Yesterday I had a doctor appointment to have my staples & stitches looked at, and removed if ready. The stitches will stay until next week, but the staples (aka leg bling bling) are all gone now. We took a taxi the 2 miles to the doctor's office & I hurt myself pretty badly getting out of it. It almost felt as if my hip momentarily popped out of joint from my pelvis or something. I've never felt pain quite like that and I'm ok with the prospect of never having to again.

 

With the end of August comes also the end of analog television broadcasts in Finland. This means that every single person in Finland has to have a TV with a digital tuner, or a set top box. Originally planned for the end of 2006, it was postponed and seems inevitible now. The US is scheduled to discontinue analog broadcasts in February of 2009. The ramifications and what it means to me are still very unclear. The one thing I do know is that the TV tuner in my Media Center will need to be replaced with a digital tuner. Since it seems that there is not yet a supported DVB-C (digital cable) card for Vista, I will probably have to go with a DVB-T (digital terrestrial) tuner and an antenna, at least until there is a supported DVB-C card. I'm not sure I like the idea of having an antenna on my TV table and besides that, I don't know how good the reception will be inside our concrete walls. The other thing is every single home in Finland seems to have been buying digital set top boxes for their TVs, but it really seems to me like any TV made or sold in the past few years should have had digital tuners in them, circumventing the need for a digital STB. My TV is less than 2 years old, LCD & I hate to think that I would need to buy a STB to watch any TV broadcasts following September. Either the government in Finland has been really stupid to allow the sale of TVs which don't have digital tuners or else the scare machine has really worked, tricking millions of people into buying digital STBs unnecessarily. I suppose a third option is that I really don't know anything about it & I'm confusing apples for oranges.

 

My parents have been here in Finland for a week and a half, and I'm really enjoying having them here. My original fear was that they would have travelled all the way here and then been stuck indoors taking care of me for 2.5 weeks. Fortunately though, they've gotten to get out & do some touristy stuff. Last weekend they visited Oulu and stayed with Liisa's parents, who generously opened their home to my folks (kiitos Kaleville & Leenalle). They've also managed to get out for a one-and-a-half hour boat ride through the islands in the sea just off the coast of Helsinki. This morning they left for a day cruise to Estonia which consists of a 1h40m boat ride each way, and about 9 hours in Tallinn. My only regret is that I couldn't help them arrange a weekend trip to Amsterdam, because I know that my mom would love to visit there, if nothing else, to see the Anne Frank museum, another time perhaps. One thing's for certain, after a week and a half, my parents haven't even begun to overstay their welcome. They are loved, appreciated and welcome here at least as long as they let me live with them. I guess as long as they're out by 2027, it's all good. =)

 

My friends and family have been hugely supportive over the course of the last three weeks. Thank you to Joe & Amber, Louis, Steve & Sara, Denise, Anna & any other unnamed people who may have been in on the care package. Forza 2 will consume me over the next few months until I go back to work. =) I love you all very much.

First of all, I just got served a huge dose of irony because I noticed the bicycle in the background of my blog, which I changed one week before the accident.

 

I was discharged around 3:00 (5am PST) this afternoon and after a quick stop at the pharmacy on the way, arrived home around 4:00.

 

The last 11 days have been the most emotionally & physically demanding time of my life. Of the past 7 of those days, there hasn't been a single one passed where I didn't have some sort of breakdown where I could have cried myself to sleep. These would be brought on by a combination of pain, depression brought on by environmental reasons (old people, dehabilitating injuries, hospital, you can imagine) and fears of not being the type of person that can overcome this type of injury. Plus spending time in the hospital is even worse  than flying coach (coach is my only point of reference for air travel, 11 days of first class travel might just be fine) so just imagine an 11 day coach flight and you'll have an idea of how the stay in the hospital was.

 

I don't remember how much detail I gave in the last post but I know it was short & sweet, so I'll add lots of detail here. I was biking to work around 9:30 Tuesday morning, the 31st of July when a Toyota 4x4 pickup failed to yield to me at a crosswalk. It's an intersection at the bottom of a hill half way between work & home (7 or 8 minute total commute to work by bike) which I'm usually going over 20mph when I cross through it. I hit the truck dead center between the headlights (some reports say I broke the windshield of the truck) and then landed in front of the truck. I laid writhing in pain in the intersection for over 20 minutes before being loaded into the ambulance. This gave me enough time to call work, Liisa & my brother who would give the message to my parents).

 

The ambulance ride was painful, and they didn't spare me the courtesy of using the siren to the hospital (European sirens sound way cooler than American sirens, everybody knows that). I think I must have passed out in the ambulance because I only remember the first few minutes and the next thing I remember I was in the trauma ward at the main trauma hospital for Southern Finland which resides just north of downtown Helsinki, not so far from home. I was ordered CT scans though I clearly remember not hitting my head (no, I didn't have a helmet, they're too expensive) and all kinds of x-rays. After all those pictures were taken, I was returned to the trauma room where Liisa joined me and I was given the run down on my injuries. 4 broken ribs, 2 fractured vertebrae (I'm not going to call this a broken back anymore, broken back has too serious of connotations), slightly dislocated shoulder & broken femur. The doctor explained that there was two options for mending the leg, a nail which runs the whole distance of the femur, or a small plate & screws just where the injury was. They ende up deciding on the nail, but had the injury been an inch closer to the knee (it's about 5 inches above the knee) they would have gone plate/screws. It sounded bad at the time, and it surely felt bad, but I really didn't think the road to recovery would be as long as it turns out.

 

I was moved to an observation room around noon which was really just a waiting room for patients yet to go to surgery. Around midnight the on-call surgeon came to visit me to assess the situation. The nurses wanted to turn me onto my side for some reason I can't remember now. When the doctor saw how much pain I was in, he said that surgery should happen almost immediately. It must have been around 1:30 when they rolled me into the operating room. I was pretty out of it still, having received gernerous amounts of morphine throughout the day, but I was with it enough to remember to ask if I could see the nail they would put in my leg. It was sealed in sterile packaging, but I got to see the diagram on the back that must have been accompanying "Installation instructions". Just like the movies, the last thing I remember was seeing the mask coming toward my face, being asked to countdown from 10, saying "good night" in Finnish, and then making it to 8.

 

Waking up in the recovery room was surreal, I actually dreamt while I was under about the accident, and so when I woke up I thought it was all a dream. I didn't know where I was and I was scared out of my mind. The nurse came & explained how everything went. I had 4 incisions from the surgery, one in the side of my chest, where I could see that a tube was coming from going into a machine next to my bed with a terrible suction sound. This was apparently to drain fluids from the sack around my lungs so they wouldn't collapse, apprently common in surgeries involving broken ribs. Another incision, which they've stapled shut,  is just above my right hip, where the nail was inserted to help allign the two broken pieces of my femur. Two more incisions were made at either end of my femur where two screws were inserted in each end. to hold the broken pieces of my femur to the nail, these also were stapled shut. The last incision is about a 9 inch gash between the two screw holes. They told me that had to make this because the swelling in my thigh muscle was so great, that it was producing myoglobins (sp?), apparently something injured muscles create but can be very bad for the kidney. This wound was not closed up, and would not be closed up until the sweling in the muscle reduced enough.

 

The chest tube was removed 2 days after surgery, on Thursday. The thigh was stitched up on Tuesday, 6 days after the surgery. The staples are already quite healed up and require no bandaging. The stitched wound still bleeds a bit, but I am scheduled to have all stitches & staples removed on August 22nd. There is no cast (unbelievable isn't it!) because there was apparently no joint damage, immobility is exactly what the physical therapist says is the worst thing for me.

 

Now the funnest part, because the nail holes are nothing in the scope of things. For the first 6 weeks of recovery, I'm allowed to put absolutely no weight on my right leg. After that time they'll x-ray to see how the bone is fusing & give me some allowences on putting weight on it. Now imagine using crutches with a dislocated shoulder, yes, fun. I actually came home with a walker which is really only a bit easier. My right foot is pretty much stuck in a constant toe-pointing position whcih makes it impossible to put my right foot flat on the floor directly underneath me. I can't straighten my leg out all the way because my hamstrings are also so tight & probably swollen. My hip is pretty much constantly in discomfort.

 

I really feel like one of those people in the movies who are in a coma for 5 years & then have to relearn how to walk, at least I'm not that far off of that. I have a list of painful exercises I need to do 3-5 times a day and part of me wonders if I'll ever be able to walk normally again, or snowboard, or play tennis, or jog, or .... I guess there is a bit of a pessimist inside me, who'd have thought it. Anyway, I'm sure after 4 months everything will be fine again and I will have 100% mobility. In the meantime ordinary tasks like sitting, standing, changing positions, using a toilet, etc etc, are a huge challenge and quite painful. I think once the ribs heal up, everything will become easier.

 

Oh yeah, and that's how long I'm off work by the way, the doctor gave me a note to miss work until December 2nd, just 2 weeks before my Christmas trip home.

 

*sigh*

 

Anyway, I suppose that's enough detail, it will be awhile before I can sit in a computer chair so my blogging/e-mail reading will be done from the Media Center (thaank you Microsoft!). I'm home all the time now, so feel free to call during daylight hours (11pm - 2pm PST) if you want to chat or ask any questions. My phone number hasn't changed but you can e-mail me if you don't have it or don't know where to find it.

Staying positive,

Dan

Still sick, actually feeling worse today than yesterday. Liisa woke up this morning with a sore throat too, so she's probably catching what I have.

 

Since I'm staying home from work, I'll post the pictures from Amsterdam. I'll write more later though.

Had my doctor appointment yesterday evening and didn't find much out yet.

 

I didn't take a pain killer Tuesday night to see how I felt Wednesday morning, and I got through the day without taking any.  My appointment was at 4:30 and when I got there, the doctor was waiting just outside the door for me.  He was a very nice guy who spoke English very well, knew a lot about computers (having used them since the 1960's) and seemed very competent at his job.

 

The first few tests he strapped these tiny jumper cables to electrical strips he taped to my hands and then sent electrical pulses from just above my wrist down through each of my fingers.  I didn't ask what the voltage was (I should have) but it felt like a milder version of touching an electric fence, for those of us who grew up in the country (shout-out to my farmland homies)!  It wasn't really bad, not painful, just a little annoying. 

 

After that he stuck a needle in 4 or 5 different places on my arm, straight into a muscle.  The needle was hooked up to a machine & basically picked up the electrical signals sent by the muscles (which happens to be on the same frequency that we can hear) & sent them to the machine, which output it as sound.  The result was that I could actually hear my muscles, cool!

 

The test finished up, we had some small talk like "keep up the good work", "we [Finland] is proud of you [F-Secure]" and so on.  I knew I wouldn't get any results that day, and that I would see my doctor for the results of the test, but he was kind enough to tell me that he could tell there's nothing too serious wrong, and that likely we'll just wait a few weeks to see if it works itself out & then, if the problem persists, I'll go back for an MRI.

 

I did make it the whole day Wednesday without a pain killer, but took one this morning to alleviate any pains I could feel coming on.

 

More to come later...

Things have been pretty quiet lately, mostly because of doctor's orders to take some time off from the computer.  It's not the computer that I was actually to avoid, but long periods of sitting, such as what I normally do 8 hours a day, in front of the computer.

 

I actually started having lower back problems about a week and a half ago, severe pain, unlike anything I've experienced before.  It came out of the blue, just woke up one morning & could barely move.  At the worst of the pain, I couldn't even walk over 50 yards before being overwhelmed with pain.  I figured I slept wrong & that it would pass.  Finally last Monday morning I woke up for work, as I do every day, and started walking to the tram stop but couldn't get there.  I actually had to call a taxi to get to work (yeah I probably should have just turned around & went home).  I made an appointment for the following morning & received prescription for a pain killer/anti-inflammatory.  The doctor also told me to take the week off & spend as little time sitting or lying down as possible, a great recommendation considering it hurt a lot to do anything else.

 

The pain killers actually helped quite a bit & when I take them, I feel normal, with the exception of a numb sensation shooting down my right arm often (once every hour or two).  I returned to the doctor today though with that symptom and was scheduled for an ENMG (http://www.aimshospital.org/neurology/enmg-faq.html) for Wednesday afternoon.  Sounds like fun!

 

So for those that tried contacting me, or haven't heard from me for a week or so, I apologize & that's my excuse.

 

I'll post some follow-up after my appointment Wednesday.

Everyone knows bird flu is the pandemic of the year and now that it seems to be working its way into Europe and, to a scarier extent, Scandinavia, it's not hard to get a conversation on the topic started. 

 

We were discussing the bird flu on coffee break at work today.  Apparently there's no real need for concern as long as you thoroughly cook poultry products, don't spend excessive amounts of time hanging out with dead birds or engage in romantic situations with live ones.  Since I currently have the (human I hope) flu, I feel as if I'm at a heightened level of risk.  To that end, I'm temporarily postponing my amateur aves taxidermy classes, just until the whole thing calms down a bit.

 

For now, I think it's most important for everyone to understand that I'm doing just fine.

Seems the toll snowboarding took on me was greater than I had anticipated. 

 

The pain in my knees is negligible, but I fear my tailbone might have been more seriously bruised than I first thought.  I just got back from the gym where I was able to push up 100kg only once on the bench press, and then couldn't do anymore (at any weight).  Essentially all sitting or lying weight exercises were cut from my routine tonight, cutting me back to 11 of 17 exercises. 

 

Fortunately my office chair is comfortable enough to sit in & my job doesn't require me to lie down at all.  If I were a hooker, I'd be in the unemployment line for sure.

Some people may be interested in hearing how they do things in Finland when it comes to dental work.  Liisa is scheduled for oral surgery today, to have a wisdom tooth removed.  Here are some of the details about the visit that I thought were interesting, as they differ from what you would expect in the States.

 

- No laughing gas, no "going under" for the surgery.  Simply a shot of novocaine in the gums.  Not even the swab with the pre-numbing gel. (ouch!)

- Length of procedure: 20 minutes

- Cost: 6€ (about $7.50 USD)

 

I tried telling Liisa that she didn't have anything to worry about, the process is painless & it'd be over before she knew it.  Unfortunately...I'm not that good of a liar.  The one thing she has going for her is that it will just be one tooth.  I think she was quite nervous about it today.

 

I had all 4 of my wisdom teeth pulled about 6 years ago and chose the nitrous option for my anaesthesia of choice.  It was quite a ride too, I enjoyed every second of that procedure.  The only bad part of the whole ordeal was the 4-6 hours immediately following the surgery.  I'm glad it's not something I had to have done in Finland.

Had my first massage today at work and the title of this entry pretty much sums up how I feel now. 

 

The massage lasted about 30 minutes, though it seemed like hours.  The same 5-1/2 words played over & over in my mind throughout the massage, "Ouch!  Ooh that feels goo...ouch!"  The masseuse even asked if I wanted it hard & when I told him I trusted his opinion, he decided to not go so hard, being my first time & all. 

 

Apparently the "easy" massage (or whatever they're calling that) still involves a lot of deep muscle massaging.  Another thing I learned today is that, apparently, muscles crack like bones do.  At least he assured me as he was pushing against my spine that the cracking I was hearing were the muscles, and not my vertibrae.  Still, the thought of what the remainder of my life as a paraplegic would be like crossed my mind.

 

After the session I stood up off the table & felt really light headed.  I guess because as he was punishing my muscles, all the blood left my head to rush to the aching muscles who were, by then I'm sure, screaming for some sort of help.  But this is all normal I suppose, and as I have more massages I will become more accustomed to the procedure.

 

I don't know what a "hard massage is and I don't know what it would feel like.  All I know is that while I'm not looking forward to one, I am looking forward to the day when I can get one and not be in too much discomfort.  As it is, the guy told me that I might have a hard time getting out of bed tomorrow morning. 

I picked up the glasses today & so far everyone's first reaction is that I now look like an intellectual, so my hope that they would make me look smarter has been realized and I didn't even have to think harder or read (what pitiful suggestions).  It's amazing how much clearer things are, things that I used to think I saw fine.  Even the computer monitor a foot in front of me has a clearer picture & more vivid colors.  I can tell already that they will help reduce eye fatigue when reading, and working.  A sure way for making myself tired in the past is to pick up a book and start reading.  I used to think it meant the material subject was boring, but maybe it's the poor eyesight.  I'm sure the next pictures to appear on my blog site which feature me, will have me sporting my new specs.

 

I guess I'll also follow-up and say that I think my posterior is getting used to the bicycle seat.  I've ridden just as much in the last two days as I did last week, and it doesn't hurt to sit on the bike anymore.  Guess I won't need that aftermarket bike seat you mentioned Joe.  =)

 

 

Since I picked up my bicycle yesterday I've only ridden about 15 miles & already my butt is sore when I sit on the bike seat.  I think the one big 10 mile ride yesterday did it.  Luckily, going to Tallinn this weekend, my butt will get a nice break from the bike seat.  Hopefully with time, as my butt develops into something resembling what Michelangelo might have sculpted from stone, this will become less of a problem.  =)

 

I took an hour break from lunch today to have an eye examination, as recommended by the occupational health nurse at my new fellow check-up.  I've known for quite some time that my eye sight is not what it used to be.  15 years ago you could set a soup can 10 feet from me & I could probably read the ingredients from the label.  I first had my eyes examined in 1998, the first time I had a job with full benefits, and got glasses at that time.  The prescription was so weak that the doctor who examined me said that I didn't really need them, but I wanted them because I thought they made me look smarter and more distinguished.

 

Today, the same soup can might give me problems from 3 feet, and the doctor who examined me today said I have astigmatism (doesn't everybody?).  I knew it wasn't going to be pretty when I could barely make out the numbers on the 3rd line of the first test slide.  After the examination she showed me what the world looks like with corrected vision and I must say, it's much clearer than I've become accustomed to.

 

I ordered my glasses today & will pick them up next week.  Then I will, once again, be smarter & more distinguished than my normal self.  I can hardly wait...

Work has this nice bicycle benefit and, since I didn't bring my bike from the States with me, I decided to take advantage of it.  Essentially, with the benefit, employees of F-Secure receive a 20% discount on bicycles from a specific store and then F-Secure buys the bike & leases it to me, as an employee.  Beyond the leasing, F-Secure also subsidizes the cost of the bicycle, paying 24% total by the time the bicycle is paid off in 2 years.

 

Suppose for example, that I bought a bike that cost 1000€:

F-Secures cost after 20% discount - 800€

Total with 8% interest over 2 years - 864€

divided by 24 months - 36€

company pays 1% of the cost per month - 10€

 

The bike would cost me 26€ per month.  After 24 months I would have paid 624€ and would buy the bike after the leas period for 50€.  A pretty good deal and built-in financing with about a 32% total discount, not bad. 

 

On top of all that, on nice days I can ride to work, cutting my commute time from about 25 minutes to 10 minutes while getting exercise at the same time.  A win/win/win situation. =)

I had my follow-up appointment with the occupational health nurse this morning to go over the results of the blood test taken last week.  I was pleasantly surprised to find that there was nothing invasive about today's procedures.  The only article of clothing I had to take off was my shirt to get my blood pressure taken.  No "turn your head & cough" games or anything like that.

 

I am essentially a picture of good health.  They tested for blood pressure, glucose, cholesterol, triglycerites (sp?) hemoglobins, and also two enzymes that the liver produces.  Everything is in the best range bracket except for my good cholesterol which I need to work on, so more exercise and a diet richer in fiber and fruits & vegetables.  I shall try & lower the bad cholesterol too though because it's right at the border (2.9 on a scale where 2.9 & below is good).  Overall though, the nurse gave me an "excellent" health rating, hooray!

it seems that it's common practice in the European business world for new employees in a company to undergo a health check-up.  I thought maybe I could slip through the cracks & not have to submit to the work, especially after the other Dan told me that he never did it for F-Secure.  I asked him why & he simply told me that they told him they would be drawing blood, and he couldn't eat for 12 hours prior to that, apparently two things which contradict the very fiber of his being.  I don't mind getting stuck with a needle too much, and since my appointment was for 8am this morning, that meant only skipping breakfast, a ritual which I'm very much accustomed to skipping anyway.

 

In & out, the whole process only took 15 minutes & 12 of that was waiting to be called upon.  I put on my brave face while the nurse was stealing my life essence, aka blood.  I didn't blink, flinch, cry, scream or anything, so I treated myself to a korvapuusti afterward.  Americans can think of that like a cinnamon roll.  A fair consolation prize, I thought, for forfeiting about 2.5 pints of blood.

 

I'll go back on the 2nd of September for the rest of the check-up, which I can only assume involves some battery of physical tests like taking my blood pressure, colonoscopy & whatever other non-invasive tests their Finnish minds can conjure up.