Dave
I am Dave. I am fifty-something and over 10 years ago I took medical retirement from Royal & SunAlliance where I ended up working as a New Business Supervisor responsible for one of the New Life Assurance Business processing units. This web site is primarily focussed on one of my main hobbies - Parrot keeping. It started about 25 years ago and boy, has it grown! We now have 14 parrots and 3 aviaries which have been passed on to my daughter, Stacey, where she keeps, and breeds, Budgies and Kakarikis. So Parrots of one type or another feature heavily in our family.
We also have 3 cats who we all love dearly. Other hobbies include collecting clocks - both antique and the more modern Atmos clocks; Reading Biographies; Travelling - mainly in the UK and France; and Caravanning which encompasses the Birds, Travelling, Reading and the Family. I have to say I am soooooo lucky having such a devoted family (both human and bird/animal) and I love them all.
My fairly sedentary lifestyle caused by my poor mobility, led me to expand.....and expand!!! At my peak I weiged 138kgms. The situation was made worse by the fact that, unlike most people who eat to live, I lived to eat!!! Yes, I loved my food!!! In 2009 I had a Gastric Band fitted. This worked wonders for me! I am now down to 92 kgms which in old money means I have lost over 7 stone!!! This dramatic weight loss has resulted in less hip pain (I rarely get significant hip pain nowadays) though I do still get considerable foot pain.
We also have 3 cats who we all love dearly. Other hobbies include collecting clocks - both antique and the more modern Atmos clocks; Reading Biographies; Travelling - mainly in the UK and France; and Caravanning which encompasses the Birds, Travelling, Reading and the Family. I have to say I am soooooo lucky having such a devoted family (both human and bird/animal) and I love them all.
My fairly sedentary lifestyle caused by my poor mobility, led me to expand.....and expand!!! At my peak I weiged 138kgms. The situation was made worse by the fact that, unlike most people who eat to live, I lived to eat!!! Yes, I loved my food!!! In 2009 I had a Gastric Band fitted. This worked wonders for me! I am now down to 92 kgms which in old money means I have lost over 7 stone!!! This dramatic weight loss has resulted in less hip pain (I rarely get significant hip pain nowadays) though I do still get considerable foot pain.
Charcot Joint again! (June 2012)
I am currently suffering from Charcot Joint again! This means basically that I am confined to a wheelchair. It is kind of revenge for all the times I pushed Gill around in a wheelchair when she had her foot op in December last! It is currently not in plaster but in a splint - a vacuum boot. I am supposed to stay off of it as much as possible until September. As it is my right foot I cannot even drive so I am kind of totally dependant on everyone else at the moment - somewhat frustrating for all of us!
Arthritis.
For many years with aging, and sedentary lifestyle, I have been suffering from arthritis. This has mainly affected my knees and hips and has now got to the point where I am mostly wheelchair bound but can manage small distances for walking. This has meant many adaptations to how I do things and a reduction in some of the hobies which I had. It has made things a lot harder to do the renovating of clocks so I continued my hobbies of clock keeping and now look after and maintain the clocks I have rather than renovating them.
It has also meant I have since gained a lot of weight over the years. This is mostly because of the lack of mobility the arthritis has given me and the limits which I am now living within. In 2019 I had a partial knee replacement which went well, however, after the incident (falling) which significantly affected it beforehand and the rehabilitation afterwards, it has added a lot of pressure onto the other knee and as a result, this has required a total knee replacement in 2022. Surgery in itself wen't well but the recovery was a very different story. Sadly my knee didn't heal as well as they wanted and with that came subsequent falls. Each fall making things worse. Finally, the hospital decided that as the knee was basically in a dislocated position whenever I was using it causing it to give-way and me to fall, I needed revised surgery. This happened in 2023. Revised surgery involved removing the old knee replacement and fixing in place a new one, a Hinged knee replacement, which would prevent it from dislocating. This surgery is more complicated and risky than the initial one and as part of that, the leg also fractured at one place. It is currently healing and the surgeon is happy with it but after having so many falls, I am having to learn to trust it again which is like learning to walk. I am finally due to start having physio (6months after procedure) to help aid this and build up trust, strength and improved healing and repair.
It has also meant I have since gained a lot of weight over the years. This is mostly because of the lack of mobility the arthritis has given me and the limits which I am now living within. In 2019 I had a partial knee replacement which went well, however, after the incident (falling) which significantly affected it beforehand and the rehabilitation afterwards, it has added a lot of pressure onto the other knee and as a result, this has required a total knee replacement in 2022. Surgery in itself wen't well but the recovery was a very different story. Sadly my knee didn't heal as well as they wanted and with that came subsequent falls. Each fall making things worse. Finally, the hospital decided that as the knee was basically in a dislocated position whenever I was using it causing it to give-way and me to fall, I needed revised surgery. This happened in 2023. Revised surgery involved removing the old knee replacement and fixing in place a new one, a Hinged knee replacement, which would prevent it from dislocating. This surgery is more complicated and risky than the initial one and as part of that, the leg also fractured at one place. It is currently healing and the surgeon is happy with it but after having so many falls, I am having to learn to trust it again which is like learning to walk. I am finally due to start having physio (6months after procedure) to help aid this and build up trust, strength and improved healing and repair.