The Strong hArm Of The Law… #Dorries

On the 12 of July 2010  Nadine Dorries wrote to Gillian Parker (then Chief Constable of Bedfordshire Police), complaining about “a huge volume of internet attack” and asking for help.  The “attack” amounted to tweets & blog posts that she declared had been going on ” for a number of years by three individuals”, one of whom she stated as being me. 

I first heard of Nadine Dorries when I moved into her Mid Beds constituency during August 2009.  I opened my first twitter account in December 2009 and made my first tweet about Nadine just before the May 2010 election.  During May 2010 I wrote 9 blog posts in total,  5 of which were about  Nadine Dorries following the now infamous “Flitwick Hustings” and general election.

http://mshumphreycushion.blogspot.com/2010/05/twitterarmy-triumphs-dorries-fails-to.html    23rd May 2010

http://mshumphreycushion.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2010-05-23T12%3A24%3A00%2B01%3A00&max-results=7  18th May 2010  (this is the letter Nadine sent to all  new MPs, trying to garner support for unseating John Bercow as Speaker, in which she includes her mobile phone number*)

http://mshumphreycushion.blogspot.com/2010/05/labour-of-love-nadine-bargery-dorries.html  Link to more video footage of the Flitwick Hustings. 9th May 2010

http://mshumphreycushion.blogspot.com/2010/05/its-fliiiitttick.html  6th May 2010  Fliiiitwick Hustings.

http://mshumphreycushion.blogspot.com/p/letters-to-beds-on-sunday-they-did-not.html  May 2010. Letters about Flitwick Hustings, unprinted by Beds On Sunday.  

Of my 5 posts in June, none include Dorries. Of my 8 posts in July, not one is about Nadine Dorries. I wrote 7 posts during August,  none about Dorries.  In September I wrote one in support of Tim Ireland which brought the wrath of Nadine upon my head. During the whole of September I wrote 9 blog posts, 3 (inc the T.Ireland one) were about Nadine Dorries.  Wow I was busy in October, writing 19 posts..  7 were on Dorries.  In November, out of 11 posts, one was about Nadine.  December 10 blogs, none about Nadine.  January 2011 14 posts, one in regard to Nadine  (This post is more about Mrs Butler and her treatment by the press, Mrs Butler being the woman who’s husband left her for Nadine and who has subsequently left Nadine… ) . 

11 posts in February, 0 on Dorries. 3 in March (started new job so too busy to blog!) 1 in April, 2011.  Since then I havent had the time  nor computer access to blog sadly and I miss it!

Sorry if all that was a tad dull, best to lay down the facts methinks (something Nadine Dorries could take on board tbh).  Right, so on with the story;

21st October 2010 after a *lot*of flack regarding her 70/30/100% fiction blog relevations (after John Lyon found her guilty of lying on her blog but insufficient evidence (he should read this) to find her guilty of fraud) she said on local TV that she had reported FOUR stalkers to the police… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUj9suBKYaA#t=3m22s 

That is FOUR stalkers now, not the three in her July letter to Gillian Parker. In November 2010, 3 months after declaring she had already done so, (and following many calls to provide proof of doing so) she finally officially reported her “four stalkers” to the police as Tim Ireland will reveal in full detail shortly. (Interesting to see how long it took the police to investigate, they must have taken her allegations *so* seriously)

Right, where were we?  Oh yes, Bedfordshire Police..  I have always had tremendous respect for the police and indeed wanted to join the force when I left school.  My height was a bit of an issue though and my Dad threatened to disinherit me if I did, so I entered the retail sector instead.  I lost my respect for the police on the night of my foot operation.

In bed, in tremendous pain that night, having been through what I can only describe as a horrific ordeal, two police officers stormed into my bedroom.  They had ordered my frightened children to let them in and asked where I was.  They then attempted to force me to accompany them for a recorded “voluntary interview under caution”. I refused. They threatened to arrest me if I didnt go.  Again I refused, showed them my surgeon’s letter stating that I was to remain in bed for a minimum of 3 days and they left, informing me they would be in touch.  Shaking and crying I phoned my friend David (@Gaijinsan21 – no linking to his account as he has sadly left twitter) who is a criminal lawyer. 

Over the next two days I learned from David that there was absolutely no justification for calling me for an interview under caution.  No justification for recording it and no justification for treating me in such a fashion. With David’s help I sent a series of emails to the police officer in charge, challenging him on this and eventually he admitted that I was merely a witness to an alleged offence.  He settled for a written (emailed) statement from me detailing how, when, where and why I was in contact with Tim Ireland and how it came about that Tim was in Fliiitttwick for the hustings.

He was there at my invitation.  Mine and several other constituents (whom I shall not name here) who were fed up to the back teeth of Nadine’s lies and unaccountability and had been emailing and tweeting each other with ideas of how to record her in action so to speak.  Several days before the hustings I watched a live stream of another hustings event at Goldaming, put online by Tim.  Although the quality was awful it made me think maybe we should do the same with the Flitwick event and so I put the wheels in motion, asking the Chair for her permission etc and twisted Tim’s arm into making the journey.

Tim arrived in Flitwick, not “loaded down with sophisticated camera and recording equipment”  but holding merely a briefcase, I was shocked at how small his equipment was tbh *disappointed face*  😉

To sum up:  Yes I blogged about Nadine Dorries. Yes I tweeted about Nadine Dorries. No, I didnt break the law. No, I didnt lie about her.  Can she say the same about me?

BTW, this made me laugh today.. (Nadine Dorries the Bully, on Bullying)

Where have you been all my life???

Hello lovelies 🙂   Just thought I should “explain myself”!  I haven’t been around much lately owing to the discovery of a place called “Real Life”..  It seems that there is a place where people speak “out loud” to each other #whoknew

Anyway, I’m working 24/7 in a fabulous garden nursery with a crappy internet connection and people with actual faces rather than cartoons.. which is most bizarre.  My feet are still really painful but I think the operation worked as I can weight bear again, I nearly broke into a run today!  

A year ago I hurt my neck, have waited ever since for physiotherapy on it – it’s finally been booked for mid May.. in the meantime, lugging 75litre compost bags about seems to have strengthened it a bit so all being well I can stop walking around with my hand tucked under my chin soon! 

I also seem to have lost my “mojo” for politics. It all got a bit too big for me to handle, the destruction to our services currently being made in the name of austerity has distressed me so much that I have very little fight left.  I truly hope to get back to being the kick-ass girl of last year, perhaps the AV vote will help.  I’ve decided to vote No to AV for one important reason.. Nick Clegg. The man who sold his party out for AV should never be able to justify doing so. In losing the vote, his party will finally wake up to his misguided leadership. In the news today I learnt that “lesser Universities” will not be penalised for charging £9000 for courses as there will be no regulation, despite all the Lib Dem assurances.  So I say NO to AV and NO to the continuation of the Coalition. I also seem to have recovered a little of my fighting spirit.. well I never.. ; )

So that’s me… what have you all been up to?

Fruity pigtails.. #water

Ha! Tricked you… if you thought this was going to be a cheeky post about my pigtails I am sorry.. well, not *that* sorry. Now you are here, you may as well read on, right?

My bathroom sink is blocked.  The water stays in it for ages now. This morning I looked down at it and it appeared to be yellow.  It wasnt, the yellow was from the amazing sunshine we had today, bursting in through the window and lighting up the whole room.

Yellow water took me instantly back to rural Spain where I lived for 5 years.  We lived in a tiny hamlet that had electricity but no mains water.  My Spanish neighbours, who grew fruit and vegetables had Riega water (agricultural water sent to order via big concrete pipes).  We had ours via a truck.  That sounds mad. It was mad.

I would phone Pepe in my broken Spanish, Pepe would promise to bring water. Pepe wouldn’t turn up. I would phone him again the next day, he would ignore the call or promise but again fail to deliver.  After several days of this my neighbour would go to the village to find him in the bar, he would turn up three hours later with our water. 

I didn’t have a pit for the water so he would put it into our pool… we would then clean the water (which was always yellow with a green tinge and contained various bugs and small frogs) and pump it up to our house as and when we needed it.. Every time we used the water, the pool water dipped. Once it had dipped by about a metre, it was no longer possible to keep it clean properly as the level fell below the filter height.  The water would return to yellow, tinged with green and mosquitos would make it their home.

That is how we lived for 2 years.  Clean water for a week then dirty, smelly water for three until we started to run out and had to try to track down Pepe again. One day Pepe bought a lovely new truck. It was too big to get around the corner before my house so he simply couldn’t deliver.  Without water we could no longer live in our little Spanish hamlet, work dried up at the same rate as our remaining swimming pool water so we reluctantly packed up and returned to live in the UK.

I feel so blessed to live in a country where our tap water is clean and drinkable.  Every time I have a shower I say thank you for being able to wash my hair and for it to smell of apples afterwards instead of pond.

Splash ; )

 

Help others to have clean water by donating what you can and please don’t waste this gift we have been given.

(Remind me one day to tell you about the Riega water system and how I showed the old Spanish men that women aren’t *all that* incapable after all)

M.E and my #ATOS test…

Today I had my dreaded medical examination with ATOS in Luton.  I arrived on time, thanks to The Mothership chauffering me. She couldn’t get parked anywhere near the centre (which has NO designated parking – what a massive fail that is) so she drove to a side street and I went in alone. 

I was in a great deal of pain today, mostly due to my neck flaring up and so the receptionist let me sit down and she came out of her office to “book me in”.  After a 15 minute wait, I was asked to walk down a long corridor to meet Dr D.K.Mallick.   Dr Mallick was lovely, which really surprised me as the last “Dr” I saw there was extremely cold and defensive with me. 

He began by asking me about my recent foot operation, moving on to cover my last employment, medication, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Home life, neck problems and Mental Health.   This took over 3/4s of an hour. It should have taken half of that time.. The reason?  The computer system for Luton and several other towns (names escape me but they were local), has had “issues” since December.  Where they used to handle 10 claimants per day, now they are lucky to see 6.  At one point he was so frustrated and embarrassed he threatened to walk out in protest.  I am pretty sure it is a “sharing” issue as the form he fills in is online.  Possibly the broadband speed needs increasing. Anyway, I’m not a computer expert but it’s pretty much fucked up borked.

Dr Mallick skipped through a few points (including the physical exam) as he was so stressed and could see I was in a lot of pain. He did have a look at both of my feet though and told me that I would probably be called back in 6 – 12 months.  Luckily for me, I won’t have to go back as I have been offered a job working from home.  My Fabulous New Bossman (FNB) knows all about my health issues and is happy for me to do what I can, when I can.  I have, for once fallen *on*  my feet instead of falling because of them! 

Something struck me though during the process, he kept referring to CFS in a “mental” disorder, rather than a neurological condition. I called him out on this at the end of the session and he explained that the computer test is set that way.. However, this link from @latentexistence   clearly shows that CFS is regarded as a physical condition for DLA claimants. I hope that when the current ATOS test is reformed, this is corrected.

Although my examination went well today and the good Dr told me that I should have passed with no problems, the ATOS test is badly managed.  Claimants who should be exempt are still being called in, the current test is a “tick box” one which is simply not working. 

Please sign the petition below if you care about this important issue.

http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/sack-atos-healthcare/sign.html

Want to make an FOI request about ATOS? Click this link: http://foiwiki.com/foiwiki/index.php/Main_Page

****UPDATE***

Whilst I gained enough points to qualify for ESA, I was added to the “Help back to work” group and an interview was arranged for me at the Job Centre.  I never made it to the interview however as I was lucky enough to be offered a job by my neighbour.  I have been working for him ever since and am SO grateful to him I can’t tell you, nobody else would have given me such a chance with my recent sickness record (and another operation pending).   I now have my dignity, a decent standard of living (despite what some say, life on benefits is REALLY hard) and I met a lovely man who fell in love despite my very attractive boot ; )   I know I am one of the lucky ones but I promise to keep fighting for the rest of you who are being so very badly treated by this government. Much love, HC x

L.O.V.E

This weekend I started thinking about Valentine’s day and the love songs that have touched my life and these lyrics popped into my head.  They remind me of my father as he loved this song by John Denver ” And some say love is holding on – And some say letting go – And some say love is everything – And some say they don’t know… ” taken from “Perhaps Love” which is below.  So I thought I’d blog my top 10 and write a little about the songs, I hope you like it,  sorry there are so many of them, if you stop reading now I’ll never know!   ; )

1. Kisses for me – Brotherhood of man This one is the first song I can remember!  It was sung for me in the 90’s by the band when they played a gig in Aylesbury : )

2.  Save a Prayer – Duran Duran I used to rollerskate to this on a Sunday afternoon in Luton.  That’s where I met the first boy I kissed, his name was Paul. I have been surrounded by Paul’s ever since!]

3.  Culture Club – Victims – Not many people seem to remember this.. It was one of the first single’s I bought and came with a large blue poster of Boy George looking beautiful.

4. A Song For Whoever – The Beautiful South – I loved this song, it was so refreshing!

5. Through the Barricades – Spandau Ballet – I fell head over heels in love to this song, sung by my ex-husband the first time I saw his band playing in our local.  As it turned out, we did have a few barricades to deal with before we could get married!

6. Tim McGraw –  Dont Take The Girl – This is a heart-breaking song, which goes beautifully with the song below ; )

7. Otis Lee Crenshaw – Just Dont Hurt Me –  You have to watch it after the one above to truly understand it ; )

8. Flight of the Conchords – If You’re Into It –  While we are in a silly mood.. I only discovered this fantastic song recently when it was tweeted to me 😀 😀

9. John Denver & Placido Domingo  – Perhaps Love –  Simply lovely, for my Dad x

Number 10 has been removed from youtube, much to my disappointment.. Again, a new song for me, tweeted a few months ago which, along with the tweeter has been in my head ever since.. It is a simply stunning track and it’s rather smutty too ; )    Leonard Cohen’s ” Light as the Breeze”  performed by Billy Joel. ” See if you can guess what it’s about ; )

Big thanks to @ivanjelical for getting me the track!

http://www.4shared.com/embed/511342140/481c5da3

Now I’ve finished my top 10, I keep thinking of other artists and tracks.. too many to mention without boring the pants off you so I’ll shut up and leave it here.  Happy Valentine’s Day xx

Camera-shy, Why… ? #thereslifeintheolddogyet

I used to be ticklish until one day when I was around 10 I decided not to be any more.  I used to smoke, similarly one day I decided not to be a smoker.  The same goes for being camera-shy. Having a long-held belief that I had an enormous nose/stomach/bottom and frizzy hair, (mostly true as it goes)  I would always hide when a lens was pointed my way.  So it happened that one day last year I decided not to be camera-shy.

I vaguely remember why,  I had recently escaped from an unhappy relationship and had absolutely ZERO confidence.  Then a date was cancelled that I had been really excited about, “it’s not you, it’s me, I’m not ready, bla bla bla”.. I felt old and unwanted.  A school re-union was looming so one day I pulled myself together, got my hair coloured and de-frizzed, put on make-up and took some photos for Facebook. Actually, I took about 20 photos for Facebook, settling on two that didn’t make me want to shoot myself. Actually, for the first time in years I looked quite nice : )

THAT was the answer.. take LOTs of pictures!  I was talking to the Mothership yesterday about this, she saw my Sally Bercow pic and for once gave me a compliment.  She “never takes a good photo”, so I told her to practice.  Take an hour out, get a digital camera and have plenty of spare batteries to hand.  Take a pic, look at it.. see what is wrong and take another and another and so on until you have about 50.  I’ll bet you can find at least 5 that you like, the more you practice the more you will grow in confidence and will quickly learn how to hold your head and smile when a camera is unexpectedly poked in your face. 

Eeeeek!

Go on, go for it!  Why are we so hung up with this? We even think it’s vain to look in mirrors. I would NEVER look in the mirror in public, least some other woman thinks I am being vain, its a ridiculous hang-up to have.  Now I have finally started to grow up I am thinking “fuck-it” more often and am throwing off my hang-ups like discarded clothes. I am becoming more vocal too, as I demonstrated on Twitter yesterday by having a rather heated row!  ( The Mothership is also speaking her mind more and more, actually she is getting downright rude to some people.. hurray! Cool granny! )

One day I want to be a cool granny, I intend wearing my hair too long, my neckline too low and my heels to high. I will wear hats and carry ducklings and kittens around in a basket. I will smoke a pipe and drink whiskey! Well, maybe not.. but I sure wont be a dull old lady smelling of lavender, knitting shreddies, that’s for sure!

I wasnt sure how I would feel about being 40, it always seemed such a “grown-up” age.  I saw a tweet this week which went along the lines “I can’t imagine over 40’s having sex, eew, just eew”.. Erm, what???  I have never felt as confident in myself as I do now at 40, I just need a fella to practice on!

I have sat in an armchair for the best part of the last year, now my surgery is over (for now) I am impatient to fly, I want to grab life by the hair and drag it screaming behind me as I skinny-dip my way through the rest of my life!  So bring it on.. for my next hang-up challenge I shall dance! 

Now you, go get that camera and send me the pics : )

Shake that thang..!

Plates of Meat – Part Five #Hardware

Ouch.. no flipping wonder my foot still hurts!  Had X-Rays and have been told off a bit today, I’m not allowed to walk without the crutches for another 6 weeks : *(   and I still have to wear the stupid boot.  On the bright side though, I can bathe again tomorrow *sniffs armpits*, think I got away with it though : )

 

 

Plates of Meat – Part Four – Changes…

 

Humph's little piggies 2 weeks ago...

 

Last week I had a Lapidus 1st metatarsal / cuneiform joint fusion with Kessel Bonney osteotomy of hallux and a Cartiva synthetic cartilage implant or in other words, my big toe was broken, a piece of bone taken out from it which resulted in it being shorter, bone overgrowth was sawn from the top of the joint, a metal plate and screws were affixed to force my foot to perform properly and a piece of fake cartilage was implanted to protect the joint from further wear and tear.

Check out the sexy footwear, these are sure to be a big hit on all the European beaches this year ; )

*awaits wolf-whistles*

But whose foot is this?  I knew it would look different but was unprepared as to how alien the toe would look. It is short and stubby and points upwards now, like a little ski-jump nose.  It isn’t mine, I think they have made a mistake and sent me home with the wrong one, or does that just happen with babies in bad might-be-reality-but-might-be-made-up shows? I suppose I could give it a chance, wash and dress it and see if we bond.. maybe I will even grow to care for it and paint it pretty colours.  Or maybe I will just turn my back and hide it from myself and everyone in the hope that if I ignore it, it will go away.  Either way, I’m stuck with it and it is stuck with me and I have to accept that my “toe-sucking” days may be over. ( Honestly, you should try it but do your best not to think of Fergie or it will all go horribly wrong)

Ouch..

 

This little piggy went "weeee.."

 

Tee hee, check out the pen marks from me scratching under my bandages, the Mothership thought it was my veins sticking out, gross.. !

Plates of Meat.. Part 3 (warning, contains grossness)

After frantically cleaning everything in the house, whether it moved or not, I went to bed early and fell straight to sleep. Aided by sleeping meds I managed to sleep all night without nightmares of the surgeon taking my whole foot off or operating on the dog instead. I woke up and went on auto-pilot waiting for my sister to collect me.  Kissing the kids goodbye whilst they were still tucked up in bed was unusual, they are normally up and about, shouting and destroying the kitchen while I stay hiding in bed waiting for the house to sigh with relief as they depart for school with a final bang of the front door.

It was still Dark O’Clock when we arrived at the *private Spire hospital, Harpenden and “checked in”.  We felt like we were going on holiday as a porter took us to our room and arranged for tea and a newspaper to be brought to us.  Private hospital’s have carpet rather than smooth, shiny floors and so smell of carpet cleaner instead of toilets.  They also have free tea and coffee, soft loo roll, garden views from the windows and an air of relaxation.  It was hard to feel anxious in such a lovely place : )

My "room"

Hospital wouldn’t be hospital without a bustling Irish woman though, ours was Mary.  She clucked around me taking my blood pressure and measuring me for a massive pressure stocking, might keep that for next Christmas 😉  I mentioned my sore neck to her and before I knew it she had arranged for me to be taken down for anesthesia first as she didn’t want me sitting around being uncomfortable all day 🙂

I’ll be honest, this is the part that I had managed to completely blank from my consciousness during the ten month’s while I waited for the operation.  I had been worried and frightened by what comes after but had never dared imagine the actual operation itself. Just as well really, horrific is the word that springs to mind.

I nearly jumped for joy when my anethestist came for me, it was Sarah, the nurse I had seen twice before at Dr Bramall’s clinic.  Relief swept over me at the sight of her familiar, friendly face and any anxiety that had built up since arriving disappeared in a heart-beat. She took me down the corridor,  with me wearing not much more than a smile and my new “grumpy but gorgeous” robe and set about numbing my foot.

Sexy Stocking...

OMFG.

I don’t know what I had expected, as I said, I hadn’t given it much thought at all but AGHHHHHHHHHHH blimey the pain!  I think in all I had 15 injections in my ankle before it finally went numb enough for surgery.  I am good with pain though and tolerate it well so concentrated on my breathing like a good girl and imagined the tweets I would be sending had I been allowed my phone with me.  The woman in the next bed to me wasn’t nearly as brave as Humph though, screaming and flailing about like a man big sissy.  I heard that she didn’t cope at all well with the surgery either, surely a sedative of some sort would help patients in these circumstances?

Once properly numb I was wheeled into what looked like the “TV Room” on Willy Wonker, all white with massive lights on arms like the ones dentist’s have.  To my immense relief a screen was put up so that I could not see what was happening to my foot. I know it was washed with iodine though and put through layers of cloth, leaving just my foot sticking out, propped up with a pillow underneath.  It was then tourniqueted to within an inch of it’s life and several green-clad people arrived.  Were I of a nervous disposition I would have been blubbing by now, there was no distraction other than a magazine which was pushed into my hand.  Sorry but while having my foot sliced open I found the private lives of the disaster who goes by the name of Kerry Kantona only slightly less nauseating than the thoughts I was trying so desperately to blot out.

The nurses were milling about and one even took orders for lunch whilst discussing how straight and perfect my toes were, the deep , plummy voice of Dr Bramall said “straight but stiff”.  Then I could hear bone breaking and realised it was mine. The sound of a drill vibrating on bone, mine.  The only way I could cope was by mentally picturing the faces of my loved ones and trying to remember the lyrics of a beautiful song I saw tweeted a couple of weeks ago. Over and over I repeated them until after an hour I know the song by heart and the surgery was finally over.

"Phew"

Dr Bramall pulled down the drapes and showed me how to exercise my toe, I was fixated by it’s waxy, corpse-like yellowness. There is a long incision from the first toe joint right down to my heel, I think it will look lovely with flowers tattooed along it : )  A load of notes were plonked on my tummy and I was wheeled back to my room to re-join my sister (sleeping like Goldilocks in my bed, cheeky mare)  Sandwiches and tea promptly arrived via the clucking Mary who took my blood pressure again and called me her Pet : )

Then rest… two hours later, after the physiotherapist has shown me how Dr Bramall wants me to walk with the crutches we set off home, being wheeled expertly to the entrance by another lovely porter. Home at last but can I get in?  I have two steps up to my front door and then a raised plastic door frame to negotiate, Mum and sister end up half-carrying me in!

Tune in next time to find out just how much of a numpty Ms Cushion really is…..

* Just in case a certain MP leaps on the fact this was a private hospital, whilst the hospital is private, the operation itself was via the NHS

Plates of Meat – Part Two

Got my head together now, the shopping is done, house clean and tidy, lists written.. the only thing I havent done is the ironing which can go f**k itself frankly 😀

I am now back at the stage where the operation itself doesn’t faze me in the slightest, it will be like a long dentist visit, I am still wrestling a little with the recovery though. This is for two reasons.. one is just good old-fashioned vanity, I have always had lovely feet, they are one of my best features. The Mothership made us wear Clark’s “Mary Jane’s” and so my toes are all in a perfect diagonal line.  By this time tomorrow my big toe will be the same height as it’s neighbour 😦   I know it’s silly but I really hate that although I will have to buy new, smaller shoes.. *perks up a bit*

The other reason is worry about my neck. I am to use crutches for 8 weeks. Although my feet hurt 24/7, most of the pain I suffer is in my neck, it cripples me. Any use of my arms or head sets off the pain.  Quite how I will cope with crutches is beyond me.  I spoke to my GP about it last week who is chasing up the physiotherapy I ve been waiting for since August.  He suggested I speak to the hospital tomorrow, which I will do. 

My lovely neighbour has offered to source a wheelchair so that she can take me out,  she is TINY, quite how she will cope with pushing me I don’t know! I have visions of her puffing and panting, beetroot red with effort and me ending up stranded until a big strapping man can be found to save me.. ooh, now there’s a thought ; )

I’ve taken some pics of my feet as they are now, I’ll probably blog from the hospital tomorrow and definitely take more photos as the weeks go on.  It will be a big help I think for others having the same operation.

Right, I’d better go sort that ironing out!  *searches for a big hole to drop it in*