Knee Update

Right, so I realise it's been a while since I've done a update on my knee so here goes. In summary - all is going alright. Not fantastic but good.

There is still quite a bit of fluid which is limits my range of motion. I'm allowed to take my brace off when I'm at home or just around the office but still have to wear it in public or when I sleep. But I've become more ruthless with my physio as I'm past the point of caring and just want it to get better.

My physio is limited to 6 different exercises focusing on muscle strength in my quad and hamstring, but the thing that is really limiting me is the range of motion (hence the new approach). I can tell my physio isn't too happy about the lack of progress, so am taking the approach that as long as it doesn't hurt after I do the physio it should be all right.

I'm seeing the physio once a week and will see the surgeon next week - so hopefully I'll hear that all is going well.

On the work front things have been busy, busy, busy with me doing the work of a couple people until a new team member joins me. But I'm doing some really cool stuff which is exciting.

There are a couple other updates - Spain and Aroma festival on the weekend - but am completely knackered so will blog about those later.

Quick Trip to Melbourne

As a reward for a good year my team was flown to Melbourne for a day of some business and lots of play. After an early flight 6:20 AM we made our way to central Melbourne and a conference centre at Federation Square (think Trafalgar Square but in Melbourne).

During the day we were able to hear from the curator of the Tim Burton exhibit which is in town from the MOD in NY. After the talk we were allowed to go visit the exhibit which included many drawings, models, pieces and film strips from his variety of movies. While that type of thing is typically just up my alley - it's winter holidays for the schools so the exhibit was packed with kids and I was more afraid of getting a good bump and being knocked over. (My brace makes it easy to walk straight but any kind of sideways movement is increasingly more difficult.)

Later in the day we had an even more fascinating talk from Professor Mark Barry who is the architect working to finish the Sagrada de Familia in Barcelona. Now to provide the back story - I loved, LOVED this building and this architect when I was in Barcelona. He thinks so off the wall and creates things which you will never see anywhere else. Professor Barry spoke about how he is trying to work to determine what the original plan was for the building and then spoke about how they are going about putting that into place. With some of the modeling they are doing they are actually using aeronautical engineering programs.

The current schedule is for the Pope to officially open the main space of the church in November of this year, however there is a large central spire which isn't completed so the full building won't be completed until 2016 or so...

An inside picture of the church

After the day we had a great night out on the town only to realise that we were staying in one of the best hotels in the city. While we were sharing, the rooms were still absolutely amazing. We had a large bathtub which had a TV and windows to the outside. If only we weren't sharing rooms it would have been a great way to end a drunken night. :)

The Park Hyatt in Melbourne

I am now trying to figure out when I might be able to do another short trip. I'm trying to crunch the financials to see if I can make it to Spain for the holidays... but right now the potential outlook of being out of a large part of my debt by then is very appealing. Hopefully I'll be able to find a way to pinch some cash somewhere to make it happen.

After coming back yesterday I've had a relaxing and productive weekend. I finally bough a deck brush to clean the balcony - which was looking more like part of the bird's home than mine. I've also bought some paints and finally have an idea of what I want to paint for my living room and potentially my bedroom. :) Tonight I'm going to dinner at my friend Gloria's place, so will be trekking back to Kingsford - then it's back to work I go.

The Drama that is My Life

Oh where to start. I guess my knee is an obvious place to start.

Things with my knee are going well - my surgeon was happy with progress and said he'd didn't need to see me for another month and that I'm in the hands of my physio. This was good news to my physio who was bit daunted by the initial list of very prescriptive directions my surgeon provided. I'm still doing the initial set of lying down exercises but have started doing a series of lunges and other exercises to start getting the strength back in my muscle.

I'm no longer using my crutches and am able to walk around home without my brace on - which is awesome!! I can't wait to have the brace off. My new nickname at work varies between Robo Cop and the Bionic Woman depending on who it is (personally I prefer bionic woman). Oh well - at least I'm making progress and slowly getting back to it. Now I just can't wait for the wounds to heal so that I can get back into the pool - or once I have 100 degrees of bend and can ride a stationary bike.

Now to the drama with my now old flatmate... So I thought everything was all good with my flatmate, however things got a bit weird. Following a couple of small things that just didn't sit right he told me on a Tuesday night that he had just signed a new lease and would be moving out on Saturday (4 days!). He then proceeded to demand his full bond in return, regardless of if I was able to find someone to move in following his timeline. After telling him in so many words that he wasn't getting his full bond back and wouldn't be getting a penny till I received the bond from the new flatmate - he proceeded to take the keys hostage after he moved out.

I've now changed the locks and now have a new flatmate who has just moved in today. She is really nice and I think will be a much better fit.

This has all be going on while I've been completely drained with my first week back to work, so I've been exhausted on all fronts. Hopefully things will settle down a bit in the next couple weeks and I can focus on getting my knee back to normal. Fingers crossed!!