I am Back

Hi Friends

Well here I am back in the land of the living. Before I give you a resume of what happened and how things are now I want to thank everyone for their kindness not just to me but the family as well the cards letters and prayers have been most humbling , you truly are wonderful people.

Here goes As most will know I was as usual trying to save a few bob by scraping and blackening the boat myself. All was going well the boat was blacked the roof painted and ready for the water. It was then I decided to inspect my handy work by jumping backwards into the dry dock and doing the inspection on my way down. What I did not know is that the inspection would leave me with 10 broken rib, broken left clavicle and a slight hole in my head . The matter was soon resolved with the arrival of the air ambulance who soon had me lashed down and whizzed off to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham

I was immediately put into ICU, I did not respond to any treatment so it was decided to place me in a induced coma and there I stayed for the next 19 days . Whilst in the coma it was thought I may not come out the other side and if I did I would loose speech and mobility But they did not put into the equation the Hodgkinson fighting spirit and the fact that I did my training on the streets of Openshaw Manchester. After the 19 days coma they started to bring me round very slowly here I must apologise to Noreen for giving her a hard time I was not aware of how rude I was. In my defence I was quite poorly when I did come round I was transferred to a normal ward where I was taught how to walk and talk and some manners. That is basically how it went though for the full story you will have to ask Noreen as she was by my side all the way and to who I indeed owe so much.

Right It was decided that the QE could do no more for me the bleed on the brain had stopped and I was mobile with speech therefore I have been transferred up to Burnley into the Rakeshead rehabilitation centre. I still have all the broken bones but I am grateful for all the work that has been put in to get me this far I owe a lot of people a lot of thanks even the two lady ambulance drivers who yesterday drove me through some awful weather from Birmingham to Burnley here at Rakeshead it is hoped next week that they will sort out my broken bones get me physically ready for going back to the boat, hopefully mid Aug . Prior to that the occupational therapy team will have to visit the boat to see that I can at least get on her we see no problems,

This enforced rest period in my life has thrown up a lot of mysterious questions, Whilst coming out of the coma my brain visited some very dark places from my past, places I never wanted to be in the first place and where I do no want to return these have been sitting in the back of my mind for years but now I have faced up to them and find myself able to move on so who knows maybe there is a reason for everything

I hope that this very short résumé has answered any questions Yes at one time it was touch and go and I could see you all searching for you black coats But thanks be to God I have cheated again give me a couple weeks and I will be back in Rufford showing our kid how to catch the big one .

God bless you all again I cannot thank you enough I am not going to start thanking individuals that would be silly but here I am going to give a special thanks to Fettlers Wharf Alan Daniel and Sarah they have been most kind and helpful to Noreen

Noreen has pressed ganged her crew and will start bringing the boat back to Rufford next Monday Noreen has turned out to be a bloody good skipper she now handles the boat as well as I ever did



Being in hospital has not all been doom and gloom being Big Al I have seen the funny side of things .

I was referred to as a head trauma now for the nurses to assess you especial first thing in a morning they will wake you and ask; on the face of it very stupid questions for instance How old are you? where are you? Who is the Queen; That’s fine they are just checking that you have not suffered a stroke in the night. However the crunch came when a doctor with his entourage stood at the end of my bed held up a pencil and asked what is this. My reply was if you don’t know then you should not be drilling holes in my head . Maybe not the smartest answer for he and his team just walked off without discussing my case but hey what do they expect.

Bed Pans and commodes these were invented by the Victorians to humiliate degrade and embarrass patients into submission for further invasive treatment, this policy is still carried out today and there is only one escape and that is mobility for if a patient can walk they no longer need the services of the above torture devices. I have many a tail to tell about such processes but they are not really publishable material.

Food in hospital has always been the scorn of stand up comedians and on reflection they could have had plenty of material with our meals, not just the quality but the way they set menus and group food together. How about lentil crumble and baked beans (remember you are stuck in bed) shepherds pie Baked beans and onion gravy? The concoctions continued in that routine You were able to select you choice the day before however what turned up was a guessing game . It did provide us many a laugh .

As you progressed through treatment and became more independent you were moved from ward to ward always getting closer to that ultimate goal discharge Yet in my case I eventually ended up yes near the exit but it was only a wall separating my ward and my bed from the morgue . After a few days the ward was commonly known as the naughty boys ward as I shared it with three other real characters Lee Head injury Dean mugged in Birmingham and left in the gutter head injury, John brain Tumour we based ourselves on characters from the film The Great Escape if you can remember that far back I became little Jock he went mad tried to scale the fence and was shot ????? Our best stunt was in visiting time we would form a line march up and down the ward with out crutches, walking frames and sticks whistling the Great Escape the nursing staff did not understand our humour and we were escorted back to bed by security .

I still maintain that if you can see the funny side of things you will recover better and quicker. No matter what I say about hospitals and especially QE they managed to humpty dumpty together again and I shall always be eternally grateful God bless all nursing staff and their ability to cope with patients like me