Post by blossomgb on Aug 11, 2011 15:14:25 GMT -5
I wrote this towards the end of last year. I was unsure whether to post it or not, still am, so please don't rip me to bits over it! I can't call it fan FICTION, as you will see...
I was driving up Blackburn Road in Bolton when the stroke hit that evening in September 2003. One minute I felt fine, then I felt fine but couldn't move my right hand side at all. There was no pain, but then again, the brain has no internal pain nerves. My right foot went hard down on the accelerator and the car sped up. I must have reached 70 mph at one point, but luckily there was little traffic coming the other way so I swung out into the middle of the road as the car sped up. I managed to pull the keys out with my other hand and the car ground to a halt. I moved my foot off the pedal and pulled the car to the side of the road, then stopped the engine again, leaving the car blocking someone's drive.
I didn't actually fall unconscious, because I remember throwing up my lunch (McDonalds, as usual) on my Bolton Wanderers sweatshirt and some kind lady putting me into the back of an ambulance. Then it goes very hazy. I came round briefly in Hospital and the wife of a friend recognised me and phoned my family. This was a day later. I couldn't keep my eyes straight, but I remember family members looking worried.
Next day my eyes were better, but I came to the realisation that something had happened. Apparently I'd had a stroke, due to high blood pressure because of an already known about Kidney problem. I would need a transplant as well, but they wanted to start me on Dialysis as soon as possible as the kidneys had finally given up as the stroke, caused by the kidney problem, had finished them off.
I was transferred to a specialist kidney ward at a large hospital (called Hope!) and did Physio each day. I was then transferred to a Stroke Rehabilitation Ward where I became very good at dominoes, watching TV and asking for tea and toast. Then home after four months, for my Birthday in January, but I had to go back to Hope (Then Bolton when a slot became available) for Dialysis. 4 hours, 3 times a week, wired up to a machine to clean my blood. When you consider the size of a Kidney and the size of that machine, you realise what a wonderful piece of engineering the Human Body is. I was stuck in a wheelchair, but I was determined to get out of it.
You at least have your own TV while you are sat there. Flicking around one day, I found a cartoon on, which I found out very quickly was called 'The Powerpuff Girls'. I had seen them around, but I'm sorry to say I called them Powderpuff. The first episode I saw was Boogie Frights, and it's still one of the best in my book. A nurse came across looking worried because I was suddenly laughing my head off. The girls had different personalities, and I was most like Blossom. I loved this show and took my love of it home. My girlfriend thought I had gone completely mad at this point and even more so when on a better day, I ordered a Plushie off Ebay. Blossom, and I still sleep with her.
Something else came with that doll. Blossom herself. At night, she used to talk to me, telling me that I was going to be all right, Well it was either that or I was delirious, but I did start to improve all the same. One step without the wheelchair, then two, then ten.
In September 2004, a year later, I was in Hospital again, but for once I was looking forward to it. Would be off dialysis soon, as it was Transplant time. This is a big operation, especially for my family as I was having a kidney off my dad. I waved as they wheeled me down the corridor, and in seconds I was out of this world. And into another one? Blossom came again while I was being cut open and repaired by one of the best specialists in the country. Then I came round in the recovery room, connected to drips and goodness knows what. Including something to kill the pain. Of which there was virtually none. It was poured down the sink, so the rats roundabout must have been high as kites that night.
My dad forced himself to walk over to see me next day. That night the kidney had been working overtime, so one of the male nurses told me. 'You could p*** for England' were his words. Dad was rather emotional when he saw me. Can't think why as he could walk and I was tied down with pipes and wires.
After the transplant, I came on quicker as my blood was cleaner. I was still talked to at night and in dreams by Blossom. You attend every two days, then four days, then once a week, then once every two weeks. They obviously want to make sure everything is fine with the new kidney. A Dr Parrot (yes, really!) soon sent me to Hope Hospital again, which was easier all round. Since the transplant, we had to log, shall we say, liquids in against liquids out. He threw the book over his shoulder and said 'You're fine, go away'. This doctor was on the team that did the transplant, and when he went to see my dad he told him that they had to remove a rib so it will hurt more. 'Ha Ha', he finished this comment as he walked out.
That night, Blossom seemed to know about it. She sometimes brought the others along now too, so I bought more toys! My leg was moving more now, but my right arm was still dead. It still is now as I write this. It's the only thing that does not seem to want to come back.
About this time, I found my first Powerpuff Forum. I was in them all, with the same name – Blossomgb. I didn't post much, because I stick to the idea that you must always post something useful. Not posting for posting's sake. I now had a badge on my coat with my name and my avatar on it, a picture of Blossom looking not pleased with me but trying not to laugh.
2005 I really came on in leaps and bounds. Certain members of my family said I would not repair another TV, Radio or Tape Recorder again. That was like a red ribbon to a Blossom fan, as I have been doing that now for 3 years. I ditched the wheelchair and made myself walk to places like the Kitchen. I've got a poster here from Townsville actually. 'Steve, You'll fix tellys again and carry them. Listen to us and ignore certain others'. It was a hint, and I keep it up as that, Certain members of my family have not commented on this. I learned to solder with one hand and made my own implements to help me. The first vintage radio I fixed after the stroke is in the kitchen and I listen to it over breakfast.
It wasn't all easy however. When you have a transplant, the body sees the new organ as a foreign body and attacks it. This is automatic, so although the brain knows full well why it's there, the body sees it differently. So you have to have drugs to suppress the body's immune system. They have the sort of names that only Chemistry Graduates can pronounce, and they have to be closely monitored and regulated. The side effect of these drugs is the problem. You can't fight off infections the same as you're immune system is compromised. I have injections for flu and I am generally OK, but every year I have some sort of very nasty flu and all they can do is dose me up and wait. I have been in hospital twice as a result. But again, not on my own.....
With the kidney problem sorted, I had to try and sort out my paralysed right arm. I had a long string of arm splints and then another operation to lengthen tendons. Because my skin is a bit thin due to the drugs, injections hurt more. I went to a very clever lady for this, who was quite worried about the cleanliness of the hospital, and insisted that I have a separate room. The nurses treated my arm to minimise the pain on one part of my arm, then I was injected in another part. I was away, and this time Blossom came again and took me for a flight. She said I would be fine ... then I woke up in my room, with my arm in some sort of sling, The leg was made a special splint to enable me to walk better.
With Kidney problems, another problem occurs. Hernias. I had two, one on each side of my... er... gentleman's vegetables. These were then sorted but the wound became infected and I was not entirely well as a result. So I went in to be cut up again, telling the doctor to be careful with the knife, and had the two hernias sorted. One then became infected again, so I had to go in again to have it cleaned. I went under the knife again for this. Each time, I had a visit, Each time she said I would be fine. Each time I was. One of the nurses had a daughter who was into the PPG's and she came in with a present one day – A keyring of all three girls.
When I got home and fell asleep, Blossom spoke to me again. 'Nice keyring', she told me. 'Why don't you get a car? You had one before, why not now?
I'd had to hand in my licence after the Stroke, and getting it back was easy although long winded. Doctors, Eye Tests..... and then I had to learn to drive again. My right foot no longer was considered fit to work an accelerator and I would need a button arrangement for my one working hand. If you've driven one way for eighteen years, you get a feel for driving that way. To then have it reversed on the pedals and go on the main roads is scary. Believe me. The hand control was easy enough, but now the accelerator is where the clutch was, and the car was an Automatic. The gears are simple enough, but the number of times I got the pedals wrong was rather high. I either got vehicles pipping behind me or, in once case, touched the accelerator rather than the brake. There was an ambulance taking someone to hospital and I almost hit it! Well I wouldn't have had far to go... but something else intervened and the car skidded out of it's path. I heard a familiar voice telling me to concentrate more and for a second, in my mirror, there was Blossom. Then, she was gone....
I also started radio presenting and technical support again. BBC training never leaves you. I had been placed in Transmitter Dept, which was masts on hills, but the training covered everything from Radio Presenting skills to mending quite complex kit that the BBC used. I got behind the mike again and even played a piece of music written by a Powerpuff fan twice! I have a Powerpuff Bag for carrying CD's to the station in. Although radio work is great, it was my downfall in 2010. I was hoovering a radio studio and I fell. Don't know how I fell, I sort of put my foot down and missed the floor somehow. I ended up in hospital with my right leg broken.
The specialist looked at my X-Rays and didn't hold out a lot of hope that I could walk again. Because the bones were so weak, they couldn't pin the leg in the normal way. My family came and brought a Blossom doll, along with a radio and a card for the TV unit.
That night, I went to sleep and had a visit from Blossom. She said that I would walk again, but not for 4 months. It would take about 10 months to get right again. She told me to be patient, which is not a particular trait of mine. I went home with the bones set and my leg in plaster, so I could at least collect signatures on it! She visited and talked to me quite often during the months that followed.
Ten weeks doing nothing is not easy. You have to rely on others for everything. Even in a wheelchair, with one hand out of action anyway, you can't push the thing straight. Bath times were fun! I watched my entire collections of UFO, Space 1999, Blake's Seven, Dr. Who, Survivors. Old Horror and Sci-Fi films. And of course PPG, Atomic Betty and Puffy Ami Yumi. Something else began to happen, something which as an Engineer and Scientist, I found it difficult to explain. Always out of direct eyeshot, a red haired girl with a stripy dress, a hair slide and a red bow would seem to be there, but when I looked round she'd gone. The Blossom doll used to always move when she appeared. I never saw it, but I swear it moved. I was never scared by this at all.
When the plaster came off, my leg was fixed, but I still couldn't walk. The leg had lost a lot of muscle in those ten weeks and my foot was in a different position. The physio's took weeks to come, and in that time, the scientist in me took over and I got myself walking. I looked at the foot and leg from a Physics point of view. I used the side of the bed to try and get up, and fall back on! With the right additions to the foot support, I found that I could walk. The foot simply needed to have extra support because it was in a different place. When the physiotherapists arrived, they said I was the first one they'd seen who did such a thing.
It has taken about ten months to get right from that, which leads us to the present day. I have, on line, met others who claim that a Powerpuff Girl has been there in their time of need. I obviously can't name names, but I am aware of one girl who was about to end it when Blossom appeared and knocked the knife out of her hand. She was amazed that I didn't laugh when she told me her tale until I told her the story I've told you.
Whether people believe it or not is up to them. As a scientist, I would have written it off myself, but it happened to me. So I can't. I do say though that although science has all the answers, do we know all the science? I am also a Christian and I do believe in Angels. But think about this...
Space is the final frontier. There are an infinite number of suns, and an infinite number of planets. Suppose that upon one planet, out there in the great unknown, the Powerpuff Girls do exist. Suppose they have got all the powers that they have in the cartoon. Suppose they can travel and have out of body experiences. Is it too much to imagine??
Cheers.
Blossomgb
Spirit of Blossom....
I was driving up Blackburn Road in Bolton when the stroke hit that evening in September 2003. One minute I felt fine, then I felt fine but couldn't move my right hand side at all. There was no pain, but then again, the brain has no internal pain nerves. My right foot went hard down on the accelerator and the car sped up. I must have reached 70 mph at one point, but luckily there was little traffic coming the other way so I swung out into the middle of the road as the car sped up. I managed to pull the keys out with my other hand and the car ground to a halt. I moved my foot off the pedal and pulled the car to the side of the road, then stopped the engine again, leaving the car blocking someone's drive.
I didn't actually fall unconscious, because I remember throwing up my lunch (McDonalds, as usual) on my Bolton Wanderers sweatshirt and some kind lady putting me into the back of an ambulance. Then it goes very hazy. I came round briefly in Hospital and the wife of a friend recognised me and phoned my family. This was a day later. I couldn't keep my eyes straight, but I remember family members looking worried.
Next day my eyes were better, but I came to the realisation that something had happened. Apparently I'd had a stroke, due to high blood pressure because of an already known about Kidney problem. I would need a transplant as well, but they wanted to start me on Dialysis as soon as possible as the kidneys had finally given up as the stroke, caused by the kidney problem, had finished them off.
I was transferred to a specialist kidney ward at a large hospital (called Hope!) and did Physio each day. I was then transferred to a Stroke Rehabilitation Ward where I became very good at dominoes, watching TV and asking for tea and toast. Then home after four months, for my Birthday in January, but I had to go back to Hope (Then Bolton when a slot became available) for Dialysis. 4 hours, 3 times a week, wired up to a machine to clean my blood. When you consider the size of a Kidney and the size of that machine, you realise what a wonderful piece of engineering the Human Body is. I was stuck in a wheelchair, but I was determined to get out of it.
You at least have your own TV while you are sat there. Flicking around one day, I found a cartoon on, which I found out very quickly was called 'The Powerpuff Girls'. I had seen them around, but I'm sorry to say I called them Powderpuff. The first episode I saw was Boogie Frights, and it's still one of the best in my book. A nurse came across looking worried because I was suddenly laughing my head off. The girls had different personalities, and I was most like Blossom. I loved this show and took my love of it home. My girlfriend thought I had gone completely mad at this point and even more so when on a better day, I ordered a Plushie off Ebay. Blossom, and I still sleep with her.
Something else came with that doll. Blossom herself. At night, she used to talk to me, telling me that I was going to be all right, Well it was either that or I was delirious, but I did start to improve all the same. One step without the wheelchair, then two, then ten.
In September 2004, a year later, I was in Hospital again, but for once I was looking forward to it. Would be off dialysis soon, as it was Transplant time. This is a big operation, especially for my family as I was having a kidney off my dad. I waved as they wheeled me down the corridor, and in seconds I was out of this world. And into another one? Blossom came again while I was being cut open and repaired by one of the best specialists in the country. Then I came round in the recovery room, connected to drips and goodness knows what. Including something to kill the pain. Of which there was virtually none. It was poured down the sink, so the rats roundabout must have been high as kites that night.
My dad forced himself to walk over to see me next day. That night the kidney had been working overtime, so one of the male nurses told me. 'You could p*** for England' were his words. Dad was rather emotional when he saw me. Can't think why as he could walk and I was tied down with pipes and wires.
After the transplant, I came on quicker as my blood was cleaner. I was still talked to at night and in dreams by Blossom. You attend every two days, then four days, then once a week, then once every two weeks. They obviously want to make sure everything is fine with the new kidney. A Dr Parrot (yes, really!) soon sent me to Hope Hospital again, which was easier all round. Since the transplant, we had to log, shall we say, liquids in against liquids out. He threw the book over his shoulder and said 'You're fine, go away'. This doctor was on the team that did the transplant, and when he went to see my dad he told him that they had to remove a rib so it will hurt more. 'Ha Ha', he finished this comment as he walked out.
That night, Blossom seemed to know about it. She sometimes brought the others along now too, so I bought more toys! My leg was moving more now, but my right arm was still dead. It still is now as I write this. It's the only thing that does not seem to want to come back.
About this time, I found my first Powerpuff Forum. I was in them all, with the same name – Blossomgb. I didn't post much, because I stick to the idea that you must always post something useful. Not posting for posting's sake. I now had a badge on my coat with my name and my avatar on it, a picture of Blossom looking not pleased with me but trying not to laugh.
2005 I really came on in leaps and bounds. Certain members of my family said I would not repair another TV, Radio or Tape Recorder again. That was like a red ribbon to a Blossom fan, as I have been doing that now for 3 years. I ditched the wheelchair and made myself walk to places like the Kitchen. I've got a poster here from Townsville actually. 'Steve, You'll fix tellys again and carry them. Listen to us and ignore certain others'. It was a hint, and I keep it up as that, Certain members of my family have not commented on this. I learned to solder with one hand and made my own implements to help me. The first vintage radio I fixed after the stroke is in the kitchen and I listen to it over breakfast.
It wasn't all easy however. When you have a transplant, the body sees the new organ as a foreign body and attacks it. This is automatic, so although the brain knows full well why it's there, the body sees it differently. So you have to have drugs to suppress the body's immune system. They have the sort of names that only Chemistry Graduates can pronounce, and they have to be closely monitored and regulated. The side effect of these drugs is the problem. You can't fight off infections the same as you're immune system is compromised. I have injections for flu and I am generally OK, but every year I have some sort of very nasty flu and all they can do is dose me up and wait. I have been in hospital twice as a result. But again, not on my own.....
With the kidney problem sorted, I had to try and sort out my paralysed right arm. I had a long string of arm splints and then another operation to lengthen tendons. Because my skin is a bit thin due to the drugs, injections hurt more. I went to a very clever lady for this, who was quite worried about the cleanliness of the hospital, and insisted that I have a separate room. The nurses treated my arm to minimise the pain on one part of my arm, then I was injected in another part. I was away, and this time Blossom came again and took me for a flight. She said I would be fine ... then I woke up in my room, with my arm in some sort of sling, The leg was made a special splint to enable me to walk better.
With Kidney problems, another problem occurs. Hernias. I had two, one on each side of my... er... gentleman's vegetables. These were then sorted but the wound became infected and I was not entirely well as a result. So I went in to be cut up again, telling the doctor to be careful with the knife, and had the two hernias sorted. One then became infected again, so I had to go in again to have it cleaned. I went under the knife again for this. Each time, I had a visit, Each time she said I would be fine. Each time I was. One of the nurses had a daughter who was into the PPG's and she came in with a present one day – A keyring of all three girls.
When I got home and fell asleep, Blossom spoke to me again. 'Nice keyring', she told me. 'Why don't you get a car? You had one before, why not now?
I'd had to hand in my licence after the Stroke, and getting it back was easy although long winded. Doctors, Eye Tests..... and then I had to learn to drive again. My right foot no longer was considered fit to work an accelerator and I would need a button arrangement for my one working hand. If you've driven one way for eighteen years, you get a feel for driving that way. To then have it reversed on the pedals and go on the main roads is scary. Believe me. The hand control was easy enough, but now the accelerator is where the clutch was, and the car was an Automatic. The gears are simple enough, but the number of times I got the pedals wrong was rather high. I either got vehicles pipping behind me or, in once case, touched the accelerator rather than the brake. There was an ambulance taking someone to hospital and I almost hit it! Well I wouldn't have had far to go... but something else intervened and the car skidded out of it's path. I heard a familiar voice telling me to concentrate more and for a second, in my mirror, there was Blossom. Then, she was gone....
I also started radio presenting and technical support again. BBC training never leaves you. I had been placed in Transmitter Dept, which was masts on hills, but the training covered everything from Radio Presenting skills to mending quite complex kit that the BBC used. I got behind the mike again and even played a piece of music written by a Powerpuff fan twice! I have a Powerpuff Bag for carrying CD's to the station in. Although radio work is great, it was my downfall in 2010. I was hoovering a radio studio and I fell. Don't know how I fell, I sort of put my foot down and missed the floor somehow. I ended up in hospital with my right leg broken.
The specialist looked at my X-Rays and didn't hold out a lot of hope that I could walk again. Because the bones were so weak, they couldn't pin the leg in the normal way. My family came and brought a Blossom doll, along with a radio and a card for the TV unit.
That night, I went to sleep and had a visit from Blossom. She said that I would walk again, but not for 4 months. It would take about 10 months to get right again. She told me to be patient, which is not a particular trait of mine. I went home with the bones set and my leg in plaster, so I could at least collect signatures on it! She visited and talked to me quite often during the months that followed.
Ten weeks doing nothing is not easy. You have to rely on others for everything. Even in a wheelchair, with one hand out of action anyway, you can't push the thing straight. Bath times were fun! I watched my entire collections of UFO, Space 1999, Blake's Seven, Dr. Who, Survivors. Old Horror and Sci-Fi films. And of course PPG, Atomic Betty and Puffy Ami Yumi. Something else began to happen, something which as an Engineer and Scientist, I found it difficult to explain. Always out of direct eyeshot, a red haired girl with a stripy dress, a hair slide and a red bow would seem to be there, but when I looked round she'd gone. The Blossom doll used to always move when she appeared. I never saw it, but I swear it moved. I was never scared by this at all.
When the plaster came off, my leg was fixed, but I still couldn't walk. The leg had lost a lot of muscle in those ten weeks and my foot was in a different position. The physio's took weeks to come, and in that time, the scientist in me took over and I got myself walking. I looked at the foot and leg from a Physics point of view. I used the side of the bed to try and get up, and fall back on! With the right additions to the foot support, I found that I could walk. The foot simply needed to have extra support because it was in a different place. When the physiotherapists arrived, they said I was the first one they'd seen who did such a thing.
It has taken about ten months to get right from that, which leads us to the present day. I have, on line, met others who claim that a Powerpuff Girl has been there in their time of need. I obviously can't name names, but I am aware of one girl who was about to end it when Blossom appeared and knocked the knife out of her hand. She was amazed that I didn't laugh when she told me her tale until I told her the story I've told you.
Whether people believe it or not is up to them. As a scientist, I would have written it off myself, but it happened to me. So I can't. I do say though that although science has all the answers, do we know all the science? I am also a Christian and I do believe in Angels. But think about this...
Space is the final frontier. There are an infinite number of suns, and an infinite number of planets. Suppose that upon one planet, out there in the great unknown, the Powerpuff Girls do exist. Suppose they have got all the powers that they have in the cartoon. Suppose they can travel and have out of body experiences. Is it too much to imagine??
Cheers.
Blossomgb
