Next Tuesday the 16th of February I’ll have a date with the surgeon.

Let’s see what he says regarding my healing process. In the meantime I’m trying to stay fit as best as possible. I use these weights to stay fit and strong (you’ll never guess where they are from).

Just after the operation I wasn’t able to move my foot at all. Now a week later I find it’s improving drastically.

The swelling in my foot is going down. What I’m getting back though are wonderful colours.

I spoke to some colleagues at work and they are able to provide me with some work. It will be nice to forget my leg and not just be sitting around all day doing nothing.

I removed the pressure bandage today. The pinkish/purple stuff by the way was the disinfectant.
The inside of my ankle looks terrible.

This is going to take huge amount of time to rehabilitate. So much soft tissue damage makes an ankle very unstable and hard to regenerate.
The other bad thing is the outside of my ankle.

This is no man scar. I want a proper scar to show people afterwards what kind of an ordeal I went through. When the surgeon is going to take out the screws I’m going to ask him to make it bigger.

Friday night 4.00am I step out of a bar with Merijn to go back home. It had been snowing so with the bike in my hand I try to do a slide. Due to the long run, the late hour and a certain amount of alcohol the slide ends on face down on the street. While getting up I immediately felt something was wrong, but against better judgement I cycled back to Merijn’s house. After arriving and having sat down I noticed the swelling was huge and the pain more than an average sprain would cause. A cab took us to the hospital, X-ray’s were taken and soon a diagnosis was made. I had a maison neuve fracture.

In my case the fibula (kuitbeen) was broken (red circle) and the syndemosis had been compromised.

I had to come back next morning to be admitted. The surgeon had to test my ankle after giving me a spinal block. If the ankle was stabile they would give me a cast, if it was unstable two screws would be inserted to stabilise the joint.

The joint was unstable so now I’m walking around with two screws. Unfortunately I can’t weight bear, because the screws will snap if I do so. After approximately 6 weeks the screws will be taken out again and the rehabilitation starts. For now I’ll be at my parent’s place being pampered.

Back in Papua New Guinea I trained with some friends in a kickboxing club. We had an intense training regime. When I started training 10 hours a week I started getting visual disturbances an hour or so after the training. The disturbances would go away, followed by an intense headache. After a painkiller and a night sleep it would go away.
On Tuesdays I train with some colleagues. I’m now on half an hour cardiovascular training and an hour kettlebell training. Two weeks ago I had the same headache again. Luckily we have a physiotherapist specialised in working with diabetes patients at Physique. She has glucose meter I can use.

So now I’m going to see whether or not my blood sugar levels are within the proper limits.

The municipality of Arnhem has decided to vaccinate people against the Mexican flu next week Wednesday the 25th of November. Part of the population of Arnhem (11.000 people) is going to get their shot at a sporting complex called “Valkenhuizen”. This terrain is going to be closed off by the police. Medical personnel and people to be vaccinated are allowed in.

Guess where my company (Physique) is located? Guess who wasn’t told until today? Guess who has a day off next week Wednesday? Guess what company is going to file a claim at the municipality for lost income? And last but not least; in the Netherlands you get two shots to make really sure you’re going to be ok. Guess what’s going to happen on the 16th of December?

I have donated blood ever since I started living in Nijmegen. In 2003 I stopped doing blood donations and started doing plasmapheresis. Yesterday I had my first donation since I came back from PNG. It took 50 minutes to fill 650ml of the yellowy stuff.

It’s like I am back in PNG. My body entire body looks like I’ve been fighting with several cats.

Yeah I know, it’s probably telling me I have to slow down a little. I’m taking steps as we speak. I’ve eased down on my third course. Let’s see what the doc says Thursday morning. Probably best to kick out the two new plants I bought.

I saw Miko (Dutch) write about it, just before I wanted to put in a say.
Trying to balance between physical and mental fitness versus intoxicants and snacks on this scale called your body is no easy task. Our bodies are very old and haven’t evolved very much. You can see this nowadays in unhealthy stress situations. Stress used to be functional; you either fought the threat or you ran away from it. Now stress gives you tensed shoulders and a headache, because the hormonal reactions to stress aren’t mitigated by physical exertion. The same goes for our craving, well my craving anyway, to eat more than I need or to imbibe unhealthy foods.
The western world seems to have seen the danger of it’s obese offspring and is trying to do something about it. What I saw in Papua New Guinea was the same actually. Most people worked the land, had little to no financial means and looked healthy and alive. A natural balance, which was easily upset. The moment a man became a bigman he and his family would turn fat.

And me? I’m glutenous, I don’t stop until I’ve reached the bottom of whatever I’m eating or drinking. Luckily on average I sport five hours a week (acrobatics and jogging). I’m indoor too much and I travel by car a lot. Due to a busy schedule I don’t always cook. I eat four fruits every day. In general I feel I’m doing ok although with a little more restraint I’d be a leaner and more alert person for it.