... but before the question, I have to give some background....
A little while ago I hinted at "the perils of DIY" and John Rumm[1] did specifically say "spew forth" so I blame him for the following rambling blurb :-)
(by the way, here's proof!)....
So end of December last year, there I was in the loft with a mate of mine carrying (tugging) a 150Kg (ish) steel beam and treading very carefully on the not yet installed floor - ie looking down at what little joists there were to support all this weight. Yep, I was so busy looking down I forgot to look where I was going and managed to headbut the roof :-( No seriously, I hit the roof with such force you cannot imagine. Head down, 100+ Kgs of me and 150 Kgs of steel, trust me, there was no bounce or give. I bit down so hard on my teeth, I was surprised to find I didn't break any. It really was that much of a collision.
Cutting to 7 weeks later - early Feb. My lower jaw had been a little tender (well wouldn't yours) but now a hard lump was growing and getting bigger by the day, I start thinking maybe this isn't "headbut" related?
I go to the dentist, my one is on holiday so I see his colleague who says "no, it's not dental see your GP".
Following morning at the GP, he asks "how long you had this lump?". I say "four to six weeks". He calls me all manner of names (including crazy) for leaving it so long and gets his colleague in for a second opinion. He then spends the next 15 minutes on the phone in front of me trying to get me X-Rayed. 1 hour (yes, even with our NHS, *one* hour) later I'm at the hospital getting X-Rayed. I'm now feeling a little nervous. "Maybe this is serious?" "WTF is going on etc".
Following morning I'm back at the GP. He puts me on a referral to see some consultant with a long name ... "Makita Festool B&Q surgeon" or something. According to the GP I'll be seen within two weeks. That in itself wouldn't have been so bad, but my S.O. works in the NHS so I happen to know that there is only one two week target in the NHS, and it is for suspected cancer.
Life has just gone arse up. Right now, one dentist, two GP's and a radiologist think I should be on a cancer target. Life, somehow, does change.
So I get my appointment and go to see the consultant. Apparently, the amount of trauma that I managed to do to the bone can do a number of things....
- Cancer.... specifically Osteosarcoma, a latent bone cancer which is often triggered by trauma. Treatment and survivability varies.
- Osteomyelitis. An infection deep within the bone, often caused by trauma. Survivability is good, but treatment can take up to 12 months.
(see the theme here.. trauma, well I now I really was f***ing traumatised !!!!)
The consultant hits me with it, having perused the X-Rays, shoved a camera up[down?] my nose etc etc, he says "Osteomyelitis or Cancer". He takes a few biopsies (the lying bastard said "you'll feel a slight scratch"... yeah he just forgot to tell me about the excruciating pain which followed). Booked me for a CT, bloods and those painfull bloody biopsies. Now I also have a leaking chin, and go home to wait.
Now I've got one dentist, two GP's, one radiologist *and* one consultant thinking cancer. I really am starting to feel a little nervous and just a little down.
For the next three weeks I don't care about Li-on -v- Nicad -v- MiMh etc etc. I don't care about span tables or combis versus heat stores - all has gone apesh*t, life is on hold and I'm struggling not be an emotional mess. Tearfull sleepless nights, long talks with SO about *what if*, the road ahead, how we'll manage, who'll get my tools in the will (yes it is important, this is UK.D-I-Y afterall :-)! etc.
On going back for my results, it appears nothing is wrong. No cancer, biopsies clear, CT scan fine.... probably a dental abscess. WTF - I started out at the stand-in dentist, he was the one who said to see the GP. The consultant then wrote a letter back to my dentist saying root canal on this tooth. I've now been back to my proper dentist (not his bastard colleague who started all of this) but he can't do a root canal, it's too late. X-Rays show I actually managed to split the tooth almost in two, infection has long set in and it's been left so long there is nothing they can do except pull the tooth.
So he pulls the tooth. Yeah great, lower bloody *front* tooth. He then explains that they could do a bridge but would prefer an implant[2]. An implant only costs *two thousand pounds*. Christ alive, have you boys got any f***ing idea of what you've just put me through? *Twice!*.
.... so going back to the original subject of my post, and my DIY question....
.... should I consider that 2K to be a material or labour overspend against my original loft budget? :-)
Going to bed now, it's been a long six weeks :-)
Cheers Me.
[1] Totally OT I know, but through his excellent website at internode describing his loft conversion, John Rumm empowered me to do mine. Can I now sue *him* for the cost of the implant and if so, on what budget should he put it? [2] I know this is UK.D-I-Y but if I see any of you bastards coming near me with a drill I'll call the police ... I don't need the implant that bad :-) [3] The sharp sighted amongst you might notice that there wasn't actually a three/[3] :-) I wrote this just to say I'm not after sympathy, I'm just trying to change the world so we all wear hard hats-even whilst showering. You never know - Jeremey Clarkson did for Hi Vis vests, I could do it for hard hats.... I could be famous :-)
[4] No sympathy, honest. I'm over it. I'm just really glad I didn't actually give away any of those bloody tools :-) Someone