 'ooh I like it' noises so Ben and I ran outside and quickly called the agent to put an offer on it. Needless to say the property market in London is very competitive at the moment!

We had to wait in suspense all weekend because the agent couldn't get through to the landlord to confirm the offer. So this morning, while I was taking notes in yet another corporate interview, I noticed a text message and thought 'Omigod, it's from Ben, about the flat!' I had to concentrate really hard to keep focused on my work. When I finally read the message and it said "House is ours!!!" I was just so happy and relieved. Yayyyy! :)

Only minor negative is that the flat becomes available on the 24th of October and I promised my landlady (and flatmate) Lorraine I'd be out of here by the end of September. Besides, she's already lined up a new tenant. D'oh! So, I'll have to share Ben's room again for 3 weeks. Given that Ben's flatemate and his girlfriend will also be living there at the time it should be a nice little squeeze! But it will be well worth it. I'm already itching to get our new place all nice and shiny clean for our move! (I know, I have issues)

So, there will be a housewarming party, most likely in November. I'm warning you now - all invited will have to bring a fridge magnet. The more unusual and interesting the better. So you can start shopping for one now!

My left arm

Ok, so it's not a Daniel Day Lewis movie, but it's still pretty interesting. My last 'arm' update (aside from my gratuitous broken-wrist-mentioning Facebook status updates) was written during my week of pain, when I first broke my wrist. I mentioned some flowers and cards I was sent - from work, and my friends Kate and Tom, Ben and Jo, and Alex and Asitha - here are the pics. I also mentioned the painkillers - here is my bedside stash!

My first day back at work was awful - I was so tired and overwhelmed. Fortunately that reduced significantly the next day, and it's been pretty good since. But it's easy for me (and others) to forget that my body is healing and I will (and do) get tired more easily.

About 10 days after the first (half) cast was put on I had a hospital appointment where they removed the cast, X-rayed my wrist again, and put a new, all the way round, fibreglass cast on. This cast was stronger and lighter than the plaster one. I asked the guy who put it on for me (an orthopaedic technician by the name of Tony who was awesome) to wash my arm for me as it had started to feel a bit manky. Here are some pics of my wrist between casts - can you see the bruising? (Apologies, my phone isn't exactly the latest model.) At least the swelling had gone down.


In the meantime I've taken my cast and sling to a wedding, to super corporate client interviews (tip: footy injuries go down well with male execs!) and have even braved London public transport with them. Unsurprisingly, not everyone on the buses and Tube notices my cast or takes care not to knock into me. Some lovely people have given up their seat for me, but they haven't been in the majority I'm afraid. And it's not easy to keep your balance and hang on to bus/train poles with one hand, let me tell you!

So now I am due to get this second cast removed in 10 days and I am practically counting down. Not that I should expect my wrist to be fully operational afterwards... I expect it will take a few months before it regains its strength. I am wondering what it's going to look like though... currently I am scratching the dead skin off it (not pretty, but I can't help myself) - you can see my two-tone thumb where I've scratched the darker skin off. Yes, ewww back to you. Plus I've been told my arm might be super hairy when the cast comes off. Nice...

Disarmingly yours :)

P.S. In case you're wondering, no I haven't let anyone sign my cast. I have a super corporate client and I don't think it would look very good. Maybe on my cast's last day..

The pressure to blog

I admit it, I'm feeling it! Once you start a blog, there's this unspoken expectation that you're going to be adding to it all the time, keeping it fresh or real or whatever the kids are saying these days. Well, having one typing hand and no computer at home (not to mention a stupid-busy project at the moment) have all made it a bit hard to blog regularly. And I have stacks of things to write about, hence my frustration. To make it a bit easier for myself, I've decided to do 'retro' posts when I can - posts that won't be in order of chronology, but will at least fill some of the gaps for you. Ok, I feel a bit better now. Now all I have to do is sort my photos...