Thank you part 1

Thanks to everyone

I want to thank from the very bottom of my heart everyone that was involved in my recovery. It was a very scary time for everyone involved and the bleed in my head has left me with a little memory lost and a little weak but I’m mainly ok. It could have been a lot worst, I could have ended up not remembering anything or even a vegetable from the bleed in my head.

In my time in hospital I had a lot of time to think about things and what I had done with my life up till now. I’d not done too bad specially after looking at the support I was getting from cards, visits, twitter, etc. I’m proud to have touched so many of your lifes, and you all remember.

So although I will thank everyone theres a few people I owe my life to, and thats not me being over dramatic its the truth almost no matter how you look at it.

First my mum for her strength of character never giving up on me no matter what happened or what I did. She travelled up from Bristol to Manchester a lot and stayed in hotels and a strange flat with my flat mate. She was amazing and did everything in her power to aid my recovery. Travelling up and down has made her even more independent and I love her for it. Theres nothing like waking up in hospital with your mum hovering above you calling your name. She was excellent at the hospital when complaining and when trying to find out what’s happening.

My dad wasn’t up as much but was there in spirit. He cried a lot for me and wished for my health unfortunately he had to deal with sale of the family house and moving everything pretty much himself. So although not always by my bed he was keeping everything on track in the background. This meant my mum could focus on me while my dad kept things ticking along in the background.

My Sister for lending my mum the money to make the trips up to Manchester but also making multiple trips to be by my and my mum side. Its a long trip from South London and she was up and down like a yoyo. I know we haven’t been that close in the past but we will be in the future. I remember her smiley face standing over me when I finally woke up. And I’m sorry for slagging off her little system for communicating with people when you can’t talk. I only slag it off because you can never hope to capture all the unique things about a language. Which makes it hard to communicate still.

Sarah (my ex-wife) for looking out for my mum in her moment of need. Not only was she the brains behind the caringbridge site but also she printed stuff out and took my verbal blog posts when I couldn’t blog. She also brought me lost and flash forward which was great. No certainly out did herself and made me proud to have married her all that time ago. I’m glad shes now found someone who will make her truly happy but this experience has certaitly brought us closer together after a very nasty diviroce over a year ago. She is now a close friend that I hold in high regard.

Ross and Carley, What more could I ask of friends? You both certaily stepped up to the plate and made me feel a lot more at home. I remember laughing for the first time with Ross and how much it hurt with the venterlator still inside. However I couldn’t help but laugh because it was great having them at my bedside. Hopefully the trip and funky hotels you had to stay in was worth the hassle. If anything ever was to happen to the kids I’d be there like a shot, of course hoping nothing ever does.

@tdobson thanks for looking out for me, I know it took a while to get me out of the house and to the hospital. I know its odd because I’m the older and should be looking out for you and all that but you did roughly the right thing. You may have saved my life.

@adew for taking me to hospital in the end. He cleverly dropped in hints about going to hospital and not being very well but still slight off my usual form, I let him drive me to hospital where they thought I had meningitis! To be fair they weren’t to know I had a bleed on the brain which was slowly affecting my judgement, balance and general function. Like wise you may have saved my life.

Thanks for all the twitters

@surial, @kevglobal, @billt, @tomcoates, @mario, @girlygeekdom (sorry I couldn’t see you when you were up, it just wasn’t the right time)‎, @rainycat (and thanks for the cd, which I enjoyed), @billt, @loudmouthman, @Cordobo, @ssethi, @tommorris, @nicferrier (I’ll loved to be in techgrumps, could moan about apple all day), @psd, @thinkingdigital, @jas (yeah excellent to see my email in @wireduk even if it was edited down. @anniemole, @freecloud, @thinkingdigital, @anniemole, @freecloud, @ssethi, @libbymiller, @smc_mcr (thanks again for the Yamaha Tenori-O I used it a bit but not much), @rachelclarke, @stevieflow, @herbkim (thanks for the very moving tribute, when they told me I was seriously shocked, I also haven’t forgotten the offer of the meal, but maybe when I’m a little better), @jeniT, @philhawksworth (lost out of order not the best idea agreed), @anniemole, @richquick (werewolf lose on the island really?) @imran (now you’re like me, nice!) @jonthebeef, @sicross, @adactio (and thanks again for the message from An event apart in Boston, amazing to see and hear), @tomscott, @freecloud interesting study., @matlock, @dotdean, @cbgreenwood, @stevecla, @kevinprice, @nevali, @reyes, @nickycast, @paolability, @tonychurnside, @si_lumb (see you on xbox live soon), @rajm, @ruby_gem, @rnalexander, @franticuk, @davemee, @nickycast, @defnetmedia, @meeware (thanks for coming up and seeing me in hospital and seeing me in weston as well as taking over the backstage blog/mailinglist while I am away), @defnetmedia, @nevali, @coralgrainger, @insidethem60, @oonagh_j, @adew (thanks for everything again, I won’t be in work for some time as you can imagine), @souterconsults, @sheilaellen (thanks for visiting me and showing me i can leave the ward without telling anyone, still got your money), @davecoveney, @methodan, @richardhudson, @suw (sorry to drop the ball in the middle of the project, but I got a good excuse), @brianamc, @realfreshtv, @jemimakiss (thanks for the words on twitter), @mamk, @matthewcashmore, @mamk, @davelynch, @mamk, @_richardg, @cbetta (I wasn’t in a coma) , @davelynch, @mario, @kevglobal, @davecoveney, @methoddan, @richardhudson, @methoddan, @davecovenery, @souterc, @oonagh_j, @coralgrainger, @defnetmedia, @tdobson (and thanks for everything as mentioned before), @gezd, @vivdora, @ocenician (series of spanish art?), @mmetcalfe (i didn’t expect you to be watching lost), @tbush, @sofia, @doctoe (hope you are well), @billt (not much I can do about being in London in September sorry. @foodiesarah, @meeware, @mamk, @soullastylianou, @ignesco, @sdn_photography, @ignesco, @rarepleasures, @fcw, @matt512, @stephenknights, @markng (thanks for the sweet words), @jot, @jaggeree, @_richardg, @cordobo, @Sdn_Photography, @rajmarshall. And to everyone else who wrote in sent me a card (I will write a special thank you post just for the cards when I get back to Manchester). If your name isn’t in the list above fear not, its simply because I didn’t see your post on twitter for what ever reason. This could be because twitter doesn’t go that far back in history or because it simply was missed by me and google’s cache. I know a lot of people also wrote to me personally via email as they didn’t want to write something public, thank you to all of them.

Thanks to everyone

Author: Ianforrester

Senior firestarter at BBC R&D, emergent technology expert and serial social geek event organiser. Can be found at cubicgarden@mas.to, cubicgarden@twit.social and cubicgarden@blacktwitter.io