I did it.
We did it.
It being visiting all the stations on the London Underground network in one day.
Starting at 5.28 am from Amersham and pulling into Upminster 19 hours, 25 minutes and 19 seconds later, at almost 1 am.
Pure insanity.
More information and several severely unflattering photos (I was hot, sweaty, grimy and now have black bogey syndrome despite blowing my nose several times) can be found courtesy of Annie Mole (and crew) over at Going Underground.
I'm now off to lie, whimpering, on the sofa again.
If you read nothing else on my blog today, please read this. The rest pales into insignificance compared to this.
I work with some extraordinary people, and one of them needs help. This is the best way I can think of to give that help.
I wouldn't normally write about work, or about colleagues from work, but this is an exceptional circumstance. Please read/link/pass this on to anyone you think might be able to help.
Firstly, a bit of background.
Neil is one of the nicest people you could ever possibly meet. In the years I've worked with him, he's dealt with a very challenging job and never once complained or bitched about it. He is absolutely head over heels in love with his wife, Kazumi, and just over a year ago, she gave birth to a son, Sam. The look on his face whenever he talked about his family is something that will stay with me always.
A month ago, we got some terrible news. Kazumi and Sam were in a car accident. From what I've been able to find out, another car hit them side on, crushing Kazumi's knee and flinging baby Sam, car seat and all, out of the car and causing him terrible injuries.
Kazumi is recovering well, and is now able to join Neil at the hospital where Sam was taken, but with each update on Sam's condition, hope for his full recovery is fading.
Today, Neil sent an email in, asking for help. This is reproduced in full below, because I just can't re-write it. He asks for help. Please read it and help, if you can, by passing this word on to anyone you think may be able to help. Thank you.
Dear All
Thank you for all your support, wishes and prayers over the last few weeks - they have meant so much to us. At the moment Sam is stable, opening his eyes and smiling at us from time to time - which is simply beautiful. Sam's surgery to rejoin his head to his spine with a metal brace went well and he is now being held in an external brace to let it heal over the next six weeks.
He continues to be ventilated and paralysed from the neck down, and is still susceptible to infection especially having contracted MRSA. He has just had another operation to be ventilated through the neck and have feeding through his stomach, which will make it more comfortable for him.
At this stage, it is difficult to assess the extent of damage to the spinal cord. From the picture they see at the moment, the doctors have said they are very pessimistic that his situation will improve. They say it is likely that the spinal cord is completely severed, which would mean no chance of recovery below the neck with current medical knowledge.
This news has been devastating for us and we cannot comprehend at the moment what the future holds. Our Sam is fighting every day and we are overwhelmed at how strong and brave our son is. These next 2 to 4 weeks are the most important in our lives as we are waiting for any signs of recovery. I have contacted specialists from around the world and they say there is little to do but sit and wait.
If any of you know anybody that may be able to help - please contact us (email me and I will pass any messages on). It is a paediatric spinal cord injury to the cervical spine at c0-c1. This injury is so rare that there is no other documented case in a child so young - most die at the crash site and before they reach hospital.
We have two doctors who were passing the crash to thank for saving Sam's life. This has given him a chance.
We have read with heartfelt thanks all your individual messages and cards. They mean so much I cannot say. If I could ask one thing with all my heart? Please pray, think or pause for Sam every day whilst he is fighting. All my prayers have been answered and the more prayers Sam has - the stronger he will be. Your love and wishes get to Sam every day. I believe in my heart the doctors are wrong and he will win. I believe God is with us and Sam will walk, talk and breathe again. He was a miracle when he came to us, it was a miracle he survived the crash and it will be a miracle when he recovers.
These things do happen and they will happen to Sam.
With all our love and thanks to you all for your kind thoughts.
Neil, Kazumi and Sam.
A couple of months ago, I followed these guys around Zone 1, taking pictures (example below). I then chose 8, which were then submitted to the Observer Hodge Award (never to be seen or heard from again, but if one doesn't try, one can't achieve anything... or somesuch nonsense).
Tomorrow, I'm doing something similar. The only difference is that this time it's the WHOLE TUBE NETWORK and not just Zone 1, and it's for charity (in aid of the London Bomb Relief fund) and solidarity not for competition.
I'm not asking for sponsorship for me, because I'm not convinced my legs can last the whole day, but if you'd like to contribute, then feel free to sponsor them.
Oh, and there's a chance there might be a film crew and/or some journalists around for the off (at 5.28 am), so keep an eye out for a bunch of rough looking sleepy geeks (I'm mostly referring to myself there) in the arse end of nowhere (Amersham) on the news/in the papers.
... solve it with stationery!
Last year I was surrounded by boxes and in the process of picking up the shattered pieces of my life.
In 2003, I set out to get stoned (failed) and drunk (very successfully).
In 2002, my gran had broken her hip and was in hospital (something which would prove to be ultimately fatal), which meant she missed my sister's wedding the weekend before, and I was suddenly trying to find a new flat before the landlord's asshole partner evicted me.
In 2001, I was dealing with my dad's recent diagnosis of lung cancer when I was made redundant.
In 2000, I was a mess, in pain and in a wheelchair.
In 1999, I was a mess, in pain, and had to use a walking stick because they wouldn't give me crutches.
In 1998, I was in a hospital ward full of crazy old ladies with broken hips who regularly pissed the bed for the attention, undergoing tests for suspected arthritis (which it wasn't).
In 1997, Princess Diana died. No party for me.
So yeah, it's my birthday next week, and based on the evidence from previous years, can you really blame me for not looking forward to it?
So if it's quiet around here for the next few days, it's just that I'm hiding under the duvet.
Just in case, y'know?
Consider yourself warned.
If you could choose three words that you'd like people to use to describe you, what would they be?
I'm curious, because the concept came up in a conversation Eva and I had recently, and I realised that I really don't know what my three words are.
A year ago I sat on a different sofa watching a different TV.
A year ago I left a life behind.
A year ago I didn't have a bed.
A year ago I slept amongst a stack of boxes.
A year ago I made a fresh start.
A year ago I moved in.
In 12 days time, I'll have lived here the longest I've lived in any one place since I moved to London, almost four years ago.
One year on, and I really think I've found a home - for now, at least.
So yeah, I have allergies.
Being the weirdo pain in the arse that I am, I have weird allergies.
I also have allergies to the things that might prevent the things that cause allergies, and to add extra amusingness to the whole party, I'm often allergic to the stuff that's supposed to make the allergic reaction stop.
This is a long-one. Hold on to your hats, and don't say you weren't warned.
Also, you asked me to tell, so I am.
Most recent case in point:
I got bitten by a mosquito a couple of weeks ago. Amazingly, I'd never been bitten by a mosquito before. Midges yes, mosquitos no. I'm allergic to midge bites, so it logically follows that I'm allergic to mosquito bites.
... and how.
I had a lump, fully 2 inches by 3 inches, on my arm. Solid. Hard. Hot. (not in a sexy way).
So I did what anyone would do, I went to the chemist and got a bottle of calamine lotion (to stop me scratching holes in my arm) and some allergy tablets to try and make the swelling go down.
The allergy tablets I got were Benadryl one a day, which contain 10mg of Cetirizine Hydrochloride.
I took one immediately, and it had no noticeable effect, but I figured it'd take a while to kick in. Felt a bit crappy later, but didn't think anything of it.
Took another pill the next morning. Felt crappier. Went to work. Felt crappier still. Came home early. Felt crappy. Went straight to bed, feeling crappy.
Next morning, got up, got dressed, and went to register at my local GP, which is approximately half a mile from my house. Started walking. Started sweating and feeling faint. Got to the surgery, sweated some more, felt even more faint. Almost passed out. Held on to reception desk. Filled out form, went outside. Sweated all the way to the train station. Nearly puked en-route. Felt dizzy, sweated some more, got to train station and phoned work to say I wasn't going to make it in. Got home, took a shower. Nearly fainted in the shower. Dried off, went to bed. Kinda passed out for a bit.
Felt crappy later, and the next day, so didn't go to work.
Cut to last week, when I was finally able to go see a doctor, because I'd been registered.
Explained that I have allergies and that my previous GP was going to refer me for further investigation and sort out an epi-pen (of which, more later). Explained about my current crop of freaky allergy things (also of which, more later), and that I was getting a bit freaked out. Explained that I'd taken Benadryl allergy tablets and had a very bad reaction to them. Doc says "oh, I never prescribe those", and writes me out a prescription for "other" anti-histamine tablets.
I leave the surgery with a promise that he's going to refer me and two prescriptions - one for 2 x Epi-pens (for use when I have a serious allergic reaction which causes wheezing, shortness of breath and hoarse voice) and one for 56 tablets of cetirizine hydrochloride 10mg, one to be taken daily, and a nagging feeling that something isn't quite right.
Can you tell what it is yet?
Yup.
Get home, get Benadryl pills out to check. Yup. Same stuff.
Sigh. Phone surgery. Receptionist woman sounds concerned. Can't find doc, will get him to phone me back.
Doc duly phones back (to my amazement). Sounds mortified. Conversation is had, and it is realised that there are two types of Benadryl allergy tablets.
One set he wouldn't prescribe because people are allergic to them, and cetirizine hydrochloride.
Yup. I've done it again.
So he says he'll get me a different prescription (which I still haven't collected, btw), and tells me he's referred me to the allergy unit at the Royal Free.
Which is a good thing, because as it stands, I'm currently allergic to the following:
Morphine - went into anaphylactic shock after 5mg administered in hospital
Codeine - nearly died when I took painkillers (Kapake) containing codeine a few weeks after the morphine thing, when I'd taken them without problems previously
Poppy Seeds - had mild anaphylactic shock after one bite of a poppy seed muffin about 2 years after the codeine incident. Later found out that athletes who eat poppy seeds test false positive for morphine. Doh!
Mushrooms - even a tiny amount ingested makes my body react like it's god food poisoning. Cook mushrooms in a frying pan? Cook sausages right after? Give me the sausages? Don't plan on getting anywhere near your bathroom for the next few hours.
Midge bites - tiny little bastard insect - big fuckoff lumpy blistery bite.
Wasp stings - bad reaction when I was a kid (before the advent of the epi-pen). Doc at the time told me if I got stung again I'd have about 15 mins to get to a hospital. Haven't been stung since. *touch wood*
Mosquito bites - big lumpy stuff. Like midges but worse.
Insect repellant - makes my skin go all red, raised itchy and blotchy wherever it touches.
Anti-histamine creams and anything similar except calamine lotion and bicarbonate of soda paste - see insect repellant
Old style elsta-plast - see insect repellant
Latex - see insect repellant plus makes me wheeze if there's a lot of it around me (no kinky latex shops for me then)
Various non-steroidal anti inflammatory medicines - make me vomit and feel crappy
Various anti-biotic medicines - make me vomit and feel crappy, except Erythromycin which made me even more ill than I already was with a kidney infection when I was 7 years old.
... and my latest and greatest allergy?
Wisteria.
Which for no reason I can figure out made come up in big red welts wherever it touched my skin (and has done with even the most minimal of contact on four different occasions since, in different weather conditions - I checked, in case it was only a hot weather thing). It also made my hands swell up and my breathing get a bit wheezy for a bit.
So yeah, I'm finally, at the age of almost 29, going for allergy tests... oh yeah, and I should probably get that Epi-pen prescription filled.
Yeah, so I've been away.
Lots of stuff's been going on and I've either been too busy, ill or not able to form enough words to write about it.
What I might have written about, if I'd been writing:
Johanna and Stuart's Wedding.
The knitting I didn't quite finish to wear to the above.
The visit to the doctor where he prescribed something I'd just told him I was allergic to.
Allergies and epi-pens.
Jo's Hen night (and deely boppers).
Finishing my first Clapotis.
Dying my hair again:
Why bad things happening to really good people is so frustrating.
Taking photos of Jo's Wedding and Sevitz.
Working way too hard.
Insomnia.
... and several other insignificant things like spotting someone wearing one of those awful fleeces that the team with Miriam and James from The Apprentice sold on QVC at Kings Cross this morning.
So there you go.
Feel free to vote for what you'd like to hear about first.
... the online home and (not very) alter(ed)-ego of Ann McMeekin, a recently freelance Web Accessibility Consultant.
... passionate about many things, most of which will turn up on this site at some time or other.
... contactable via email.
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