....and he talked back, but I didn't understand much of what he said. If you don't know, he's got very limited speech since his stroke and so he constructs sentences of the few words he can speak. His family can tell by intonation and tone and phrasing what he is saying, but I can't.

I facetimed him, actually. He has an Apple device of some sort, and he answered pretty quickly, so I think he was using it to read or surf porn, or whatever.

With some sadness, I told him about Doc, and he looked genuinely sad. I told him that in one of Doc's last postings here, in a reminiscence thread during the pandemic, he had credited darsy for hiring him at the ISP, which changed the trajectory of Doc's life for the better. However, I did sense less recognition at this, but perhaps I'm bad at reading him.

I don't recommend that anyone try to facetime him (it's not very fulfilling), but if anyone wants to text him (iMessage only, no android freaks), get in touch with me direct and I'll give you the email address he uses.

On 05/12/2023 16:15, Ben Blaney wrote:
> ...and he talked back, but I didn't understand much of what he said.

Nothing new there then ..... :-)

--
Bruce Porter
"The internet is a huge and diverse community but mainly friendly"
http://ytc1.blogspot.co.uk/
There *is* an alternative! http://www.openoffice.org/

On 05/12/2023 16:15, Ben Blaney wrote:
> ...and he talked back, but I didn't understand much of what he said. If you don't know, he's got very limited speech since his stroke and so he constructs sentences of the few words he can speak. His family can tell by intonation and tone and phrasing what he is saying, but I can't.
>
>
Thanks for the update

--
Bruce Porter
"The internet is a huge and diverse community but mainly friendly"
http://ytc1.blogspot.co.uk/
There *is* an alternative! http://www.openoffice.org/

On 05/12/2023 16:15, Ben Blaney wrote:
> ...and he talked back, but I didn't understand much of what he said

Well done Ben, it's good to hear some slightly positive news about him,
the last time I asked, it wasnt very good, so he seems to have improved
somewhat. Lets hope he does get a little better as time goes on. What is
it, 7 years now?

--
Remove the '+' and replace with 'plus' to reply by email

On Tuesday, December 5, 2023 at 9:00:51 PM UTC, Alan Lee wrote:
> On 05/12/2023 16:15, Ben Blaney wrote:
> > ...and he talked back, but I didn't understand much of what he said
> Well done Ben, it's good to hear some slightly positive news about him,
> the last time I asked, it wasnt very good, so he seems to have improved
> somewhat. Lets hope he does get a little better as time goes on. What is
> it, 7 years now?

Twelve - I think it was the same year I smashed my leg up.

On 06/12/2023 00:30, Salad Dodger wrote:
> On Tuesday, December 5, 2023 at 9:00:51 PM UTC, Alan Lee wrote:
>> On 05/12/2023 16:15, Ben Blaney wrote:
>>> ...and he talked back, but I didn't understand much of what he said
>> Well done Ben, it's good to hear some slightly positive news about him,
>> the last time I asked, it wasnt very good, so he seems to have improved
>> somewhat. Lets hope he does get a little better as time goes on. What is
>> it, 7 years now?
>
> Twelve - I think it was the same year I smashed my leg up.

It was 12 years. I know because my missus was in the same hospital at
that time.

On 05/12/2023 16:15, Ben Blaney wrote:
> ...and he talked back, but I didn't understand much of what he said. If you don't know, he's got very limited speech since his stroke and so he constructs sentences of the few words he can speak. His family can tell by intonation and tone and phrasing what he is saying, but I can't.
>
> I facetimed him, actually. He has an Apple device of some sort, and he answered pretty quickly, so I think he was using it to read or surf porn, or whatever.
>
> With some sadness, I told him about Doc, and he looked genuinely sad. I told him that in one of Doc's last postings here, in a reminiscence thread during the pandemic, he had credited darsy for hiring him at the ISP, which changed the trajectory of Doc's life for the better. However, I did sense less recognition at this, but perhaps I'm bad at reading him.
>
> I don't recommend that anyone try to facetime him (it's not very fulfilling), but if anyone wants to text him (iMessage only, no android freaks), get in touch with me direct and I'll give you the email address he uses.

Thanks for the update Ben.

On Tuesday, December 5, 2023 at 11:15:27 AM UTC-5, Ben Blaney wrote:

> I facetimed him, actually.

He called me back today! I was in a meeting, but I stepped out and answered. We had a really funny call. He was laughing a lot. I showed him my Christmas tree, and he was clearly adopting a Bah Humbug persona, so I played up to it, and told him how much I love mince pies and mulled wine. He was making a face about the wine, so I said it was a good way of getting rid of bad wine and he was laughing. I reminded him of when he came to my house and he fell asleep with his eyes open, and asked him if he still does that - to which he said yes, but I don't know how he would know. I talked about some current and former UKRMers. We talked for 16 minutes, which seems like a long time when you're talking to someone who can only say six words. It was great to spend time with him, actually. I'm going to try to call him more often.

On 06/12/2023 20:06, Ben Blaney wrote:
> On Tuesday, December 5, 2023 at 11:15:27 AM UTC-5, Ben Blaney wrote:
>
>> I facetimed him, actually.
>
> He called me back today! I was in a meeting, but I stepped out and answered. We had a really funny call. He was laughing a lot. I showed him my Christmas tree, and he was clearly adopting a Bah Humbug persona, so I played up to it, and told him how much I love mince pies and mulled wine. He was making a face about the wine, so I said it was a good way of getting rid of bad wine and he was laughing. I reminded him of when he came to my house and he fell asleep with his eyes open, and asked him if he still does that - to which he said yes, but I don't know how he would know. I talked about some current and former UKRMers. We talked for 16 minutes, which seems like a long time when you're talking to someone who can only say six words. It was great to spend time with him, actually. I'm going to try to call him more often.

That's nice to hear. Thanks.

--
Eddie eddie@deguello.org

On Thu, 7 Dec 2023 11:42:45 +0000, Eddie <eddie@deguello.org> wrote:

>On 06/12/2023 20:06, Ben Blaney wrote:
>> On Tuesday, December 5, 2023 at 11:15:27?AM UTC-5, Ben Blaney wrote:
>>
>>> I facetimed him, actually.
>>
>> He called me back today! I was in a meeting, but I stepped out and answered. We had a really funny call. He was laughing a lot. I showed him my Christmas tree, and he was clearly adopting a Bah Humbug persona, so I played up to it, and told him how much I love mince pies and mulled wine. He was making a face about the wine, so I said it was a good way of getting rid of bad wine and he was laughing. I reminded him of when he came to my house and he fell asleep with his eyes open, and asked him if he still does that - to which he said yes, but I don't know how he would know. I talked about some current and former UKRMers. We talked for 16 minutes, which seems like a long time when you're talking to someone who can only say six words. It was great to spend time with him, actually. I'm going to try to call him more often.

>That's nice to hear. Thanks.

+1

You're a good man, Ben
--
Champ
neal at champ dot org dot uk

I don't know, but I been told
You never slow down, you never grow old

On 07/12/2023 12:37, Champ wrote:
>
> You're a good man, Ben

I say, steady on.

--
Eddie eddie@deguello.org

On Thursday, December 7, 2023 at 12:37:26 PM UTC, Champ wrote:
>
> You're a good man, Ben

++1

--
WUN

On Friday 8 December 2023 at 11:08:30 UTC, ivanreid1 wrote:
> [1] Gory details: subcranial haemetoma following a domestic fall, 2X craniotomy to remove clots[2].
> [2] Gorier details: https://www.brunel.ac.uk/~eesridr/images/OperationScar.jpg
Correction, that should have been subdural haemetoma. And yes, my speech was slurred and my balance and locomotion were severely affected in the immediate aftermath. However, since it wasn't a stroke and the brain wasn't invaded /per se/ I made what one of my therapists considered "a remarkable recovery". Back to "fully contracted hours" (i.e.50%) in January.

On Friday, December 8, 2023 at 7:35:42 PM UTC, ivanreid1 wrote:
> On Friday 8 December 2023 at 11:08:30 UTC, ivanreid1 wrote:
> > [1] Gory details: subcranial haemetoma following a domestic fall, 2X craniotomy to remove clots[2].
> > [2] Gorier details: https://www.brunel.ac.uk/~eesridr/images/OperationScar.jpg
> Correction, that should have been subdural haemetoma. And yes, my speech was slurred and my balance and locomotion were severely affected in the immediate aftermath. However, since it wasn't a stroke and the brain wasn't invaded /per se/ I made what one of my therapists considered "a remarkable recovery". Back to "fully contracted hours" (i.e.50%) in January.

Fuck me Ivan! Glad to hear you're on the mend.

--
WUN

On 09/12/2023 03:35 ivanreid1 penned these words:
> On Friday 8 December 2023 at 11:08:30 UTC, ivanreid1 wrote:
>> [1] Gory details: subcranial haemetoma following a domestic fall, 2X craniotomy to remove clots[2].
>> [2] Gorier details: https://www.brunel.ac.uk/~eesridr/images/OperationScar.jpg
> Correction, that should have been subdural haemetoma. And yes, my speech was slurred and my balance and locomotion were severely affected in the immediate aftermath. However, since it wasn't a stroke and the brain wasn't invaded /per se/ I made what one of my therapists considered "a remarkable recovery". Back to "fully contracted hours" (i.e.50%) in January.

Bloody hell fellah, that was a bit close please to hear you're on the mend.
--
Ian

"Man will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of
the last priest"

On Fri, 08 Dec 2023 11:35:40 -0800, ivanreid1 wrote:

> On Friday 8 December 2023 at 11:08:30 UTC, ivanreid1 wrote:
>> [1] Gory details: subcranial haemetoma following a domestic fall, 2X
>> craniotomy to remove clots[2].
>> [2] Gorier details:
>> https://www.brunel.ac.uk/~eesridr/images/OperationScar.jpg
> Correction, that should have been subdural haemetoma. And yes, my
> speech was slurred and my balance and locomotion were severely affected
> in the immediate aftermath. However, since it wasn't a stroke and the
> brain wasn't invaded /per se/ I made what one of my therapists
> considered "a remarkable recovery". Back to "fully contracted hours"
> (i.e.50%) in January.

Wow! That must have been pretty scary. Glad to hear hat you have made a
good recovery. On a technical point - are those staples inserted into the
bone of the skull with some kind of precision stapler? Looks like surgery
crossed with upholstery!

--
Tony
FJR1300, BSA Bantams x2.5, BSA C11, Suzuki ST400.

On 07/12/2023 22:01, WUN wrote:
> On Thursday, December 7, 2023 at 12:37:26 PM UTC, Champ wrote:
>>
>> You're a good man, Ben
>
> ++1
>
1++

On 08/12/2023 19:35, ivanreid1 wrote:
> On Friday 8 December 2023 at 11:08:30 UTC, ivanreid1 wrote:
>> [1] Gory details: subcranial haemetoma following a domestic fall, 2X craniotomy to remove clots[2].
>> [2] Gorier details: https://www.brunel.ac.uk/~eesridr/images/OperationScar.jpg
> Correction, that should have been subdural haemetoma. And yes, my speech was slurred and my balance and locomotion were severely affected in the immediate aftermath. However, since it wasn't a stroke and the brain wasn't invaded /per se/ I made what one of my therapists considered "a remarkable recovery". Back to "fully contracted hours" (i.e.50%) in January.

That is great news.

On Saturday 9 December 2023 at 11:13:31 UTC, TMack wrote:
> On Fri, 08 Dec 2023 11:35:40 -0800, ivanreid1 wrote:
>
> > On Friday 8 December 2023 at 11:08:30 UTC, ivanreid1 wrote:
> >> [1] Gory details: subcranial haemetoma following a domestic fall, 2X
> >> craniotomy to remove clots[2].
> >> [2] Gorier details:
> >> https://www.brunel.ac.uk/~eesridr/images/OperationScar.jpg
> > Correction, that should have been subdural haemetoma. And yes, my
> > speech was slurred and my balance and locomotion were severely affected
> > in the immediate aftermath. However, since it wasn't a stroke and the
> > brain wasn't invaded /per se/ I made what one of my therapists
> > considered "a remarkable recovery". Back to "fully contracted hours"
> > (i.e.50%) in January.
> Wow! That must have been pretty scary. Glad to hear hat you have made a
> good recovery. On a technical point - are those staples inserted into the
> bone of the skull with some kind of precision stapler? Looks like surgery
> crossed with upholstery!

I can't really tell, having been unconscious at the time... But the way they stand proud suggests that there is some sort of "spacer" in the apparatus that limits the staples from going fully home. The removal was interesting, the tool looked superficially like a pair of sidecutters, and that's what I assumed they were. However, the removed staples looked like this (attempting ASCII art using Google Groups[1] with proportional fonts...)
___ ___
| \_/ |

so there must have been something resting on the middle of the crossbar to stop it moving, and two levers to pull up the legs of the staple to dislodge it. To clarify, there were 45 staples in all, the photo was taken when about half had been removed.

[1] Unfortunately, both Brunel and CERN decommissioned their Usenet servers years ago, which is why I haven't been active in all that time.

ivanreid1 wrote:

> Brunel and CERN decommissioned their Usenet servers
> years ago, which is why I haven't been active in all that time.

Many people are blocking some or all posts from googlegroups, I've
tipped-off the shed with your gmail address so people can choose to
whitelist it, if you were to pop in ...

Andy Burns <usenet@andyburns.uk> wrote in news:ktjbagFj36U3
@mid.individual.net:

> ivanreid1 wrote:
>
>> Brunel and CERN decommissioned their Usenet servers
>> years ago, which is why I haven't been active in all that time.
>
> Many people are blocking some or all posts from googlegroups, I've
> tipped-off the shed with your gmail address so people can choose to
> whitelist it, if you were to pop in ...
>
>

yes, Ivan's first post did not appear on eternal september[1] but was on
Neodome[1]

[1] both are free nntp servers which I access using Xnews[2]
[2] windows only, standalone program that can be run from a dropbox folder
or USB stick

On 09/12/2023 14:09, ivanreid1 wrote:
> On Saturday 9 December 2023 at 11:13:31 UTC, TMack wrote:
>> On Fri, 08 Dec 2023 11:35:40 -0800, ivanreid1 wrote:
>>
>>> On Friday 8 December 2023 at 11:08:30 UTC, ivanreid1 wrote:
>>>> [1] Gory details: subcranial haemetoma following a domestic fall, 2X
>>>> craniotomy to remove clots[2].
>>>> [2] Gorier details:
>>>> https://www.brunel.ac.uk/~eesridr/images/OperationScar.jpg
>>> Correction, that should have been subdural haemetoma. And yes, my
>>> speech was slurred and my balance and locomotion were severely affected
>>> in the immediate aftermath. However, since it wasn't a stroke and the
>>> brain wasn't invaded /per se/ I made what one of my therapists
>>> considered "a remarkable recovery". Back to "fully contracted hours"
>>> (i.e.50%) in January.
>> Wow! That must have been pretty scary. Glad to hear hat you have made a
>> good recovery. On a technical point - are those staples inserted into the
>> bone of the skull with some kind of precision stapler? Looks like surgery
>> crossed with upholstery!
>
> I can't really tell, having been unconscious at the time... But the way they stand proud suggests that there is some sort of "spacer" in the apparatus that limits the staples from going fully home. The removal was interesting, the tool looked superficially like a pair of sidecutters, and that's what I assumed they were. However, the removed staples looked like this (attempting ASCII art using Google Groups[1] with proportional fonts...)
> ___ ___
> | \_/ |
>

I'll ask SWMBO - she knows of such things...

Chris
--
The Deuchars BBB#40 COFF#14
Yamaha XV750SE & Suzuki GS550t
http://www.Deuchars.org.uk

On Saturday 9 December 2023 at 14:30:15 UTC, wessie wrote:
> Andy Burns <use...@andyburns.uk> wrote in news:ktjbagFj36U3
> @mid.individual.net:
> > ivanreid1 wrote:
> >
> >> Brunel and CERN decommissioned their Usenet servers
> >> years ago, which is why I haven't been active in all that time.
> >
> > Many people are blocking some or all posts from googlegroups, I've
> > tipped-off the shed with your gmail address so people can choose to
> > whitelist it, if you were to pop in ...
> >
> >
> yes, Ivan's first post did not appear on eternal september[1] but was on
> Neodome[1]
>
> [1] both are free nntp servers which I access using Xnews[2]
> [2] windows only, standalone program that can be run from a dropbox folder
> or USB stick
I'll have to look into getting slrn running again.

On 09/12/2023 15:06, chrisnd @ukrm wrote:
>On 09/12/2023 14:09, ivanreid1 wrote:
>> On Saturday 9 December 2023 at 11:13:31 UTC, TMack wrote:
>>> On Fri, 08 Dec 2023 11:35:40 -0800, ivanreid1 wrote:
>>>
>>>> On Friday 8 December 2023 at 11:08:30 UTC, ivanreid1 wrote:
>>>>> [1] Gory details: subcranial haemetoma following a domestic fall, 2X
>>>>> craniotomy to remove clots[2].
>>>>> [2] Gorier details:
>>>>> https://www.brunel.ac.uk/~eesridr/images/OperationScar.jpg
>>>> Correction, that should have been subdural haemetoma. And yes, my
>>>> speech was slurred and my balance and locomotion were severely affected
>>>> in the immediate aftermath. However, since it wasn't a stroke and the
>>>> brain wasn't invaded /per se/ I made what one of my therapists
>>>> considered "a remarkable recovery". Back to "fully contracted hours"
>>>> (i.e.50%) in January.
>>> Wow! That must have been pretty scary. Glad to hear hat you have made a
>>> good recovery. On a technical point - are those staples inserted into the
>>> bone of the skull with some kind of precision stapler? Looks like surgery
>>> crossed with upholstery!
>>
>> I can't really tell, having been unconscious at the time... But the way they stand proud suggests that there is some sort of "spacer" in the apparatus that limits the staples from going fully home. The removal was interesting, the tool looked superficially like a pair of sidecutters, and that's what I assumed they were. However, the removed staples looked like this (attempting ASCII art using Google Groups[1] with proportional fonts...)
>> ___ ___
>> | \_/ |
>>
>
>I'll ask SWMBO - she knows of such things...
>

So here you go:
How to Remove Surgical Staples: 8 Steps (with Pictures) - wikiHow
https://www.wikihow.com/Remove-Surgical-Staples

And this:
https://bonesmart.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Removing-Staples-2-768x273.png

Apparently youtube videos are also available :-)

Chris

--
XV750SE & GS550T

On Saturday 9 December 2023 at 17:24:47 UTC, chrisnd @ukrm wrote:
> On 09/12/2023 15:06, chrisnd @ukrm wrote:
> >On 09/12/2023 14:09, ivanreid1 wrote:
> >> On Saturday 9 December 2023 at 11:13:31 UTC, TMack wrote:
> >>> On Fri, 08 Dec 2023 11:35:40 -0800, ivanreid1 wrote:
> >>>
> >>>> On Friday 8 December 2023 at 11:08:30 UTC, ivanreid1 wrote:
> >>>>> [1] Gory details: subcranial haemetoma following a domestic fall, 2X
> >>>>> craniotomy to remove clots[2].
> >>>>> [2] Gorier details:
> >>>>> https://www.brunel.ac.uk/~eesridr/images/OperationScar.jpg
> >>>> Correction, that should have been subdural haemetoma. And yes, my
> >>>> speech was slurred and my balance and locomotion were severely affected
> >>>> in the immediate aftermath. However, since it wasn't a stroke and the
> >>>> brain wasn't invaded /per se/ I made what one of my therapists
> >>>> considered "a remarkable recovery". Back to "fully contracted hours"
> >>>> (i.e.50%) in January.
> >>> Wow! That must have been pretty scary. Glad to hear hat you have made a
> >>> good recovery. On a technical point - are those staples inserted into the
> >>> bone of the skull with some kind of precision stapler? Looks like surgery
> >>> crossed with upholstery!
> >>
> >> I can't really tell, having been unconscious at the time... But the way they stand proud suggests that there is some sort of "spacer" in the apparatus that limits the staples from going fully home. The removal was interesting, the tool looked superficially like a pair of sidecutters, and that's what I assumed they were. However, the removed staples looked like this (attempting ASCII art using Google Groups[1] with proportional fonts...)
> >> ___ ___
> >> | \_/ |
> >>
> >
> >I'll ask SWMBO - she knows of such things...
> >
> So here you go:
> How to Remove Surgical Staples: 8 Steps (with Pictures) - wikiHow
> https://www.wikihow.com/Remove-Surgical-Staples
>
> And this:
> https://bonesmart.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Removing-Staples-2-768x273.png
>
> Apparently youtube videos are also available :-)
>
> Chris
>
> --
> XV750SE & GS550T
Without going too far into it, the first link appears to be exactly my experience. I can see how at first glance the tool looked like sidecutters.