Back In The Game: The Snuffbox Incident

Hey all,

I've not posted on here for a while so...

For those who aren't in the know about the 'broken snuffbox' incident, it goes something like this (prepare yourself for a 'cool story'):

Last October, I was casually minding my own business in the woods in the dark...

... holding a sword and shield...

... when some chap sprints straight into me, headbutting me in the nose and bending my wrist in a very peculiar fashion.

Now then, it (the wrist) was pretty sore but I figured it would go away if I ignored it - but actually that just seemed to make it more angry and I woke up the following morning and thought for a brief moment that I had woken up beside a pasty beached whale. But no. It was just my hand.

I got home (having stayed in Leicester the night) and headed back out to Basingstoke A&E to get the bad boy checked out.

They gave me the all-clear, diagnosing the injury as extensive muscle, tendon and tissue damage and I was given a series of exercises to carry out to get it back on the mend. I was advised that I'd get back to normal after about 12 weeks.

Here's the hand on the 12th November when it had started to go down:
(still no knuckles though as the Rage reminded me, frequently... )

Unfortunately, after 3 months (and a bit) I went back to the doctor because I still couldn't actually use the hand.

My doctor poked me in the anatomical snuffbox (it's a thing!) and realised that I had a broken scaphoid.

That's this bone right here:

And so they sent me off for a little x-ray and here was mine:

Uh-oh. Big hole right there, huh.

Anyway, I found out that basically, not only had I broken my scaphoid, but these exercises had actually stopped the two halves of the bone from healing back together again and worn a big hole where all my lovely heal should have been.

Then I got told I'd have pretty bad arthritis in my wrist if I didn't have an operation to get a bone graft from my hip and replace this scaphoid bone but that the operation only had a 50% success rate. Sheesh!

Well, I need this hand for riding my bike, playing the guitar and of course, taking pictures so I did decide to go ahead with the op rather than ending up like Chris Elliott in Scary Movie 2...

So on Wednesday 20th March, my lovely mum dropped me off at St Peter's Hospital and I got to climb on in - butt naked - to one of their sexy gowns with the awesome green leggings... in a room full of other operation-goers.

I think I gave the old gent across the way a bit of an eyeful.

But I ended up in these bad boys:

Fit.

Unfortunately, there were two emergency operations that morning and that also meant that I had to wait just under four hours to get to anaesthetic but I was feeling pretty good anyway. Strangely a lot less nervous than expected. I had my book and was still smiling. :)

... and before long, along came one of my doctors came and drew a bunch of arrows on me so they knew which way up to put me on the table.

I walked down to the anaesthetist room and lay on the bed and then... I must have gotten drunk or something because I don't remember much from then on.

I woke up in a ward attended by about 5 lovely nurses where I was brought several cups of water and tea and made to eat a chicken sandwich whilst I tried to convince them I was good to get up and go home now... I had a big cast and no feeling in my arm - and I had staples and a LOT of feeling in my hip. They let me go home after about 6 hours of me failing at 'acting cool' about the ward. No change there.

My, now lovely boyfriend, Matt carefully drove me all the way back to his place from the hospital at a snails-pace as speed-bumps hurt, corners hurt and straight bits of road hurt and I got gently into a well-prepared bed surrounded in cushions and pillows and slept like a beast. :)

I intended to read for the next two days before going all the way back home to Reading but I instead spent it sleeping, puking and fainting. Because I'm so metal.

Did get this card from work though, which was nice.

With such caring words as:
"Hope you're feeling better - I have a coathanger as a standby - Greg"
"Proper glad you didn't die. Well played - Will"
"These support calls aren't going to fix themselves - Nathan"
"You wimp! Get back to work now! - John" (<- company director!)

Right... so... about three weeks after the op, I had to have the hip staples removed, which was a right shame as I was actually pretty fond of the ol' hip piercing...

... and then the first cast came off after a month and I got a more manageable (less funky-smelling) cast, in a lovely shade of purple.

AND I got to see the awesome job that Doc Sarkhel (my surgeon) had done on my arm for the first time...

She had basically taken the piece of my hip bone out, filed down the top of the original scaphoid bone to agitate it into trying to heal again and then drilled the two pieces together.

So like this... before and after:

And I also saw my wrist scar for the first time which looked pretty gnarly...

6 more weeks of the purple cast and I got to have it taken off and wear a splint for the last 6 weeks which was much nicer as it meant that my cardigans and jumpers fit me properly and I could shower without a plastic bad and a rubber band!!!

And out of the cast was a wonderful place full of having a hand and not having a cast.

Also, my hip-scar was healing well.

So, now, nine months later, my doctor has finally given me the all-clear and I can start trying to use my hand again. I, naturally, got straight out on the Harley and enjoyed a few rides and played a bit of the ol' guitar AND took some pictures (albeit, not very steady/good ones).

I plan to be shooting again very soon but I thought I'd explain where I've been and why I haven't done a lot of photography stuff lately.

Well, hope that didn't bore you to death. See you when I have done something more interesting to post about. :)

x

A couple of thank yous:
Rachel for generally looking after me and doing the washing up for the best part of nine-months. Matt for lending me his (downstairs) room for 3 days, feeding me and looking after me whilst I recovered. Plus collecting me from the hospital in the first place! Simon and Robin for bringing me sweets (and shopping!). Yvonne for helping me attend my first LARP event back and helping me with the dishes for the weekend (i.e. doing the dishes for me). Gavin for the use of his house, shower and plastic Dominoes bag on that weekend... and everyone else for their well-wishes and kind get-well messages. :)

Anya Adorable: The Alternative Rocker

I met Anya on the ever-popular model networking site, Model Mayhem.


I was browsing one evening through models in the area and I came across Anya's portfolio which was completely void of professional modelling shots due to her being so new to the wonderfully painful world of modelling. The portfolio instead contained several snapshots of Anya with different hair. Despite that, I could not believe that she hadn't been snapped up yet with this face:

Still being at the (not so) tender age of 16, I was still keen to work with Anya and get her 'up and running' with some portfolio shots that really show off this face. I was also concerned that with some of the 'types' on Model Mayhem that tend to pray on newbies, there was a large chance that Anya was going to get approached by a GWC (common in modelling world, 'Guy With Camera') and end up with some terribly low quality photos in her portfolio.


Well, I didn't want some GWC taking that opportunity away from me. XD


So we set a date for Sunday 11th March and I headed to her place (as it's only 'round the corner) which apparently contained a very big dog, though I didn't see it so for all I know, it was a very loud recording of a big dog, and met with her mum, Julie, to discuss what we were going to be doing that day.


We went to three locations, starting with the abbey ruins in Basingstoke:

Started out with a simple headshot...

I was trying a bit of heavy sun in the image above but not sure if I like it...

Had to give it a go as I'm trying to experiment a bit more with different lighting.

(As you can see on my targets and aims page here if you're interested)

I think that these next two are my favourites though:

I love Anya's expression in this ^

 












Next, we headed over to KFC, had some lunch, and then we headed off to the most exciting location of the three. Raven's Nightclub.


And by jove, I was excited.


It looked like something out of Supernatural:

I realised that, due to my love of run-down buildings and reckless location choice, I was going to make Anya and I the first 5 minutes of a Supernatural episode. Sam and Dean were going to come and investigate our disappearance/death very soon. (All the way from the US. Yes, I know. Fine it wouldn't happen. Whatever. Fact is, it was creepy as hell).

Seriously, look at this place.

I was literally thinking, 'hey, screw Anya, (sorry Anya), this place is amazing. I might just stay here all day!'


I'm definitely coming back here with Amphlett, anyway.


So, as Anya was getting increasingly concerned about my mental state, I thought I had better get her in some of the photos. :)


I didn't take her inside a lot of the building because it was very unsafe and the roof had caved in, in some parts.


... but we did go in where the roof had already caved in or been burned away.


I'll stay brief but feel free to skip this paragraph if you're easily bored:
The history of the building is ongoing. It was built in the 16th century and was a coach house, notorious for highwaymen and smugglers. That was when it was 'The Seven Thorns'. Later, it changed hands and was renamed 'The Spaniard', again, a good place to get your hands on some dodgy stolen gear. Even later on, it became Raven's Nightclub (still seen painted on the North wall of the building) but unfortunately for the owners, was set on fire in 1980 and was too costly to rennovate. They have since applied for planning permission to turn it into flats, etc but have had their applications repeatedly rejected and so now it stands alone and abandoned on the A3 near Hindhead, ready for my inevitable return...


So back to Anya.

This was inside the southmost part of the building where the roof had already caved in. Thus, no danger of losing my model to brick cake and having to go and explain to her mum why I returned without her.

This was my favourite image from this site, I think:

The roof has caved in here (note in the background) and the flare from the sun was fantastic (I think, anyroad). That's meeting point 4 a little better, I think.

So that was location two.


And for set 3, we paid a visit to the ever popular haunt, Waverley Abbey, in Farnham.

This was my favourite from the set. ^

Oddly, when we first got there, there were a few people about, but this particular bit of the abbey was empty. Normally this is the part of the ruins you struggle to occupy alone.
  

^ More headshots >

As it got dark, we also got this little gem of a picture. Anya lit up with Amphlett's trusty flashgun and the Abbey looking nice and eerie.:

Another favourite from the ol' abbey:

And there we have it. That was my first shoot with Anya Adorable!

A bit of a chance to develop my location work as I find it a bit hit-and-miss with regards to whether or not I like the results.

... and a bit of a chance for Anya to get herself started with her modelling career. I am pleased to say she is a complete natural, takes direction very well and, as I have said, has a great face.

I happen to know she has a lot of interest from other photographers already so keep your eyes out for more from her. We're also going to be doing some studio work very soon.

Can't wait to see more from Anya!