5 days after my fight with gravity, the one which i lost, i sit here still having stiffness in my knee. Mobility is not as restricted as before, say 80-90%. But then again, before the loss to gravity, i didn't have full movement of my knee anyways.

My visit to CGH was on Wednesday. Lasted 3 freaking hours. That was just to see a doctor. Cos of H1N1, you got to go thru these steps on top of the normal A&E multi step program.

1. register at what was their info counter which is a makeshift long counter now. you can't get in without registering. get - one sticker, one token, one mask.
   
2. go thru a small glass room in where their thermal detectors are. give - one token.
3. get to entrance of A&E, another temperature check like the thermal detectors aren't fool proof enough. you answer a whole heap of questions then they come to the most important "have you been to the airport recently?" And when you tell them you work there, they get all protective and start asking further questions. Only after that they tell you that then you are released to the main registering area. get - one sticker.
4. register to see a doc. short wait, no queue. mention airport work and they say your on the express queue.
   
5. waiting area. you still and wait with the other masked up patients. The call your name to see the triage nurse. she takes your vitals, bp,pulse,another temp check. get - queue number.
6. now the looooooong wait. happily watching TV when some idiot starts changing channel to cna. I ask idiot, which happens to be cgh staff, why change. ppl happily watching. says she has no choice as cna has updates on H1N1, Singapore's first case. I say that on cna it only has the scroll about the case and the show currently on is about shoes. she walks off. when news finally comes on, the volume is of course low, so i ask idiot again "whats the point if we can't hear?" her answer was that may have been my opinion but the rest have not said anything. I asked her if she had asked them about it. I told her that most ppl wouldn't say anything cos in a hospital, they trust ppl who work there will do the right thing. My case was that most ppl will do the right thing but she was not one of them. firstly she changes the channel to 9 words mentioning the H1N1 in Singapore. then when the live report comes on, no one can hear it. unlike her, i can't freaking lip read. then my number was called.
7. Dr Anna Ng, triage doctor in grey. the usual stuff. what happened, how it happened, where's the pain. looked at the swelling. poked around the knee. then sent me off to x-ray.
8. x-ray. just down the hall. radiologists in purple. took shots of the front and inside of the knee. point to note: remove all objects from pockets when asked to lie on side. lying on side with wallet in leg pocket is uncomfortable.
9. back to waiting area. not too long to wait.
10. doc again. looking at x-ray, no breaks. suspect that the ligaments that run down the flanks of the knee might be over stretched. nothing much more said. pain killer, 2 types, prescribed. 8 days MC. orthopaedic appointment on Wednesday, 03jun.
    
11. pharmacy. collected meds.
12. payment. paid sgd75 for all that.

12 freaking steps for all that. get home still feeling the same. had the lunch that had been bought from qiji at the hospital. slept.

Friday night, i get a call from the triage doc that the x-rays have been studied by the radiologist and they've found a suspicious piece of bone which they suspect to be a fracture. She asks if i can come in on Saturday night around 2100 as that's when she starts her shift. OK fine, as i was not planning on going out.

Saturday night. I had to go thru steps 1-3 as stated above. when being interviewed at step 3, a young doctor approaches the nurses at the door asking for a mask. she turns to me and says "ah you're here, how's the leg?" I must admit, i had no idea who she was. but when she put the mask on, Dr Anna Ng! every time we see a medical practitioner during these flu times, all we see are the eyes without the benefit of the full face to help build the mental image in our minds. so when she had the mask off, stranger. mask on, familiar. strange. anyways, she got me to re-register as that's the only way she could access my files. steps 4-5. but this time no long wait as i was first on her list. my number was on the board even before i got out. so i sat not knowing my number was already showing. about 5mins into my wait, she came looking for me. in her treatment room, i got to see the x-rays again and she pointed out the suspected area. it was a knob on the back of the tibia (shin bone). it's not directly related to the joint so there's no pain in walking. but i must say, leaning over her, looking at my x-ray, she smelt rather sweet. not the sweet scent of death but flower sweet. not a scent you would associate with a hospital. must be cos it's the start of her shift. I also felt a wee bit odd during the time i was there cos she kept calling me cute, referring to the things i was doing to keep myself from going mad with boredom. she had recommended a back slab, which is a metal piece placed behind my knee to support it. it's held in place with a plaster cast. this is the point in which i cringed. it was to take weight off the leg. no plastering my leg straight. even if it's for 4 days till my ortho appt on Wednesday. i talked my way out of it stating that i live in a maisonette and have stairs to climb every day. she insisted on crutches, again i cringed. she stated same reasons. to get out of it ,i stated same reasons too. she was amazed that there was no pain. she felt around the knee asking me to tell her where the pain was as she prodded around. there was slight pain on the sides of the knee, same place as before. when she got the to back of the knee, there was no pain what so ever. i could see in her eyes (being the only part of her face i could see at that time) the confusion, she couldn't fathom the lack of pain. she even called in her colleague to do the same test and she too got the same result. when her colleague left, i apologised to her, i know in her best professional interest is to mend the leg in the fastest and easiest way but in the end, i know she can't force the procedure onto the patient. so i declined. I told her I'd look after my leg till Wednesday. resigned to the fact that i won't be limping out of here on crutches, she continued to fill out my file. watching her type, i noticed her left index finger wrapped in a plaster. I had to ask, since all questions have been about me. she said it was from a paper cut. I asked how long ago and she said from earlier today. I told her she could take off the plaster as the cut would have healed by now. imagine me telling a doctor that. she took it off and the cut was gone only leaving a faint line where it once was. i said the only thing left to remind you of the cut would be the pain when you type. a little more typing and my session with her was done. she printed out the current records and attached them to the one i already had from Wednesday. as i was walking out the door, i did something a wee bit spontaneous. I asked her if i could see her without her mask. siting the reason i stated above of only recognising our medical practitioners thru their eyes. so she took the mask off. I must say, i have a knacked of getting the good looking doctors. Nodding my head, i walked out saying "yup, i always get the good looking ones".

i didn't have to pay this round cos it was what they term a recall. she called me back, not me going there. all in all, i thought it was win-win. she got to tell me of my full injuries and i got to see it and a get to see a cute doctor. definitely win-win.

irony is now that when i go see the ortho on Wednesday is going to be an old hag.

Took my first tumble from the bike this evening. tried to take on the ups and downs of the hilly trail and i think i passed on the down bit. Came off a rocky slope, thought i had enough speed to take the banking corner. apparently not. The trail itself is narrow. Lost control of the front end, came off the slope, spearheaded into the brush. I remember seeing the baking corner, then GREEN! I stuck out my left leg and of course the knee didn't hold. heard that all too familiar POP and I was rolling in pain. Lawrence came to get the bike off me. It hurt real bad. It took me a while to get over the pain. And whilst lying there and bending n straightening the leg, i heard a faint POP and i assume the knee went back in. It took some courage to attempt to stand cos if it was not fine, i could expect ALOT of pain when i put weight on the knee. I had assumed correctly. It was stiff but minimal pain. The bike too had suffered. The front brakes were shot. the handle bar was askew and i had picked up vegetation on my pedals. I was able to push it to flat terrain before trying to cycle the gentle slope back to the entrance. Made it with no further drama. Made the short but painful cycle to L&T to get my bike fixed. Francis said it could be fixed but he'll have to do it tomorrow. No worries. I sat a while. Lawrence bought me a 100plus. It was good, i held the cold can to my knee. it was more useful in the can than out of it at that moment. but when i got up, it hurt even worse. I hobbled to the kerb to get a cab home whilst they ( Edward, Lawrence, Raju ) went on to have dinner at Edward's area.

I'm now sitting at the PC, with my knee in the knee guard which i forgot to bring. I had rubbed some Yoko Yoko all over the joint. I hope it's not that bad or else MC tomorrow. which is not bad a thing. but alot of painful hobbling just to get it.

Went for a ride on sunday with Lawrence, Russ and Mark. They were going to cycle to East Coast, then the coastal road to changi, pasir ris then back to tampines. i was not, thank gawd. I planned to split up with them and take pics in and around the lagoon area whilst waiting for cousin ner message/call. planned to have dinner with her n shaun. before the guys n i parted ways, we came across a bike/skateboard park. it was filled with ppl on boards n bikes and one solitude guy on a stunt mtb. it was mayhem and you wonder how they didn't run into one another. we left prematurely and went to the jetty. that's when we parted ways. i stayed to take a few pre sunset shots then went back to the bike park to take more pics. ended my photo shoot at the lagoon trying to take some night shots of the wake boarders. took over 100 pics only to get the few you see below.

I have finally bought a new saddle, a Lazy boy as Edward calls it. It's bulky and wide in the back. Full of cushion and the ability to add compressed air to the padding. Lawrence thinks it's butt ugly but I DON'T CARE. My butt doesn't complain and my ride is that wee bit more pleasant.

Yesterday afternoon, almost immediately after morning shift, I took Low Rider out for a ride. met Edward at the gas station nearest the trail entrance. I needed some air in my back tyre. But my ride there wasn't without incidents. I now take a more direct route to the trail. Under the mrt tracks to the station, then round the back pass tampines 1, pass the library junction, thru sunplaza park. Now, just behind tampines one is a pedestrain crossing. i was on the road and not the pavement. So i had the same rights as normal traffic. the crossing was green in my favour but low and behold was this minah, talking on the phone and jaywalking. she stupidly stepped off the curb into my way, albeit there were no cars, she was still in the wrong. I shouted once to get her attention but she of course didn't hear me cos she had her phone glued to her ear. I slammed on the brakes. ans since i was moving at speed, i had to use both brakes to come to the complete halt just inches from her. She looked at me with that puzzled face before i 'fucked her upside-down' with otheres looking, she apologised and CONTINUED ACROSS THE ROAD!!!! She was still in the wrong. Then there was the second incident, of which this was whole my doing. On the path in the park, the rain started to get heavier so i decided to get to the block void decks before it really pours. also travelling at speed, I slowed down for a corner into a narrower path when i realised i wouldn't make the corner. So i tapped on the rear brakes expecting to slow down. i locked up and I was in a right hand slide. on the outside of the corner was a lamp post which I new i was destined to hit. I don't know what caused me to do what i did next, but i released the brakes and just started pedalling. I recovered from the slide and continued like it never happened. But by now my heart was pounding.

When i finally got to the gas station, i was lucky to be in one piece. And i hadn't been into the trail yet. When edwards finally met up with me, we both made our way into the trail. by now it's raining heavily, not pouring but enough. We decide to stop at the first shelter which is just when you enter. Since this was my first time there in the day, I found out that the first shelter is only a table and chair set WITHOUT a shelter. oops. Having sat for a while, we see this guy coasting in from the trail. He's a volounteer from YMCA leading a group of 30 into the trail. He had to abort cos his chain had broken. They had rented the bikes from pasir ris. He was later joined by his friend. HHOOOOOTTTTT!!!!!!!!!!!! She had come round from the exit end. Deftly cycling with an umbrella. They stayed to chat with us for a while till the group came back out and they left. She volounteed to take the handicapped bike and said she would 'shimmy it back'. hhmmm.....

With that we went into the trail. alot of water and mud. nothing too drastic. one section it was narrow and muddy. alot of loose gear pedalling just to survive. It got us out to the same exit as the jungle trail. from there it was a bumpy coast back to the entrance. We then exited and went to L&T to meet up with Lawrence. spent about an hour there before Edward had a call from Mischa that Caitlin was having a coughing fit, so he rushed home. lawrence and I went back to the trail. by now it was dark. With national stadium lights ablazing (for me that is) we went in all the way to the jungle trail entrance where we split off. He went into the trail taht circumvents the jungle trail. I didn't want to do that muddy trail in the dark cos my legs were already spent, so i turned and decided to sprint out the same way I came in. Largely flatlands with gentle slopes, with some hard pedalling, I was going pretty fast. past 3 guys taking a leisurely walk in the dark with light sticks, wierd. Thought i would get out before lawrence since this route was shorter but the bitch was there waiting for me when i got there. We left and went to edwards place, getting some food on the way. Sat and relaxed there, smoked a bit till 0015 when we left.

Low Rider had a good workout today and so did it's owner. The results of the ride is evident below.