Wednesday 14 October 2009

The return of the crofter’s hotpot


Ectoplasm?


Those portions are getting bigger!


Not again...

30 comments:

  1. ewwwwwwwww, what the hell is that ?


    rhonda ,usa

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  2. I can honestly not even make a suggestion as to what that may be ??????????????????

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  3. Cream of something soup - mushroom, chicken maybe? Those things that look like hash browns look alright! And I'm guessing it's your usual pudding with watery custard. Again.

    Any update on that X-ray? How much longer are you due to stay in for? Fingers crossed you're out soon.

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  4. I had another x-ray today. Yesterday the doctors hammered my pin back into my leg as it had come loose. I was very brave and had it done without an anaesthetic. The x-ray shows it's back in place and looking fine. I'm having an x-ray on my femur next week to see if/when I can go home, so fingers crossed for next Monday.

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  5. I saw this in the Aussie news .... and immediately wondered if this would be the future of Art if run by your NHS??? lol

    http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,26212761-23109,00.html

    *hugs*

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  6. Bigger doesn't always mean better.....

    Poor man....

    I'll be hoping that you can head home ASAP!

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  7. Those veggies look dry and tasteless. Maybe if all three courses were served in the same bowl it would be better !

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  8. Fingers crossed for you TM, I hope with all my heart you can go home soon, you must be desperate to be with your family, and back in your house again.

    Bingo, full house, peas again, just needed one more plate to win, so what is my prize, please don't send me the desert, the postage would be astronomical.

    I have no idea what that dinner is, looks quite gristly to me, is it supposed to be a Scottish delicacy, Stovies, meat, with potato's on the top, baked in the oven, though our Stovies are much nicer than this monstrosity.

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  9. It's our old friend 'crofter's hotpot'.

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  10. That poor sod of a crofter.

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  11. This time's guesses:
    Soup: Cream Of Pale Peas
    Main: Two Wedges Of Fried, Breadcrumbed Cheese Or Fish; Defrosted Vegetables, boiled and drained; Slices Of Potatoes Baked With Minced Meat;
    Dessert: Substance Drowned In Custard.
    Best wishes from Styria. I drove around in snow storm today at lunchtime, but the snow was just drifting by and not accumulating on the surfaces of the landscape yet.
    Barbara

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  12. I am trying to envision the size of the sponge from which they harvest your dessert. I simply can not as I am convinced it is infinite. You might also try the test of putting a button or penny in the sauce. I know come 8 months or 8 years from now the token will turn up in some other poor bloke's hospital food dessert. Perhaps even here in the U.S.

    Paula

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  13. Those crofters must have been a hardy/stoic lot to put up with that muck for tea every night...

    Soup - could it be pea and mint / cream of broccoli?

    All best wishes for next Mon.

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  14. that's not soup!

    it's snot!

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  15. Going home?? Now that will be good... when will you know for definite... really pleased for you... and your stomach. x

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  16. The soup is potato and leek... or should that be leak?

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  17. 1. Cream of putrescent garbage pail
    2. Old squeezed tea bags retrieved from the pig swill, cooked with tea leaves, old fag ends and scrapings from the burnt pot from the crofter's morning porridge. Oh and some toast, and some mouldy peas and carrots.
    3. This had me stumped for a while until I realised it was a slice of crofter's fencing post, dredged with crofter's cream of yellowbean custard.

    So anyway. What are you having for dinner.

    :-)

    I am keeping fingers, toes and eyes crossed that you will be home soon.

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  18. Ouchie. That pin sounds quite painful! Do they treat a bone infection by giving you hardcore IV antibiotics? Would that penetrate into the bone? And how do they tell when the infection's all cleared up?

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  19. No anaesthetic? Ouchie indeed! Maybe you should ask for pethadine as a side dish, it would make those meals easier to look at.

    Whatever is hiding under that custard, don't wake it up.

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  20. Good question, Nathalie. The infection in my bone has now gone. I had six months of Vancomycin and Teicoplanin intravenous antibiotics. You can tell when the infection is gone by measuring something called CRP in the blood. Most people have a CRP level of 5. At my worst time I had a level of 420. Now I am down to just 2. That means no more infection. That doesn't mean to say it won't come back. These evil streptococci can lie dormant in your bones for years and then just reawaken even 40 years later, so you have to keep an eye on things. The antibiotics can't enter the dead bits of bone as there's no blood supply and the bacteria can live without oxygen. Nasty little things. They leave the bone a bit like a biscuit texture or balsa wood. Now I have to wait for callous bone to grow around the break and rebuild the bone. It takes a long time.

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  21. Wowzers, that's strong antibiotics you're on there! I hope the doctors were looking after your kidneys too because they get a bit of a hammering with those drugs. Glad to hear they've done their job! Is there anything you can do to help prevent the infection reoccuring?

    And when you said about the antibiotics not being able to enter the dead bits of bone, how do they get rid of the bugs in those areas? Sorry, I'm a slightly out-of-practice microbiologist who is always intrigued by medicine!

    I feel quite privileged that you've let us all in on this nasty time in your life. I check the blog every day and will feel a little sad, but on the other hand very happy when posts stop appearing!

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  22. Now, I would have been correct with my soup guess. I've had that. I think you must have the same 'caterers' as they have in Scotland TM. Crofters hotpot? What the hell is in that? My granda had a croft and he sure as heck didn't eat anything like that. Oh and I'm from the highlands and our stovies are made from roast beef, potatoes, neep, carrot and onion and look a lot better than that explosion. Glad to hear your CRAP is going down TM. I hope you get out very soon

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  23. Natalie: there is no way the antibiotics can get to the dead bones. You can pack some areas with antibiotic beads but there's no guarantee you can eradicate the bugs. I read of one case where a woman had a recurrence of osteyelitis 80 years after her first attact. It's a lifelong condition. There is one way... Amputation!

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  24. Yikes. That's pretty scary. So, from reading above, your femur was broken as well? But you only have a pin through your tibia or fibula? I assume multiple breaks then - thorough job!

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  25. They're going to keep serving up that pudding (whatever it is) covered in custard (we hope that's what it is) until you finally give in and eat it!

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  26. Dear Traction Man - I've been following your blog for quite a while and feel nothing but sympathy (1) for the food your hospital system serves you,(2) the fact that your wife only gets to visit once a week, and (3) you don't mention friends stopping by from time to time for extra support. I am in the U.S. and married a Southerner and belong to a rather large Baptist church. Now, as a general rule, when you have the combination of Southerner and church, you end up with an ongoing supply of dinner buffet (yes, even at the hospital) and visitors. While there are times that an endless stream of visitors seems a bit much, a sign on the door takes care of it and they are more than happy to leave food at the nurses station for when you need it. [And the food at the hospital we use is actually pretty good, but nothing beats home cooking.] With this support system in place, it is one less thing I have to worry about when I have another spinal fusion in a couple of months. My family will eat every night at the hospital with me, and there will be deliveries of things by my wonderful friends and church family once I'm home but not mobile. Perhaps a local church there can adopt you?

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  27. Hey Traction Man!
    When you get outta there real soon, can you keep your blog going and send us photos of the meals Mrs TM prepares for you so we can compare and if necessary, play Bingo!
    Thanks!
    -Kat in AUS

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  28. TM.... great news that you may be heading home soon... does that mean the end of the blog???

    Jill Belfast

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  29. Kat in AUS
    I'm sure Mrs.TM would be thrilled.Good chance TM would wind up back in hospital with a fry pan lodged somewhere inappropriate on his "person". Mind you,different hospital...new blog.

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  30. I had the same thought as Kat above about continuing to show us the food you get when you go home!

    Your treatment sounds so horribly long and arduous. I'll be thinking of you on Monday. I really do hope you go home soon.

    I have no idea what's in that crofter's hotpot.

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