Good evening to you all,
I am amazed at the number of people who continue to read this blog - well over 10000 now. Thank you all for taking an interest.
On the medical front. I continue to visit both my Dental consultant and the team at QE .Birmingham, who fixed me originally, on a regular basis.It may be a four and a half hour round trip but it gives me confidence that I am being kept under close observation by people I know,trust and respect.
I came clean with my consultant last time out and he agreed to be identified, so, for anyone in similar circumstances, contact Mr.Sat Parmar at Queen Elizabeths Hospital,Birmingham. He is the miracle man who has given me my life back, the chap who organised the operation and led the team which did such a good job that no one can tell that I have had any surgery.
On the social front, I've had an amazing summer, aided and abetted by superb weather. Travelling abroad is a little problematic as insurers are a little jumpy if I admit my medical past so we have had a number of 7 to 12 day breaks in the UK, with a few more breaks planned before the end of the year.
The golf is going fairly well but the handicap is not reducing as I cant seem to put together a good round. I'm still scoring 30+ regularly in the weekly stableford but that usually includes a good number of blobs, One day it might all come together,
.Umpiring is also going well, I've had a really good reception from teams that haven't seen me for a couple of years and I can now umpire on 2 successive days without any adverse reaction.
I decided to renew my first aid certificate in June and thoroughly enjoyed the course and the banter with the tutor and some other participants.( the sense of humour has not diminished)
We've been placed as runner up in the best kept garden competition in the village which came as something of a surprise as all I've done is keep the grass cut and demolished any weeds which try to invade the borders.
Football season has already begun and Lincoln look promising this year ( how often have I said that?)
On the professional front, I have a couple of part time jobs with local authorities ensuring that elected members adhere to the Nolan principles (the tax man has gleefully taken a great lump of my very small salary). I am assisting a city centre church which helps homeless folk ,by organising and balancing their accounts on a once a month basis ,preparing final accounts for a pensioners club and I have been elected Chairman of our local Parish Council after a 4 year break .
All in all, my life is now back to normal, albeit not quite as hectic as previously but still interesting and challenging.
None of this would have been possible without Mr.Parmars skills, it all looked very glum at one stage.
I will blog again sometime in the future.In the meantime,enjoy the rest of the summer and thanks again for showing interest.
Best wishes
Chris
Wednesday 21 August 2013
Saturday 6 April 2013
Bucket List complete
Good morning to you all,
I know its been some time since my last blog, but life has gone on with little respite. How much do I like life now.
My bucket list is now complete. To those who are not aware, I had a compilation photo at my bedside during the dark days following my op, which detailed all of the activities I enjoyed and intended to replicate as soon as I could. The photos ranged from a pint of Guinness ( completed upon release after my first op-thanks Si ) included various foods, driving again ( January),watching football ( January if you count Lincoln as football!!),playing Golf ( March) umpiring a cricket match ( September),appearing in the village pantomime( January 2013) and finally skiing.After much debate with my consultant, misgivings from my wife and agreeing to a whole host of safety measures and other constraints,my two sons,Daniel and Simon and I flew to Kitzbuhel in Austria for a few days for some spring skiing.Whilst I was told that it would take two years for the bone in my leg to regrow totally, I was confident that I had enough power and strength in my legs to do it. We skied the Hahnenkamm, the steepest of the six hills in the winter world series, from top to bottom without a stop twice.Albeit our times were considerably slower than those recorded by Ligerty , Raich and co ( They clock around 2 minutes, we were nearer 20 ) but we did it. In total we skied 53 km in the three days we were there and had a really good time. Unfortunately, the shine was taken off the holiday as I caught a bug on the way home ( possibly on the plane) and from the Sunday morning to late Tuesday had to stay in close proximity to a loo. Lost 8lbs in those three days, but gradually putting it back on again.
Now getting well used to the new teeth, eating remains a minor problem as I'm much slower than I used to be, but maybe that is good for my digestion.
I feel fitter now than I've done for years and have taken on a few jobs with various councils and a church to keep the brain cells ticking over.
Its back to Birmingham on the 17th for my check up with my consultant, armed with a video of the skiing which he wants to use for his illustrated talks around the world. I knew I would be famous one day, problem is no one will know who this person behind the mask and helmet is .
I'll blog again soon. Enjoy spring- when it finally arrives
Chris
I know its been some time since my last blog, but life has gone on with little respite. How much do I like life now.
My bucket list is now complete. To those who are not aware, I had a compilation photo at my bedside during the dark days following my op, which detailed all of the activities I enjoyed and intended to replicate as soon as I could. The photos ranged from a pint of Guinness ( completed upon release after my first op-thanks Si ) included various foods, driving again ( January),watching football ( January if you count Lincoln as football!!),playing Golf ( March) umpiring a cricket match ( September),appearing in the village pantomime( January 2013) and finally skiing.After much debate with my consultant, misgivings from my wife and agreeing to a whole host of safety measures and other constraints,my two sons,Daniel and Simon and I flew to Kitzbuhel in Austria for a few days for some spring skiing.Whilst I was told that it would take two years for the bone in my leg to regrow totally, I was confident that I had enough power and strength in my legs to do it. We skied the Hahnenkamm, the steepest of the six hills in the winter world series, from top to bottom without a stop twice.Albeit our times were considerably slower than those recorded by Ligerty , Raich and co ( They clock around 2 minutes, we were nearer 20 ) but we did it. In total we skied 53 km in the three days we were there and had a really good time. Unfortunately, the shine was taken off the holiday as I caught a bug on the way home ( possibly on the plane) and from the Sunday morning to late Tuesday had to stay in close proximity to a loo. Lost 8lbs in those three days, but gradually putting it back on again.
Now getting well used to the new teeth, eating remains a minor problem as I'm much slower than I used to be, but maybe that is good for my digestion.
I feel fitter now than I've done for years and have taken on a few jobs with various councils and a church to keep the brain cells ticking over.
Its back to Birmingham on the 17th for my check up with my consultant, armed with a video of the skiing which he wants to use for his illustrated talks around the world. I knew I would be famous one day, problem is no one will know who this person behind the mask and helmet is .
I'll blog again soon. Enjoy spring- when it finally arrives
Chris
Sunday 10 February 2013
Made in Lincolnshire, re-built in Birmingham
Good Afternoon All and greetings from a particularly wet Lincolnshire,
More good news.
I have been totally re-built.The £40000 man has been completed. The final fix was screwed in on Thursday 31st Jan. I now have a plastic (or some similar type of synthetic material) gum with teeth attached.The whole procedure took barely 20 minutes. The original implant heads were screwed out and the construction was dropped in. The whole lot was screwed into the fixings which remain in my new jaw bone and, finally, the screw heads were filled by some medium similar to mortar, and cured using some type of heat or light sabre.The teeth are an excellent match with my own and I am slowly coming to terms with reconfiguring my lower lip to avoid the impression of being 'vacant'.Initially, it felt as if I had a bag of marbles in my mouth but over the last few days , that feeling has subsided as I have become more used to it, having had 16 months with nothing there.I was told that it may take me a while to speak properly again and to be careful , initially , when eating. It took me around 20 seconds to talk properly and we went out for meals on the two following evenings. Yet to eat steak as Simon has requested a delay on that particular cut of meat until he takes me to a restaurant local to him ,which specialises in steaks, but to date I've eaten toast, lamb,biscuits,pork and a whole host of other difficult foods - maybe have to watch the waistline again !! We go back to Birmingham in March for a dental check and April for a cancer check but all looks good. I feel really fit, I look almost as handsome as I did before ( no laughing out there ).Would I go through it again? You bet. Not that I had a choice and it was a long hard road, but better a few scars and a bit of discomfort than dead.
I will keep blogging occasionally as I know from your comments that some of you have found this interesting. If anyone wishes to find out more or wants to contact me, you must do it by e-mail to ; chriselkingtonsbs@hotmail.com as I cannot reply to messages left on this blog - some technical issue.
Thank you all for reading and many,many thanks for all the very kind messages.
Best wishes
Chris
More good news.
I have been totally re-built.The £40000 man has been completed. The final fix was screwed in on Thursday 31st Jan. I now have a plastic (or some similar type of synthetic material) gum with teeth attached.The whole procedure took barely 20 minutes. The original implant heads were screwed out and the construction was dropped in. The whole lot was screwed into the fixings which remain in my new jaw bone and, finally, the screw heads were filled by some medium similar to mortar, and cured using some type of heat or light sabre.The teeth are an excellent match with my own and I am slowly coming to terms with reconfiguring my lower lip to avoid the impression of being 'vacant'.Initially, it felt as if I had a bag of marbles in my mouth but over the last few days , that feeling has subsided as I have become more used to it, having had 16 months with nothing there.I was told that it may take me a while to speak properly again and to be careful , initially , when eating. It took me around 20 seconds to talk properly and we went out for meals on the two following evenings. Yet to eat steak as Simon has requested a delay on that particular cut of meat until he takes me to a restaurant local to him ,which specialises in steaks, but to date I've eaten toast, lamb,biscuits,pork and a whole host of other difficult foods - maybe have to watch the waistline again !! We go back to Birmingham in March for a dental check and April for a cancer check but all looks good. I feel really fit, I look almost as handsome as I did before ( no laughing out there ).Would I go through it again? You bet. Not that I had a choice and it was a long hard road, but better a few scars and a bit of discomfort than dead.
I will keep blogging occasionally as I know from your comments that some of you have found this interesting. If anyone wishes to find out more or wants to contact me, you must do it by e-mail to ; chriselkingtonsbs@hotmail.com as I cannot reply to messages left on this blog - some technical issue.
Thank you all for reading and many,many thanks for all the very kind messages.
Best wishes
Chris
Saturday 19 January 2013
Almost there
Good Afternoon All from a snowy Lincolnshire,
Trust that all my readers are well. I've had some pretty decent experiences of late as my re-construction continues. Whilst we have had the odd re-arranged appointment, which is not unknown at this time of year, it is all positive. I have had the synthetic gum and teeth screwed into the implants, a perfect fit as far as I was concerned, but my dental consultant was not happy and decided to make some very minor alterations. Teeth in on 31st January so look out proper meat, no more risking horseburgers !! Visited QE Birmingham on Wednesday. Consultant is very happy and requested that I visit him again in 3 months, bringing a video of me ski-ing ( looks like I've got to go now !! ), so that he can use it in his lectures. He's tripping off to India to do 15 lectures in the next 10 days,I wont have my trip sorted by then- I dont think they would understand the concept of snow there anyway- unless there are parts of the country which are not on my radar.Had another set of photographs taken for his articles , really testing the reliability of their cameras - I did ask where I should hold the number, but I dont think the photographer was blessed with much of a sense of humour, at least he didn't tell me where to stick it ! Thats all for now folks - I'll try to get a photo put on when I'm finally re-built.
Kindest regards
Chris
Trust that all my readers are well. I've had some pretty decent experiences of late as my re-construction continues. Whilst we have had the odd re-arranged appointment, which is not unknown at this time of year, it is all positive. I have had the synthetic gum and teeth screwed into the implants, a perfect fit as far as I was concerned, but my dental consultant was not happy and decided to make some very minor alterations. Teeth in on 31st January so look out proper meat, no more risking horseburgers !! Visited QE Birmingham on Wednesday. Consultant is very happy and requested that I visit him again in 3 months, bringing a video of me ski-ing ( looks like I've got to go now !! ), so that he can use it in his lectures. He's tripping off to India to do 15 lectures in the next 10 days,I wont have my trip sorted by then- I dont think they would understand the concept of snow there anyway- unless there are parts of the country which are not on my radar.Had another set of photographs taken for his articles , really testing the reliability of their cameras - I did ask where I should hold the number, but I dont think the photographer was blessed with much of a sense of humour, at least he didn't tell me where to stick it ! Thats all for now folks - I'll try to get a photo put on when I'm finally re-built.
Kindest regards
Chris
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