Weird, am I?

Time for another Blogthings titbit...

You Are 70% Weird

You're so weird, you think you're *totally* normal. Right? But you wig out even the biggest of circus freaks!

How Weird Are You?

I guess anyone who knows me would agree. So this got me to wondering about my fella. Is he as weird as me? Here are his results...

You Are 60% Weird

You're so weird, you think you're *totally* normal. Right? But you wig out even the biggest of circus freaks!

How Weird Are You?

That surprised me but in a nice way. I like it that we are both weird. :-)

I'm 30!!!!

Happy birthday to me
Happy birthday to me
Happy birthday to Fifi
Happy birthday to me

Yes, that's right. I'm now 30 years of age. Today I celebrated my birthday by getting up early and putting my car in for a service. Later, after a very nice breakfast of crumpets and maple syrup, I went out to lunch and then to a movie with my lovely boyfriend who gave me a gorgeous gold and diamond ring. Later we went to my mum's house for a birthday dinner of roast beef.

It was an emotional day for me and I shed a few tears (for no good reason) but it was a nice birthday nonetheless.

Now I'm gearing up for my Halloween costume birthday cocktail barbeque party on Saturday. Stay tuned for more updates on that.

EBL is over

The 3rd International Evidence Based Librarianship Conference is now over! After devoting the last 18 months of my life to being on the Organising Committee for this conference I now feel somewhat anti-climactic. I really my time on the committee and many of the tasks I carried out but I'm glad the stress is now over.

Rather than prattle on here, I thought I might just share a few pictures....

This is me at "The Evidence Base". This wall was set up to take people's comments about EBL, particularly in responses to the daily questions posed. I created this sign (one of the tasks I enjoyed and am quite proud of).




This is the Kookaburra Queen where the conference dinner was held on Tuesday night.







This is my suite at the Holiday Inn. Here my fellow committee member and good friend, Rachel, and I are making Steve's dreams come true!

Drink up

This week I have been soooo busy. Meetings, dinners out, meeting Steve's mum and sister, Steve's birthday, preparing for the EBL Conference, etc, etc...

Anyway, one thing I have been really enjoying in my busy schedule is planning for my own birthday party. I'm turning 30 in 11 days and I'm having a party to celebrate. But this is not just any old birthday party. Oh no. It is a barbeque. It is a cocktail party. It is a costume party. It is a Halloween Party.

I have got my costume (I'm the Queen of Darkness). So I've set to work on the recipe list for the cocktails. The first on the list is a Strawberry Daiquiri, seeing as strawberries are in season.

I decided to take bit of a break and do one of those Blogthings quizzes you might have spotted here on my blog. Appropriately enough I decided to to "What mixed drink are you?". Have a look at the results.....

You Are a Strawberry Daiquiri

You're a fun, playful drinker who loves to party. You may get totally wasted, but you're always a happy drunk!

What Mixed Drink Are You?

I think that's a sign, don't you?!

Needles and pinz...ahh!

Well I saw the surgeon about my foot. There was a lot of talking done in that session. He offered a new solution to me which might have negated the need for surgery. Given the cost and ramifications of the operation, any alternative is worth discussing.

The alternative treatment was a cortisone injection into the affected nerve. He said it might give me as much as 6 months relief or only as long as the local anasthetic wore off. I have found it to be the latter. To add insult to injury, my pain now is more constant, more widespread and more severe.

Where to now? I just don't know. I just want this to be over.

Walking on marbles

Tommorow I'm going to see an orthopedic surgeon about a condition I have in my right foot. I am suffering from "Morton's Neuroma". This is basically a swelling in the nerve between the 3rd and 4th metatarsals. Click here for more information on Morton's Neuroma.

I have had pain in my right foot since I was about 8 years old. I always put it down to dropping a large tin of beetroot on my toe. I thought I had broken my toe and that it had healed crooked and that's why I had pain. It wasn't until just this year that I decided to actually speak to a doctor about my problem. She had my foot x-rayed to look for any old fractures and ordered a blood test to check for arthritis, lupus or anything else which might be causing the pain.

When I went back to the doctor for my results I ended up seeing a great GP who had a particular interest in feet. She examined my foot (far more thoroughly than the previous GP) and immediately spotted the symptoms of Morton's neuroma. She sent me off to a podiatry clinic for confirmation. The podiatrist agreed with the GP - I had a textbook case of Morton's Neuroma.

The podiatrist assessed that the condition had gone too far to be treated with orthotics and I was a surgical case. So back to the GP I went. She then referred me to an orthopedic surgeon of my choice. That's who I'm seeing tomorrow.

I must admit that I'm quite scared but I'm a little excited that this might all be over quite soon.

The medicos I have seen and the books and resources I have read all describe the feeling of Morton's Neuroma as being similar to "walking on marbles". I have news for them! This is like having a red hot poker piercing into the sole of my foot, followed by a radiating heat which takes over my foot and goes all the way up my leg and into my thigh. Marbles?!?!? Yeah right! Only if the marbles are made out of metal, heated and covered in barbs! Actually, barbed wire being dragged through my leg from the sole of my foot to my thigh is perhaps a better description.

That said, I see the surgeon tomorrow.