How to survive 3 months of being stuck indoors...

foxyrick

foxyrick

British Pork
Joined
Dec 26, 2006
Messages
2,254
I've been stuck inside now for two weeks - I think I'm getting cabin fever.

Two weeks ago I managed to completely detach my right Achilles tendon from the heel*. Following surgery, I have a cast on from toes to knee. I've just got back from hospital to have the wound checked and the cast replaced. Two weeks from now the cast will be replaced with an adjustable, articulated boot thing to start stretching the tendon again.

Basically, I can't use my right leg for the next 6 weeks - no weight allowed on it at all. After that I should be able to walk carefully with crutches and start physiotherapy properly. Probably be about 3 months before I can walk unaided again. Hopefully.

I'm bored!

So, I'm looking for suggestions for what to do with myself for the next couple of months. So far I've been going through my movie collection, but that is wearing thin pretty quickly.

I also can't spend any money; I'm completely broke at the moment and will only get poorer over the next few months. Probably just as well otherwise I would be internet shopping like mad by now!

All suggestions welcome!




* It wasn't funny at the time, but is worth a laugh now. I was injured at hospital! I got a call in the morning that my father had been taken into hospital and was going into emergency surgery for internal bleeding. He had fallen down the stairs. He's previously had several strokes due to an eventually-discovered heart problem - followed by a valve replacement last year. The hospital was quite serious that the family should get there quickly.

I was runing up the slope in the hospital car park to the pay machine when there was a loud pop and I went down like a sack of potatoes. You know what it's like when you're running and you fall - you spring up again and keep the momentum going. As I did so I wondered what the pop was - I soon found out when on the next stride my leg gave way and I hit the deck again. I knew immediately what I had done - I used to be a fitness instructor. When I felt the back of my ankle, there was no tendon there. I found the end further up my leg!

I spent the next 3 hours hopping around while my father got sorted out. The operation went far better than they expected and, although he's still in hospital, he's now stable and waiting for them to sort his blood out. Then I went and checked myself into A+E.

I was admitted at about 7pm Wednesday, operated on at 9am Thursday, regained enough consiousness to tell the time at about midday, and convinced them to let me go home by 8pm Thursday evening! I did have to do a 'crutch test' up and down the stairs before they would release me, to prove that I could move about safely with them. I managed it and just went and threw up after the nurses had gone away again!

The most annoying thing is that I left my job only the week before my accident, due to really severe stress - seriously, I was getting to the stage of killing people, probably including myself! The last ten years of work has really not been good to me and my health and temperament have suffered badly. I was planning on working part-time doing servers and wireless networks in schools (had a few lined up) and anything else that came along to keep enough money coming in to survive. Mostly I was planning on de-stressing with a lot of hill walking and bushcrafty activities; had it all planned out. So now I've got no job, no money, and can't even go walking - Talk about rubbing salt in the wound! Still, it is what it is and at least work can't stress me out any more now.
 
A giant spool of paracord and Ashleys Book of Knots aka A.B.O.K.

That should keep you busy for mmmm......the rest of your life.
A big plus is that you're in England and knotwork seems to be pretty prevelent in those parts.
 
Ouch! Hope you and your dad have a speedy recovery!
Do you have "books on wheels" programs over there?
If not check you library website look through the catalog and get a friend to take out books for you.
There are always torrents to look up online, its legal here (Canada) and i think it legal over there where you are.
Youtube is a good source of video how to's etc. Of course there is cr*ap there as well.lol.
They also have an academic section now where colleges/universities post instructional videos on a wide range of subjects.
There are also sites with public domain video content like this one
http://www.archive.org/details/feature_films
And of course theres a gazillion threads to read on various forums as well!
lol.
 
Knife, several blocks of wood. Try to carve something useful. Otherwise, make the big blocks of wood into shavings that can be used as tinder. Then, sharpen the knife. Repeat the process....
 
Thanks folks!

Yeah, knots are a good idea. I was never a boy scout so knots are a bit of my education that's missing. I've certainly got enough paracord.

I do have a lot of reading material, thinking about it. I've always had a bit of an OCD about collecting information. Must have a few hundred GB of ebooks that I've never even looked at :rolleyes:

While I can't carve to save my life, maybe I should give it a try. I'm not artistic in the slightest although I did carve a Welsh love spoon for my wife once. I do think that my knives are going to be the sharpest they have ever been though, after a month or so of stropping. Already made a start on that...
 
scarysharp said:
A giant spool of paracord and Ashleys Book of Knots aka A.B.O.K.

That should keep you busy for mmmm......the rest of your life.
A big plus is that you're in England and knotwork seems to be pretty prevelent in those parts.
Click to expand...

:thumbup: I would also recommend this: http://www.amazon.com/Encyclopedia-Knots-Fancy-Rope-Work/dp/0870330217

Take a 3" wide, 1' long log and try to whittle a spoon out of it. :D

Sharpen all of your knives.

Make a knife.

Take other's knives and sharpen them.

Become a gourmet chef.

Upper body workouts.

Eat junk food.

Sleep in/out.

Visit the local library and take out the whole Nora Roberts shelf. Then start on Clint Eastwood movies.

That's all I can think of at the moment, sucks to tear that out. I wish you a speedy recovery. :)
 
ouch... bummer man....:( i hope your recovery goes well...:thumbup: i hate being stuck inside... i've had a few surgeries in the past few years... i also had to find stuff to do...

-draw
-read
-knot work
-simple wood carving
-knife sharpening
-sleep
-catch up on some movies/TV
 
I'd find me a wheelchair and keep working. Sounds like from the work that you do, you can do it sitting down. With the ADA (Americans with disabilities act) I would think getting work shouldn't be a problem. Good luck!
 
Make knives and keep busy in the shop. If you don't have a shop, then mount a vise somewhere comfortable, get a big piece of steel and use a very small file- that will keep you busy for awhile.
 
Since you realized that you need a change from your old job, and you now have an abundance of free time, what about schooling? Tech classes in something that you're interested in, job-specific training, online college classes, etc? It's not so much spending money as investing it in your future, and at least here in the US it's normally pretty easy to acquire funding if you look around.
 
funny story.. when i was about 6 or 7 my mom was running up the stairs to get something for me and my sister before school started and there was a load pop and she fell. she immediatly turned and yelled at me for throwing something at her ankle. I told her i didnt and she realized she couldnt walk on it. turned out to be the same thing. not funny at the time but funny now.
 
Hey foxyrick,

Sorry to hear about you and your dad. I wish you both a speedy recovery.

Now, as far as what to do, this is a perfect time to learn net making. Nets are useful for so many applications besides the obvious. It is also very easy to learn.

CellMate1.jpg


Netquiver2.jpg


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If you're interested, I can fix you up with some information. Email is:

primitive at sympatico dot ca

I hear you about limited funds. The only thing you would have to buy is some dollar store jute. Around here I can get about 350 feet for $1 Canadian.

Learning new knots is also good.

Crocheting? A very, very efficient use of fibres for making sashes, belts, carrying bags, pouches for mini PSK's :

ForPhotobucket1.jpg


And yes, you will continue to be able to pee standing up. :rolleyes:

Arrowmaking is another skill to learn and practise and can be done sitting down.

Set up a data base of edible, poisonous and useful plants of your area. I've been working on one for awhile. There's probably better ways to do it, but I've created folders for the plants which includes a Word document for each plant listing things like other common names, binomials, habitat, description (particularly anything especially unique), legend and lore, edibility or lack thereof, poisonous lookalikes, other technological uses.

There is also a folder with pictures of each plant (mostly acquired from the internet until I have a chance to replace them with my own pictures. These are hyperlinked to the Word documents of each plant.

I have a folder of pictures of edible plants by season. With Windows XP, I can watch slideshows of each to increase my recognition skills. Similarly one for poisonous plants. And another one for plants with technological uses.

All entries are footnoted to a bibliography Word document, so if I need to track down where a particular bit of information came from, I can. All these different things are hyperlinked back and forth to the point where I can get a headache. :(

Well, anyway, you get the idea.

Doc
 
WalterDavis said:
Since you realized that you need a change from your old job, and you now have an abundance of free time, what about schooling? Tech classes in something that you're interested in, job-specific training, online college classes, etc? It's not so much spending money as investing it in your future, and at least here in the US it's normally pretty easy to acquire funding if you look around.
Click to expand...

I've had a few career changes in my life. I've been an analyst/programmer, fitness instructor (qualified advanced instructor), teacher (head of science at a high school for nine years) and more recently a network project engineer designing virtual server infrastructure and networks. I've never been happy or even content in any of them really.

If I could start it all again I would definitely do something outdoors. It might be too late now (I'm 41 already) but I do have an idea to try anyway.
 
Yikes! Sorry to hear about this. I'd find more forums! backpackinglight.com and slinging.com might get you started.

Hope you have a good recovery.
 
Sorry to hear about your situation Rick, man that sucks and just as summer is coming.(Well what we call summer)

Plus one on the knots and spoons. A cottage industry is what you need to pass the three months. WHat about paracord bracelets, lanyards etc, get some spoons made, got fatwood? Baton that stuff down to finger length and bundle it up. What about leather, get some strops made. Then you start selling on the forums. You ain't going to make much but hey it keeps you busy improves some of your skills and the money you make you won't feel guilty about reinvesting it into knives. Get a couple of old files or even some 01 and work out your perfect blade. Then all you need is a clamp or vice and a hacksaw and a file.

Failing all that you could make a list of stuff in the house you don't need/want/use/like and eBay the lot. Helps keep the house tidier and gets a little money in. My mate is doing just that right now and he's into the hundreds of £££ from stuff he was going to just bin.

As for the future I would do like the POW's do. Plan a trip. Every step, every detail. To get it all nailed down will take a while, from location, to time of year, food, equipment etc.

You probably know all this anyway mate so just keep your head up and you'll be fine. Fingers crossed for a speedy recovery mate.

Oh just thought, get a club-bell for a bit of upper body work out (failing that a 4lb hammer with a long shaft) by the time three months is up you'll be able to swing your blades like a beast!
 
As for knot work, check out Stormdrane's blog also.

You and your father are in my prayers for a speedy recovery! :)
 
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