March 2014 Update and Good News

In my last blog I was worried about my leg and also grumbled about how little I had to say in covering walking the dog, shopping, cycling and giving talks at my computer club.  This time I will update the news on my leg and reproduce the talk I gave to my computer club which ties in dog walking, shopping and cycling.

First the leg.  I saw the surgeon who fitted the tibia nail in my left leg in 2003  which appeared to be the cause of the inflammation and pain in the leg. He reviewed the X-rays and nuclear medicine scans and manipulated my leg.  His opinion was quite a surprise.  The pain was muscular not orthopaedic.  In his opinion when I broke my ankle last year I also damaged the calf muscle. This had caused quite marked wastage of the lesf leg.  My understanding of what he said is that as I have been more active the muscle has been regenerating and attaching itself to the tibia causing the inflammation.  Surgery is not required and things should stabilise.  He advised me to keep riding my bicycle as that was good physiotherapy.  This is great news!

Another worry I have had concerns my eyes.  During my annual eye examination last July my optometrist had concerns about the optic nerves and referred me to an ophthalmic surgeon for an opinion.  After lots of tests he advised that there were several anomalies  which required watching.  The optic nerves indicated possible glaucoma, I had the beginnings of cataracts and a condition called Epiretinal  Membrane on the Macula which could require surgery.  He advised that he would review the situation in six months.

The six months were up last week and his report was great.  There is no indication of glaucoma and the optic nerves had not changed, the cataracts would not be a problem for several years an the Epiretinal Membrane was not causing and major effect to my vision.  I should return next year for a further review but he was confident that my driving license would be OK for at least another couple of years.  If he had any concerns about that he is obliged to notify the licensing authority and I would have to surrender my license.  Yet more good news.

Now for the boring bit.  Last year some of my cycling club members began following their rides on an application called Strava which runs on Android devices, Ipads and Iphones.  It uses the inbuilt GPS systems in them to track a person's walking and cycling activities.  These can then be uploaded to the web for all to see on any web browser.

This looked like an ideal subject for a computer talk so downloaded the App (Ugh I hate the abbreviation) to my Android Phone, Tablet and laptop computer.

On January One I fired up the App on my phone and took Louis for his morning walk.  I saved the result to the web which is displayed below:

The walk looks too small in this picture but it made be viewed on the web site at:

http://www.strava.com/activities/103060193

Here you can change the Terrain Map to Satellite Map and zoom in closer and get:

You can zoom in close enough to use Street View to look at my house and can even identify Louis favourite trees which accounts for the erratic course.

Next I took my phone shopping to get:

 

This can be viewed and explored at:


http://www.strava.com/activities/103108320

Finally this is one of my cycling club rides down the coast:

 Ths may be viewed and explored at:

http://www.strava.com/activities/107058023

Thus I have covered  walking the dog, shopping, cycling and giving talks at my computer club in this blog entry.

Now that I can drive without restrictions and ride my bicycle without worries, next Monday, I am off to another meeting of the Australian Bike Friday Club Annual Muster in Mudgee NSW.  It is about a 1100Km drive each way which I am doing in three days stopping overnight at Stanthorpe QLD and Tamworth NSW.  We will be riding our little bikes on four days and having a dinner on the Saturday and farewell lunch on the Sunday.

I shall try and update my blog during the trip.