by Jonny | Jun 3, 2012 | Opinion
As you can see from the x-ray image below, I had a small operation on my leg, and the operation occurred on the 23rd of May, on my right ankle.
The operation took place at Changhua Christian Hospital, the surgery was good and it wasn’t too expensive. However, it was just minor surgery; essentially they pulled out the titanium screw in my leg that I had in there for around 4 years after braking my ankle playing football.
They said that it might lessen the pain when I walk, but I got the idea they were just going on a hunch, or it was actually as if they were following procedure as the screw had to come out anyway. So, I’m not sure if I’m fully cured of anymore pain, but what I do know is that when I walk now I do get pains in my ankle, unsurprisingly it is due to the recent surgery which took place. — I just hope there won’t be any more pain after my surgery wounds heal.
I hope I can run, swim, walk, and fly without any issues.
by Jonny | May 24, 2012 | Fitness
If you know me, you’d probably have added me on Facebook and likely would have seen the x-ray scans of my leg/foot/ankle. Ever since I came to Taiwan, I have exercised a lot and I mean a lot. I was on a strict diet and my goal was to lose 16kg. I achieved that goal in 3 months of planning it. I exercised everyday for an hour, doing cardiovascular exercises to lose the weight that I had gained from eating too much in England. I lost the weight I wanted to lose and to be honest I looked good so I was satisfied with what I had achieved.
However, then I started again…
I exercised a lot, similar to how I was exercising before, except I was probably less intense when it came to cardiovascular exercises, I did a lot more press-ups, went boating, swimming and all of that. Just two days ago, I felt significant enough pain in my foot to be concerned about the welfare of my foot as I had damaged that area before; I fractured my leg previously. This pain happened only about two nights ago.
I went to hospital to have my foot looked at after work. I had to miss an hour of work, but my health is more important so I decided to go and get it checked out.
As I was walking into the hospital as my mother had dropped me off by car, and I was feeling the same pains in my foot just walking normally. I felt there must have been something wrong, I could feel it and sense it.
So the doctor looked at my foot and he quietly dismissed any idea of getting an x-ray done. He stated all I had was a common among athletes called Achilles tendon; however I didn’t believe this to be the case. I insisted on an x-ray saying to him that I had not seen a doctor in while about my broken leg. He refused twice saying he could assure me that all I had was Achilles tendon. But, I think he just wanted to go home after a long day at work. I saw him at nearly closing time, even though I missed one hour of work.
I got the x-ray done in the end and this dear doctor informed me that I had early stages of arthritis. I was shocked, speechless and horrified. I wanted to ask, what the next step was.
I felt horrid, dismayed and extremely unhappy. The doctor said there is nothing that he could do. He recommended me to fly back to England or to go to Switzerland as apparently they have a fair few more experienced doctors who specialise on this particular issue of mine. He said something about bone corrective surgery.
I can’t walk without feeling pain, I definitely can’t run and I kind of feel crippled. I have to drag my leg along as it is too painful to step on the ground normally. The pain right now should subside, but I’ll be having an operation in Taiwan to correct some issues which should relieve the pain I’m experiencing.
You can see more of my x-ray pictures at my new photography site:
http://photography.jargoned.com/2012/05/x-rays-i-may-have-arthritis/
by Jonny | Mar 27, 2012 | Travel
I recently came across this beautiful swimming centre, and I’ve now dedicated myself to go this place for at least a day per week!
It is in Taichung and I haven’t actually seen it advertised on the internet yet. However, as the forgetful person I am — I’ve actually forgotten the name of this swimming centre.
It features jacuzzi’s, hot tubs, swimming pools, sauna’s and basically the whole lot. It includes facilities for children, older people and generally works for everyone. They even have a tub which is full of ice water which, perhaps, could be perceived as relaxing — although I’d rather not catch a cold, so I prefer to use the hot tubs.
I’m going again tomorrow, so I’ll take some pictures and take note of the actual name of the facility itself — along with the address. It takes around 20 minutes on foot, from Taichung station and around 10 minutes by bus to get to this place. I would say it is above average in terms of the swimming facilities you can find in Taichung.
Cost
It costs around $200NT per person for one visit. However, I paid $500NT for 5 visits using my student ID card, so ensure you bring that along with you; if you have that. If not, it will cost $200NT –, however there are other pricing options which I’ll ensure to get down when I travel there tomorrow! 🙂
by Jonny | Feb 25, 2012 | Updates
I now have an iPhone 4S as you can see in the pictures I have taken in this post! I’m quite happy, however there is one thing which wants me to change phone and I’ve decided that I’m changing to another phone. The reason:
The battery lasts 8 hours according to Apple, however that’s only if you use it for menial tasks, such as phone calling and sending texts. Although it is indeed a phone that I’m buying, it just isn’t a phone I’m buying, I bought the phone because it’s a smart-phone.
It has many functions such as being able to watch YouTube videos, listening to music, playing games, browsing the internet etc. Today, I used this phone for around 4-5 hours — I wasn’t constantly playing on it and then suddenly to my amazement, perhaps after around 4 hours, the battery ran out.
My girlfriend has a “Samsung <insert model name>” and there is one thing that she can do, that my iPhone cannot. She can replace the battery. i.e. She can charge 2 or as many batteries as she wants to buy and she literally has a phone which can last for the whole week or more if she buys more batteries. You cannot change the battery in an iPhone, as the battery is integrated, which sucks because when you use this thing to watch movies, you’ll soon find out, you are out of electric juice. Where with my girlfriends phone, she can simply replace her battery with another that she charged earlier on and she has no problem whatsoever or any issues with her phone running out, if she listens to music or plays a few games while on the bus, train or anywhere.
I guess that is one design fault which Apple needs to address. They either need to lengthen the battery usage amount or make the battery replaceable.
I have other qualms, however those ‘other’ issues can be solved by jail-breaking the phone, which voids warranty, it depends which way you want to go with your iPhone 4S to make it more usable by jail-breaking it.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s a lovely phone, the interface is nice & smooth and I’d really love the software in a Samsung or HTC phone, as it appears more versatile, considering you can add memory and change the battery; amongst other things.
However the one thing that, perhaps, most smart-phone makers need to address is the battery time. Although it seems it is improving, I think there is still more work to be done on improving the life of the batteries. We should really be at the age where batteries should last on general usage; 24 hours.
Oh and this is the first smart-phone I’ve owned. Apologies if there are any ignorant remarks.
by Jonny | Oct 24, 2011 | Updates
I'm now working at on muscles. I do at least 80 lifts (dead-lifts) and a few other free weights just to build up on my arms and abdomen.
I can definitely see my arms getting bigger and I got a comment not so long ago with people saying my arms are looking much bigger. I guess physically I am not doing too bad. In a weird way I really enjoy exercising, it releases stress and it is just another goal in life that you need to commit to in order to succeed and to see improvements. (Kind of the same with Chinese although that does indeed require more mental thought)
I've been chugging a long with my friends saying that I'd be taking up swimming soon enough, however I haven't found time yet. :/ My body is ready for swimming, but is my mind? 😛 I guess it is as I hear swimming is very relaxing, plus I really need to tan the rest of my body so it is in proportion with my face and arms. XD
Although I have slowed down by not going to the gym anymore and I am only using my cousins home gym equipment (Which is enough), I am not running so much. However next year starting January, I'll start running everyday to prepare for my military service in Taiwan. For now I am just going to focus on weight building as in the past I have focused too much on running and general cardiovascular fitness. In the end I think that ate away at a little of my muscles.
Although I stll have quite a lot of muscle in my opinion, I could still do a lot better. So from now on my focus in fitness is just purely building up muscle, while still retaining the staminar to run. (Retaining that through playing sports such as football every Wednesday!)