It hasn't been the easiest of weeks.

As I alluded to in my last post, Stevan hurt his thumb a couple of weeks ago.  He was attempting to fix and start our back up petrol generator which we use when the wind and sun fail us and the batteries are low on power.  The starter cable for the generator kicked back and hit his thumb.   This happened not once, but twice!  He thought he had just cut it badly and that it would be swollen for a wee while but would then heal.  He thought he may lose a nail, but that would be the worst of it over.

It was not to be!

We went to Raigmore hospital in Inverness on Tuesday to get it x-rayed.  To say the consultant was surprised when she saw the x-ray was a bit of an understatement.  I wish I had a copy of the x-ray to show you, but suffice it to say that Stevan did a really good job of breaking it.  He didn't just fracture it, he broke the proximal phalanx bone in two and the two parts were sitting at nearly 90 degrees to each other.  The staff were astounded that he was not in more pain, and I was feeling increasingly guilty about the fact that he'd driven all the way to Woolfest and all the way home again with a broken thumb, to say nothing of him lugging heavy bags of yarn around while we were setting up and dismantling the stand.

They decided to operate the next day, as they wanted to operate as quickly as possible because the muscle around the bone had already started to heal, so we headed home again for a few hours rest only to be on the road at 5.30am the next morning to get him to the hospital in time for his operation which was scheduled for the morning.  However due to emergency cases coming in overnight he didn't get operated on until Thursday morning.  He is home again now and while he is extremely sore and still suffering a few after effects from the anaesthetic, we are just extremely grateful for the excellent NHS service we receive here in the Highlands.   And we are also grateful to our good neighbours, Scottie and Mary, who kindly walked the dogs for us and fed them when we were away all day in Inverness.

With this huge bandage Stevan will be forced to take things easy for the next 4 or so weeks until both the wires in his thumb have been removed and the bandage is taken off:

RC-154146-06072013

Oh, and we're looking for a new generator - one with a push button start.  If you have any recommendations ......