Hello there, where to start............. well 10 pints of guinness, a large Fijiian Rugby Player and staris without handrails DO NOT MIX!! .....

My name is Mei-ra and I'm 41 years although my natural instinct is to say 39 so am going to stick to that as I've yet to celebrate my 40th or 41st birthday properly.............

On Easter Sunday the 16th of April 2006 I went out on an "all dayer" as a practice run for my 40th birthday celebration which was on the 6th of May. Not all of my friends could come on that day and so came out with me on the 16th instead. I wasn't feeling a 100%, and if only I'd stayed at home, but I can't live my life saying if only can I. However I went out, and had a lovely afternoon with my close friends starting at about 2.00 p.m. at the Stables Bar in Betws y Coed where I bumped in to an old friend of mine GE anyhow GE is a semi-pro Rugby player and had with him an old friend R who was a Fijian international rugby player well talk about somebody looking like a big soft teddy bear, I have never in my life seen wider shoulders or neck width. We started chatting and "clicked" however I'd made plans to go with my friends to Llanrwst at 6pm so bade him farewell, and thought what to be 10 years younger and 10 stone lighter. Anyhow on reaching Llanrwst it was as usual on a Sunday Bank Holiday packed, with a brilliant atmosphere. A few hours later I bumped in to R and he bought me a pint of Guinness and once again the attraction was there from both sides. I'd organised a mini bus home to my village of Llangernyw which is approximately 7 miles from Llanrwst but with a diversion via Pandy Tudur to drop off some of my friends, however although we searched and I telephoned my friends mobiles NO one but R and I turned up, we waited as long as we could, but no one turned up. R was staying at my friends home which is on the main road A548 from Llanrwst towards Abergele. On arriving at the house R asked me if he could come back to mine for a coffee, I declined as I lived with my mother. So he said I could stay at our mutual friends, and I said that it wouldn't be fair on GE and he said that GE had gone home with his girl and that he'd said it was ok for me to go back if I wanted to (the taxi driver heard this conversation) Anyhow,. on arriving at my friends house, GE had recently renovated (without his parents consent) the garage into a maisomene flat, where you can see the bedroom floating above the living room. GE work clothes and shoes where strewn all up the stairs and NO hand rail was available on the left hand side and I couldn't reach the wall with my right hand due to the clutter, I explained to R that I was scared of heights and he held my hand as we went upstairs. We then had some .......well you can use your imaginaation here R left the bedroom, and I followed about 5 minutes later as I was dying to go the lavatory which was down stairs, I bumped myself down the stairs, relieved my self, couldn't find a light switch, but due to the moon filtering in through the door, could see the stairway and slowly but surely went upstairs, when I got to the 2nd stair to the top, I lost my step and rolled over and back down the stairs hitting my head but also heard a crack in my back (I've suffered with a lower back injury for 20 years) and I knew straight away that this was serious as I was in excruciating pain and in spasms, R came to my aid, and I asked him to phone an ambulance immediately, sadly R could only say GE and so I had to take over the telephone discussion with the Ambulance team and explained phonetically where we were and gave exact instructions on how to get to us. R calmed down and helped me keep calm, I didn't move an inch, Alun (GE's brother and his girlfriend ) then arrived and where also brilliant and when the kind ambulance crew arrived they all helped me get on the spinal board as I was 19stone 9lb then so I knew that 2 people couldn't do it by themselves, there began one of the most horrendous journeys I have ever had to Glan Clwyd hospital. By the time I arrived in Glan Clwyd it was about 5am in the morning and I couldn't feel my legs, I just kept asking everybody to put my legs down flat, and they said they where it wasn't until I asked them to inform my youngest brother Aled to come to the hospital and to inform my poor Mam of what had happened, when Aled arrived I asked him to please put my legs flat, he kindly and honestly explained to me that they where flat, and by this time I had lost feeling in my arms. after a horrendous time in x-ray and in the scan rooms Glan Clwyd decided that they would be sending me to their regional Orthopaedic centre and I asked if it was Gobowen (Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital near Oswestry) and they said no, that there was no room for me there so had to go to the Royal Hospital in Liverpool and they thought I'd need an operation on my spine. They then transferred me to Liverpool - what a journey, they admitted at Glan Clwyd that I had the oldest Ambulance in the fleet and they dropped me on the way in, and although I had 15 straps and still in a collar and a spinal board every bump, corner, sleeping policemen was agony, morphine wasn't having any affect on me. The kindly female paramedic proceeded to stand by me and gave me prior knowledge if the ambulance was turning left right, or if any hazards, after about an hour she had cramp and the male orthopedic nurse who was with us took over, but sadly he wasn't as good as the paramedics and apparently I nearly grabbed him at a delicate point to his torso if you get my meaning, and so the kindly paramedic had to take over, by now my B.P. was at a critical point and they had to ask for a 3 car police escort through the Mesey Tunnel. I then arrived at the Royal and had to go more painful x-rays and worse of all an MRI scan which I got jammed in LOL
I was then moved to the orthopedic ward and put on full strength morphine, sadly it still didn't work, and when they "log rolled" (weeks later I found out that I'd broken 6 ribs and 3 bones in m hands as well so that explained the extra pain!! lol not)  me every 4 hours I was in excruciating pain, I won't bore you anymore but the next 5 days where the worse I had ever been through and I've been through a lot of pain with my odd joints since a child but nothing could compare. They couldn't understand why I was in so much pain, and also I was hallucinating at night. Anyhow I was given the option of being moved to Gobowen or Southport who both specialize in back injuries as I'd broken my T12 (just under my bra strap) I jumped at Gobowen as I knew they have a fantastic record there and it would be slightly closer for my family and friends to visit.........  THE SAGA CONTINUES AGAIN, SORRY IF I'VE PUT TOO MUCH INFORMATION ON BUT WASN'T SURE WHAT AND THEN COULDN'T STOP..........

The glass is always half full or brimming over in my world.

 I try and look at both sides of each story and don't judge, I'm here for anyone who wants to chat about everything and anything...........

If you don't ask then .......  so just ask.......

Hwyl am y tro  / Bye for now

Me-ira "the wheels" Owen