2008 was great; 2009 will be divine...

...or at least that's what I thought. Yes, as some of you already know, my New Year's Eve turned into a bit of a disaster. But somehow I have not lost my positivity and enthusiasm for the year ahead.

I had planned to go to Nick's NYE party in Kirribilli, the theme was 'sparkle' so I picked out a cute frock and some sparkly shoes, and I baked a yummy chocolate cake to take with me. Matt was having an afternoon gathering at a friend's house in Vaucluse so I thought I'd pop by there beforehand to take a dip in the pool.

Drink, anyone?

However, I slipped on the concrete steps in the garden, and landed in the worst possible way -- right on the lumbar region of my back. Swiftly realising this was not an ordinary fall, I resigned myself to the fact that NYE was over for me, and concentrated on sorting out the situation. The ambulance was called, I had several MGs of Morphine injected into me, and I struggled to hoist my frock on over my bikini before being taken by the paramedics to the ambulance and promptly fainting.

Sulking in hospital on NYE

So I spent NYE in the Emergency Unit of St Vincent's Hospital in Darlinghurst, where the hunky nurses looked after me and the lovely doctors tried to work out the damage. I had a full set of x-rays and luckily I didn't break anything, but I have intense tissue damage and internal bleeding, and I'm in a hell of a lot of pain. My vantage point for the fireworks was a hospital TV screen rather than the window of the Kirribilli flat I was expecting.

Yes, the girl who doesn't usually take paracetamol for a headache is now on 6 different types of controlled meds, to be taken at various times of the day (I have a chart in case I get confused, and believe me, Endone makes one confused) and I can't do anything! I have to lie down most of the day, can't walk, can't sit, and pretty much cry out in agony every time I try to do something different.

After a chilled out 'me-time' Christmas I was really looking forward to being sociable in the early new year, but now I'm relegated to sessions on the sofa watching yet more TV shows and films and reading books if my brain is up to it, and getting increasingly BORED.

My friends have been troopers and are rallying round, and I'm trying to stay positive. I have been really looking forward to 2009, and I don't want a silly fall to take that away from me. However, I have to accept that I will be like this for a few weeks, and I'm going to have to put work on hold for a while.

SO. New year's revolutions anyone? What were yours?

Mine are for the:
MIND -- read more and follow lines of enquiry into areas I'm interested in. Learn Spanish.
BODY -- continue my quest for health and strength in the back (have take a few steps backwards in this one, but I won't be deterred).
SPIRIT -- strengthen friendships, visit the UK, continue with yoga practice, take a yoga retreat this year.

Of course my drug-induced fug and back pain are denying me fulfillment in any of the above areas, but I think my 2009 is just going to be delayed for a couple of weeks.

Messages of support and condolence can be directed at me and not just my mum by the way. (She always seems to get more texts and emails than I do when something happens to me...!) Comments on the blog are most welcome. I think it's at times like this when you need to feel the support of everyone, not just those geographically near. I've had some lovely messages on Facebook, so thanks! I love the immediacy of the technical world: I could use my BlackBerry in the hospital to update my FB status to: Carmel is spending NYE drugged up on Morphine'; Keith immediately called mum, who called me, and suddenly half of England knows...

Ok, better go because I can't really sit down for long. Another episode of Brides of Christ before bed!

Much love and happiness for 2009.
cx