Doodles

tick tock...

it's strange, i scratched my ear just now and heard the ticking of my new watch and it clicked with me, that noise reminded me of something...

Gran always had a wind up bed side clock in her bedroom, with a very audible tick.. for one short moment as I held my watch by my ear I was there, in her bedroom, surrounded by the smell of Ellenet hairspray, talc and lavender..  and man it hurts...

I didn't buy the watch I set out to buy, it's not an automatic, it's not a dress watch, it in no way replicates the 64 Seamaster deville.. but by god that sound reminds me of Gran.. more so than old chocolate, re-frozen vienneta, cheeselets or advocaat..

I know now that I made exactly the right decision to buy the watch I did..

Chilling with the boy

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Location:Ellsdon Rise,,United Kingdom

Going shopping...

The brood...


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No More

No More Sunrises

No more sun sets

no more rainbows

no more laughter

no more smiles

 

no more taxes

no more wars

no more pain

no more anger

no more fear

 

no more…

The victor progresses

Progress by WRE is rapid, this machine is looking SO good right now.. - Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Doodlebug : Retrospective

So, I'm sat in the office and really should be working, but I can't stop thinking about my daughter..

Daisy was born 15 months ago with an undiagnosed case of Spina Bifida, Hydrocephalus and a type II Arnold Chiari malformation, in my head I can still play back every second of the day she was born, still feel every emotion I felt that day, the joy, the fear, the sorrow, the anger.. All of those emotions can come rushing back so powerfully that I can't even think..

Hearing "she's alive, but she's not perfect" are not the words you expect to hear in a labour theatre..

So, whilst still reeling from that shock, the head of paediatrics at Worcester Royal Infirmary sat down with Em and I, well, half of Em, she was under the influence of some rather marvellous narcotics at the time, and said "So, you know about the Spina Bifida"

:blank face:

"Oh, right, ok, your baby has Spina Bifida, it's quite serious, it's unlikely that her bowels or bladder will work properly, her legs won't work and it's likely that she'll have intelligence problems"

:blank face:

"So, I'll leave you to it, someone will speak to you about how we'll be moving forwards"

:blank face:

You could have smashed me in the face with a lump hammer and I doubt I would have noticed..

The following 28 hours were a bizarre mixture of yet more emotions and unfortunate phrases, I never want to hear someone say "right, you can kiss her goodbye now" again as long as I live..

I could carry on with the blow-by-blow account of those 28 hours, but I fear it will rake up the embers rather than serve as the catharsis I intended this to be..  What I can do is say that 15 months down the line Daisy is a gorgeous, gregarious, happy, friendly, smiley, funny, intelligent girl, who, with the help of some Piedros, is standing very well and covering distances in the house behind her walker.. I fear it won't be long until she is walking, then all hell will break loose no doubt! She's learning words, going off to find things when we ask her to, has an unhealthy love of cbeebies (although, to be fair, I do like Zing Zillas and Chuggington!) and loved by everyone she comes into contact with..

I can only hope (and pray I guess) that she continues doing as well as she's done so far, proving people wrong is one of my favourite activities, it would seem that it's one of Doodles' favourites too...

Sorry to go on, I just had to get that out of my head...

Ludicrous Hardware

The biggest Pro-Charger I’ve ever seen…

MIA

Apologies, been rather busy of late, what with Christmas, Flu, New Year and all of that..

 

Good news so far from Dot’s hospital appointments so far, milestones are being hit nicely and she’s now taken to crawling forwards..

 

Oh, and the Victor is progressing nicely…

murdered out...

murdered out...

PixelPipe testing

Even More Epic-ness (with added sanity)

Scoop toned down a touch, visibility is a requirement!

(I’m going to have to change tack with the titles here, aren’t I!)

More Epic-ness...

 

This is going to be epic

That’ll be the beginnings of Red Victor 3

Crazy Hair Day @ Nursery

Morning doodles…

AM offer DB9 as Stud

Porsche offer 911 as Mare, 928 is born…

 

Based on a short wheelbase version of the Panamera platform, it will also share the engine options, so expect to see a 4.8l V8 (with or without forced induction) up front.  Don’t be surprised to see the hybrid option of a 3.0l Supercharged V6 teamed with a 38kW electric motor, promising economy of in excess of 30Mpg..

 

Expected to cost somewhere between £65k & £90k.. It has some pretty stiff opposition, so it should be interesting to see how well it fares when it goes on sale in 2012

Twingo with LSD...

And no, I don’t mean Limited Slip Diff!!  Awesome stuff…

 

More here -> http://www.pistonheads.com/news/default.asp?storyId=20874

 

The Catharsis Post..

OK, so admittedly it’s a little early in the year to be doing a retrospective, but it’s been a rather crazy year, I’m going to do it anyway… Partially as catharsis, partially in case anyone is bored enough to read it and to an extent because I just want to write this down..

The year started differently to previous years, My Wife was pregnant, my parents weren’t in the country, and I was rapidly approaching 30…  So I felt a little strange as we entered the new year..  It’s peculiar for a nigh-on 30 year old guy to miss his folks, but it was the first time we’d been separate for a Christmas, and I guess you only realise how much you’d miss something when it isn’t actually there…   Having that on my mind, and wife 6 months gone made my head spin a touch, but with a little Christmas “spirit” things were overcome..

As the year progressed, all was simple, the baby was due early April, a busy season of drag racing was planned and the 30th birthday would be glossed over as a non-event..

Fast Forwarding through the year to late March, the 27th to be precise, our world was turned upside down.  At about 0130 I was woken by my Wife who was suffering the beginnings of labour, by 0400 a bath had been had, drinks made and bags checked .. We popped out for a walk (joined by the cats) at 0445 ish.. Strangely enough, we didn’t walk very far, with contractions coming every 5-10 paces it was obvious that things were imminent, a couple of calls to the hospital and we were shortly on our way. 

Pushing the buzzer for admission at exactly 0600.

A couple of midwives, nurses and an Obs/Gyn Registrar later, it became worryingly apparent that the impending addition to the Perry family wasn't exactly sat where she should be and that a "C-section" was required.. We suspect it was at this point that something slightly more worrying was spotted. So, with the decision made at 0800 we were off to theatre.. Well, I say we, I was running out to the car park to get the bags and make frantic phone calls..

Back from the car park and changed into my rather fetching blue scrubs, I find myself sat on a chair next to the theatre bed whilst Wife is receiving her Spinal Block (I think they turned it up to 11).. All of a sudden, there appeared to be far more people in the theatre than I thought was necessary for a simple C-section (because I've obviously been in this situation many times before and am wholly aware of the work force and resource management required for labour wards?!?!).. but anyway, we were joined by a lovely anaesthetist (Tim) who talked us gently through everything that was happening... Tom, one of the surgeons, then popped in and things became confusing..Tim, Tom, Tim, Tom... erm... anyway, many other people joined in, including someone who's name I cannot recall who introduced herself as "a baby doctor, but I probably don't need to be here"..

Much surgical stuff later (well, what felt like much later, but in real time was a matter of minutes) Daisy Dorothy May Perry was born, 08:47 27/03/09. 6lb 11oz ..

It was then that I heard possibly the most chilling words I think I have ever heard in my life. 

She's alive, but she's not perfect.

It rocked my world..

Unfortunately, at this point, no-one knew exactly what the problem was (or at least they didn't inform us) so a bit of flapping ensued in the theatre.  A paediatric registrar arrived, had a quick nose, applied a dressing of some description, swaddled Daisy and advised that we could hold her for a little while..

Cue this terrible photo... (RIM, sort out the cameras on BlackBerry devices!)

Daisy was then rushed down to NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit) and hooked up to a number of monitors..

I was lost..
Trying to sort family out, keep them informed of what was going on when I actually didn’t know, trying to make sure Wife was OK, trying to work out if I was ok, smoking, shaking, crying..

A short while after Daisy was moved to NICU, we were joined in the recovery room by the head of Paediatric services, Wife had the benefit of copious amounts of post-op intra-muscular morphine. I had the clarity provided only by sheer adrenalin, nicotine and coffee.

I’ll never forget the words.. “OK, so you know about the Spina Bifida” … The WHAT??? We knew nothing…

“Your daughter has Spina Bifida, it is likely that her bowels and bladder will not work properly, it is very unlikely that she will walk and she will probably have intelligence problems.. “

Well, and you’ll have to excuse my language, thanks for dropping that fucking bomb shell..

At this point, I had no idea what the hell Spina Bifida was, let alone what impact it could have..

So as the day progressed it became apparent that Daisy would need an operation on her spine and would be moved from Worcester to Birmingham Children’s Hospital that day..

By 2000 I was in the car, mother in tow, heading up to Birmingham, red bull and nicotine coming out of my ears..

A swift meeting with a Neurological registrar to discuss what was to happen in the morning, and a kiss goodnight for Daisy..

It was only on the way home that what I’d been told during that day sunk in.. My Daughter has been born with Spina Bifida, in the form of a Myelomeningocele, meaning that spinal cord tissue was in a sack, outside her body, and that sack had burst..  The surgery the following morning was to put her spinal cord, back inside her spine and came with it’s own fair share of risks.. The potential for additional damage to be created by carrying out, what is intended to be, a repair, is quite scary, but what other option do you have…

Surgery the following morning went well and Daisy began showing her true character, only a few very small doses of pain killers were required to help her cope..

Further tests in the week that followed the procedure revealed that Daisy also has Hydrocephalus and a Type II Chiari malformation. At the time of hearing this, they made as much sense to me as they probably make to you now..  I’d explain it, but Google would do a better job..

Daisy came on in leaps and bounds that week, getting discharged quicker than any other baby that had been through that ward with the same condition.. A heartening thought..

Fast-forwarding from there, we hit May, my birthday, quick, let’s get it out of the way.. and Daisy back into hospital, but panic not, it was an Ecoli based UTI, serious, yes, but serious we can deal with..

Unfortunately, whilst Daisy was in hospital for the UTI, the Wife’s grandfather was in the hospital too, and during that stay he passed away.. A strange spectrum of life, from one end of the hospital to the other, from one end of life to the other…

I was there when he passed and felt strangely calm..

So, it’s now quarter to November and the year is nearly done..  You’ll notice by the lack of any crisis between May and the back end of October, that things are going very well.. Although Daisy has recently nearly wiped out the entire family having dragged a bug home from Nursery.. Her condition appears to be having no adverse affect on her development, she is doing everything she should when she should, if not before..

So there you have it, I’m older, not much wiser, probably a bit uglier.. but we’re doing bloody well …

Oh, and the drag racing? Yeah, we blew it up.. bugger… Oh well, we’re building a bigger and faster machine now… I’ll keep you posted on that one..

Here’s Dot..

Oh My.. Lotus I do like you...

This… is the Exige Scura..  Fantasyland material for The Matt Black Fetishists Club (of which I’m a fully paid up member!)

More info and pictures here -> http://www.pistonheads.com/lotus/default.asp?storyId=20840

 

THIS is a turbo

Note the normal size coffee cup in the background..

This is one of a pair that’ll be powering a new project I’m involved in…

I think it’s safe to say it might have 1 or 2 HP!