Wednesday 20 August 2008

Mud, Mud, Glorious Mud!

This is going to be a short post, for reasons that will become clear as I type... It's been an interesting month or so. I've had pins and needles in the fingers of my left hand for a while, and when it hadn't gone after a while, and was pretty irritating, I took it to the doctor, expecting to be told that it was OK, and rest would be just the thing to sort it out. Unfortunately, she had a good look, felt my wrist, asked me to move my fingers and bend my wrists, and grip her hand, and came out with the scary words "neurological deficit". Really scary, until she started to speak language I understood, and told me she thought I may have Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, when things started to click into place. I'm careful, but I've worked with computers for a lot of years now, and have quite possibly developed this through working over a long time. So. I've been to the Neurology Department at the hospital twice, and have had tests, including an EMG last week (on my birthday, no less, but at least being out of work early, I got to see the climax of the Eventing at the Olympics - every cloud etc), and I'm now waiting for the results of that. If it indicates CTS, I will be discharged to my GP, then referred to the plastic surgeon for the release op (apparently they don't do BOGOF, so my nose will have to stay bent). So it can be painful and annoying to type. It is going downhill visibly - although I now wear a wrist support, I am getting more pain and less pins and needles, and the pain is travelling up to my shoulder. But, all being well, it's fixable, and OK - I know there's going to be a period after the op when it's painful, and I can expect weakness for 6 months to a year, but at the moment, it hurts, and it's embarrassing when I drop things.
So why the mud? Well this week, Jon and I went to the V Festival, conveniently situated 15 miles from his dad's house (so we don't have to do the cold and damp camping thing - clean and warm bedroom and bathroom for me Thank You), in Staffordshire. We had a great time - Saturday was overcast most of the day, and we got to see The Stranglers, Squeeze, The Feeling (fab covers of Video Killed the Radio Star and Take on Me, as well as a great set of their own), Travis, The Kings of Leon (and was I proud when I recognised their intro music - Mozart's Lachrymosa from his Requiem - and yes, I did know all the words, and sang along), Echo and the Bunnymen (perfect as always, AND included People are Strange in the set) and The Verve, who I first saw 10 years ago when they played V98 in Leeds, and who were magical. Unfortunately, during The Verve, and on the way back to the car, the heavens opened, and we got wet through. The rain didn't stop all night, and by the time we arrived for Sunday, the site was deep in mud. When I say deep, I mean that when I was trying to dance, my feet moved, but my wellies didn't! But the weather was warm, and I wouldn't have missed The Futureheads, Maximo Park, Paul Heaton (I must buy his album - the songs are just fab), The Stereophonics, and Muse, whose stage show was amongst the best I have seen - lasers, lights, and over 90 minutes appearing to be over in 90 seconds. We missed the accident on the A5, so managed to be back in the house by midnight as well - where we promptly undressed on our waterproofs, and put the horribly muddy clothes into a black bag. Jon was a hero this morning and washed it all!
So that's it for now - with my knitting, I have finished the Goddess Knits Anniversary Mystery Shawl, and the Slow Bee 1 (a WIP for the Ravelympics), and am on with 3 more Ravelympics projects... Then I will be knitting Hazel's Estonian Christening Shawl. And that's about me. Photos and more soon, promise....

1 comment:

acrylik said...

Oh Claire, terrible news about the CTS, but at least they can do something about it. Lotsa hugs, and here's hoping all goes well.

Sounds like you had a fantastic time at V - and seeing the Stereophonics and Muse on the same night! Wow, I would have loved to have been there - despite the mud!

And belated happy birthday! xx