Teched Europe - Limping around Amsterdam.

davewebster — Fri, 01 Jul 2005 14:29:00 GMT

Well I am still in some discomfort after the back injury. There are three things going on:

Shooting pains down the left leg.
A limp in the left leg
Numbness in parts of the foot and leg

My physio told me that this is most likely to be because of compression of the nerve that although is now clear can take several months to heal. I had another MRI scan a couple of days ago and it looks like the op went fine.

My question is now whether I will make it to Teched Europe next week, - the hotels are full now and I cannot really walk across town each day, I can also only sit for 20 mins at a time. I am the technical track owner for Dev tools and Web development. Although I am not talking next week anymore there are still some speakers that I would really like to meet, either again or for the first time. Here are some suggestions for you:

Hacked! by Jeff Prosise. Yes security can be fun you just need to present it right, and Jeff will do just that. The bad guys already know this stuff but the good guys don't. Go if you get the chance.
Regular Expressions by Roy Osherove. This is about what you can do with regular expressions in .Net. Lets face it we all parse stuff and hand write the code again and again.
Dave Platt. www.rollthunder.com will be there. I have asked Dave to present on whats new in the framework and also a nice technical talk on Exception handling.

Ok if I get a nice hotel near the venue then I will see you there. I am the tall guy with white hair and a limp.

Back injury (micro discectomy)

davewebster — Thu, 23 Jun 2005 04:08:00 GMT

Well last week was pretty unpleasant. It started on monday morning when my back injury was so severe that I could not get out of bed. I have been working occasionally from a supine position for a while when not on tour but this was the final blow.

I got into the Nuffield Hospital Plymouth towards the end of the week to have a micro discectomy operation on Saturday. This is a brilliant piece of micro surgery where a small device is inserted into the back and the surgeon uses it to remove some of the prolapsed disk. http://www.backrack.co.uk/discectomy.shtml
The good news is that I am walking again but I have no reflex yet in my left achilese tendon. Also I can't stand on tiptoe on my left foot. Yesteday I sneezed too hard, wrenched the back and had to lie down for an hour and take an extra pain killer.

This is a hazard with our jobs in IT, we tend to have personalities that make us stick to our laptops hour after hour, even at home in front of the telly. You know those warning notices about correct working positions that we all ignore? Well please do yourself a favour and read it over again and do something about it.

Working on a laptop in its compact configuration should be the exception not the rule. Use an external monitor placed at head height.
Use an ergonmic keyboard
Get a good chair.
Stand up and walk about once an hour. It often pays to step away from the machine in any case as this gives your valuable think time.

I also travel a lot with my job so I spend a lot of time on airplanes. (Economy of course). So if you are tall like me get an exit row seat and get up every hour and take a walk.

Actually talking about our obssesive personalities this is in fact me blogging while on sick leave. Funny world innit?

So for those interested I will blog a thread on my recovery from this treatment. I am currently doing some physio to strengthen my back. Its a bit like Polates.

Drugs: This is the worse part - I hate the drugs but I hate the pain more. Dyclonofac this is an effective anti inflamatory. but it has some side effects - Constipation (a new and novel experience for me); Strange behaviour (those who know me will wonder if I could be any stranger but lo it is possible). CoCodamol this is a codeine laced paracetamol. Its a very effective at reducing pain. Some folks take it for fun, they must be mad.

Another observation concerns my dog Sooty. She now will stay within 2 meters of me at all times or will pine. She also licks my hand which she never did before.

If anyone out there has similar experiences please let me know.

Bye for now.

Dave Webster's WebLog : Back Injury

Teched Europe - Limping around Amsterdam.

Back injury (micro discectomy)