I'm back

[Mort rotu]

Hello Gents

I'm back, I've spent the best part of the last 9 months (since mid August 2012) in the NHS's custody after somebody tried to kill me:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-19603564
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-19609938

the unnamed 25yo Chemist Post graduate in those 2 articles is me. The severe Tl poisoning resulted in a massive amount of nerve damage and accompanying muscle loss, this means I currently can't stand, let alone walk or play.

other than that I'm good, still near as dammit impossible to kill. Now what have I missed?

[the pom]

bloody hell

hope you recover do they know how you were posioned?

[Mort rotu]

They have their suspicions but I'm probably not supposed to say. It was deliberate though, definitely not an accident.

I survived a 57x lethal dose (based the LD50 for TlSO4 (I think might have been TlCO3) and on what was measured in my blood, I can explain if you really want) for most humans, giving me a 1 in 16 billion billion (not a typo, 1.6x10^19 ) chance of survival, and then a 10x lethal dose of arsenic ontop. Somebody must be kicking themselves that I'm still alive.

[davidmcculloch81]

But have you ever had a Balti King?

[CoyoteLJW]

This is crazy. I wish you all the best. In my experience, if you survive these extreme exposures to chemicals you are more than likely to come out of it with super powers, so you know silver lining and all that.

[Mort rotu]

hate to say it but Wolverine wouldn't have survived this. The Tl, amongst a whole host of other things, basically shuts down/disables the machinery your body uses to fix cells. Sans regeneration ability Wolverine stands no better chance of surviving this than I did, so probability lands with me.

I'm still waiting for the super powers tho...

I have not had a Balti king, however if you're buying

[admin]

Hello Gents

I'm back, I've spent the best part of the last 9 months (since mid August 2012) in the NHS's custody after somebody tried to kill me:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-19603564
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-19609938

the unnamed 25yo Chemist Post graduate in those 2 articles is me. The severe Tl poisoning resulted in a massive amount of nerve damage and accompanying muscle loss, this means I currently can't stand, let alone walk or play.

other than that I'm good, still near as dammit impossible to kill. Now what have I missed?

Wowzers! Welcome back and hope you have a speedy recovery - the fact you are back here online and alive suggests to me you can defeat this but all hopes are with you! We should run a news article on you on here if you fancy it? Picture of you playing and you can write the detail?


Hope the catch the bad guy and give him the same dose!

All the best.

[Mr.Stanford]

Blimey, all the best... put's the odd slash into perspective...

[ibop]

Pretty terrifying stuff, all the best of wishes to you

[Mort rotu]

Wowzers! Welcome back and hope you have a speedy recovery - the fact you are back here online and alive suggests to me you can defeat this but all hopes are with you! We should run a news article on you on here if you fancy it? Picture of you playing and you can write the detail?


Hope the catch the bad guy and give him the same dose!

All the best.

There isn't going to be anything any speedier than it's going I'm afraid, I've already got a damn sight further than anybody (well, any doctor) was willing to say I would tho and have no intention of stopping now. first they said I wouldn't live, then not be able to sit up without assistance, then not be able to use a manual chair...(he types, alive, sat upright in a manual chair...Dr's pffff) Next stop standing unassisted-vile, with an onwards journey to walking-on-sea, gym and swimming pool, with the final call at lax pitch, eta...as soon as possible

I doubt it's a bad 'guy' as well, poison is typically a woman's weapon. Or a weapon of those who feel physically inferior to their target... actually nvm, I suppose a 6'5, 225lb bloke is pretty intimidating to anybody.

I'd be up for the news article once I can walk again, might take a few more months tho, start of next season?

It certainly does put the odd slash into perspective Mr Stanford, esp because it was only major nerves, like the sciatic nerve it affected (big one between spine and foot) so all the sensory nerves at the end (mainly in my feet) are still there and misfire every night, leading to a sensation similar to what being hit with a red hot hammer coated in needles feels like. Once that goes I'll never complain about a slash ever again (except to get my ball back ).

Ibop, terrifying doesn't quite cover it. Because I don't know exactly who did it, I don't know who to trust that I knew before, making me incredibly paranoid and at times a bit ...difficult to be around. I'm not sure whether not knowing who or why is the worst bit. I genuinely don't know what I did to piss somebody off enough to do this. At least one of you guys would have had the common decency to hit me (and expect to get hit back if you didn't floor me).

Thank you one and all, I'll be back before too long, maybe sat on a sideline CBO'ing to start with but I'll be back.

Things I've learnt in the NHS: If you are 6' 2"+ don't require a long hospital stay; there isn't enough food, the beds ain't long enough and none of the physios (no matter how pretty they are) are tall or strong enough to really do anything for you. Also try an avoid ending up on a stretcher in an ambulance, your feet will over hang the end by alot, even in the ones for 'big' (read as 'wide') people. With respect to Dr's, if you appear outside of their textbook list of cases they'll have at best no idea what to do (sorry Raj). Finally if you don't ask for something, you won't get it (more food, more physio, less meds, going 'home'...).

Now, what have I missed this season? who's won what up north, down south etc Flags, BNC's? the meds I take for the pain make concentrating (including sifting thru stuff) and short term memory stuff really difficult or I wouldn't ask.

[Pete_Brum]

wow, im a chemist at birmingham about to start a phd, was any thallium compound even in your lab?? I cant think of any use for it other than poison. Scary stuff!

North east beat North west in the BNCs final 13-4 or something
Stockport won northern flags against cheadle in a close match (8-6) i think
spencer won southern flags 13-7 against reading, spencer also win the south prem
Bristol bombers beat spencer 2s in the intermediate flags 9-8 which sounded a siiick game
Oxford uni beat northampton in the minor flags 10-6 i think

Durham won the mens BUCs champs
Leeds met won the trophy and also won the promotion play off to be promoted to north prem, its unclear whether hallam or manchester are coming down
I think bath uni beat reading uni in the south promotion play off, Warwick uni being relegated

[Mort rotu]

wow, im a chemist at birmingham about to start a phd, was any thallium compound even in your lab?? I cant think of any use for it other than poison. Scary stuff!

North east beat North west in the BNCs final 13-4 or something
Stockport won northern flags against cheadle in a close match (8-6) i think
spencer won southern flags 13-7 against reading, spencer also win the south prem
Bristol bombers beat spencer 2s in the intermediate flags 9-8 which sounded a siiick game
Oxford uni beat northampton in the minor flags 10-6 i think

Durham won the mens BUCs champs
Leeds met won the trophy and also won the promotion play off to be promoted to north prem, its unclear whether hallam or manchester are coming down
I think bath uni beat reading uni in the south promotion play off, Warwick uni being relegated

Thank you kindly any idea who won East 1,2 & 3 and West 1 & 2?

There was no Tl in my lab (I'd done inventory the week before I was hospitalised, lots of 'sets on fire in dry air' pyrophorics and some mercury but no Tl or As) but it was in the other 3 on my floor (and apparently nowhere else in Hampshire as a 'neat' and characterised sample ), It grows some nice crystals apparently, useful for calibrating crystallography suites (the hardware and software, big atoms have big clouds of electrons for scattering the xrays, look for Simon Coles or possibly Mike Hursthouse?) and it was used to make high Tc superconductors and AlPO inspired porous structures in one of the labs (Mark Weller). They also used to use it to make co-ordination compounds with soft donors (As,Sb that region of the table) for use making thin films via CVD (probably) in the other (William Levason/Gillian Reid).

All the work (except the Xray calibration crystals) was >10 years old AFAIK.

The only places with a reason to have it are research sites (Basically Universities or places like the Diamond light source in oxfordshire) as its against EC laws to have it in consumer products (because its so toxic probably, only needs 50 nmol to kill you (well, a normal person anyway )). It has in the past been used for rat poison (banned in the 60's in the UK I think? but still used in some -istan countries) and as a radioactive label for studying nerves by X-ray/PET (again I think, not really my area of expertise).
I think you should have understood all of that, if I lost you with the acronyms I apologise, I can expand on them if needed. I haven't dared harass the research tools at the uni to see what else I can find out about Tl poisoning yet, I'm kinda scared of what I may find (long term health risks for example).

[silasvb]

Bristol Bombers won W1
Swansea won W2

Spencer 2s won E1

Not sure about E2 and E3

[webby]

I doubt it's a bad 'guy' as well, poison is typically a woman's weapon. Or a weapon of those who feel physically inferior
Things I've learnt in the NHS: If you are 6' 2"+ don't require a long hospital stay; there isn't enough food, the beds ain't long enough and none of the physios (no matter how pretty they are) are tall or strong enough to really do anything for you. Also try an avoid ending up on a stretcher in an ambulance, your feet will over hang the end by alot, even in the ones for 'big' (read as 'wide') people. With respect to Dr's, if you appear outside of their textbook list of cases they'll have at best no idea what to do (sorry Raj). Finally if you don't ask for something, you won't get it (more food, more physio, less meds, going 'home'...).

Now, what have I missed this season? who's won what up north, down south etc Flags, BNC's? the meds I take for the pain make concentrating (including sifting thru stuff) and short term memory stuff really difficult or I wouldn't ask.

Holy crap that's an impressive story.

On a side note, never trust physios, I hear they're evil people.

[Mort rotu]

Holy crap that's an impressive story.

On a side note, never trust physios, I hear they're evil people.

Thank you kindly, I wish it was only a story, impressive or otherwise.

Some physios are alright, there are some very pretty ones in Cardiff . None of them have seemed to have figured out yet that I'm willing to put in 110% either and that if I say stop, I mean it. my major problem with physio's is I need a benchmark, something that I can try at to measure my performance (How much further I need to be able to go to get that rusty gate check down for example, how much more twist or where my feet need to be....), It shouldn't have taken me 3 months to convince a physio to let me try something I knew I wouldn't be able to do first time (in this case standing up without knee blocks or kneeling with my thighs and torso straight). They can indeed be very evil though, they do like torturing people

Thank you silasvb any ideas on E2 & 3 anybody?

[webby]

Holy crap that's an impressive story.

On a side note, never trust physios, I hear they're evil people.

Thank you kindly, I wish it was only a story, impressive or otherwise.

Some physios are alright, there are some very pretty ones in Cardiff . None of them have seemed to have figured out yet that I'm willing to put in 110% either and that if I say stop, I mean it. my major problem with physio's is I need a benchmark, something that I can try at to measure my performance (How much further I need to be able to go to get that rusty gate check down for example, how much more twist or where my feet need to be....), It shouldn't have taken me 3 months to convince a physio to let me try something I knew I wouldn't be able to do first time (in this case standing up without knee blocks or kneeling with my thighs and torso straight). They can indeed be very evil though, they do like torturing people

Thank you silasvb any ideas on E2 & 3 anybody?

Sorry that was totally lost on you and probably 99% of the forum. I am a physio! And they should be giving you aims and targets! Sounds like you're pushing the boundaries of what people thought you'd be able to do so don't let anyone get in your way.

[Mort rotu]

Holy crap that's an impressive story.

On a side note, never trust physios, I hear they're evil people.

Thank you kindly, I wish it was only a story, impressive or otherwise.

Some physios are alright, there are some very pretty ones in Cardiff . None of them have seemed to have figured out yet that I'm willing to put in 110% either and that if I say stop, I mean it. my major problem with physio's is I need a benchmark, something that I can try at to measure my performance (How much further I need to be able to go to get that rusty gate check down for example, how much more twist or where my feet need to be....), It shouldn't have taken me 3 months to convince a physio to let me try something I knew I wouldn't be able to do first time (in this case standing up without knee blocks or kneeling with my thighs and torso straight). They can indeed be very evil though, they do like torturing people

Thank you silasvb any ideas on E2 & 3 anybody?

Sorry that was totally lost on you and probably 99% of the forum. I am a physio! And they should be giving you aims and targets! Sounds like you're pushing the boundaries of what people thought you'd be able to do so don't let anyone get in your way.

I knew you helped me with a busted wrist at bluesfest a few years back (compression strain from bodying somebody). They should have been giving me more specific goals and then helping me try and achieve them, hence the need for a benchmark activity (atm standing and staying stood, bit tricky without being able to feel the soles of your feet), let me try and stand, when/if I can't, work out why by prodding and poking various muscles and tell me what needs to be stronger so I can, rather than going 'I didn't expect you to anyway, nvm' and condemning me to this chair for the rest of my life . Half the problem is I've advanced so far beyond what anybody expected that they're confused. A long time before I was discharged it felt like they'd basically given up, I spent a month asking to be shown how to get back into my chair if I fell out and they didn't even want to try (so I tried it myself anyway, lowered myself onto the floor and did a huge tricep dip up onto my chair, it gets easier everytime I do it, doesn't look pretty and can cause me to loose my trousers but so what, I'm not stuck on the floor till somebody can get a standing hoist/forklift).

At least I've found a physio now (in the out-patient rehab team attached to the ward) who just says 'ok lets try' or 'let me have a think what to do and we will try it next time', I can work with that kind of attitude I think the difference is he went away and did some homework about Tl poisoning before he saw me, saw how little info there is on rehabilitating people in my position (they usually die or end up with permanent brain damage and paralysis...) and decided 'lets see how far we can get this guy, he's determined and stubborn enough so screw it'.

I haven't let anybody (Dr's, physios, OTs...the list is very long...) get in the way so far, and have no intention of starting now. I want to get back to playing, even if it means having my feet amputated and adaptive prosthetics fitted, Deus Ex human revolution style.

I'll be back. The only person who can stop me is myself and I ain't done yet.