Hi there Frogga,

Big, big virtual hugs. Just looked in before retiring for the night and got your news, good and not so good.

I'm so relieved your leg isn't broken, pheeewww, last thing you needed. And....well, maybe you won't like to hear this, but I suspect you may find the hoist a good deal better than being dropped on the floor, squeezed to death, thrown about, banged against bathtubs and generally painfully manhandled. No?

Apart from the fact that the hauling and mauling must hurt like hell on the RSD front, it can't be good for all those loose joints of yours.

But, of course, I completely recognise the indignity of the hoist (unpleasant word that, hoist, isn't it? dunno why..), and the psychological lowering you must feel, though, I really do. It could just be a temporary necessity, uni being the basic survival course that it is - really, anything that eases life for you physically right now, can only be a good thing.

Mentally, well, I think if you look at it as expedient for the present situation, perhaps that may help. Also, I just want to say that if you feel that the uni living arrangements really are contributing to a general decline, I hope you won't feel you've got to continue, just to prove a point.

There are other ways of doing university courses and it would be daft of you not to at least consider alternatives. I just don't want you to feel trapped by your situation at all - more than you need feel, anyway. Remember, you have to work several hundred per cent harder at everything than those around you, just to stay in the running.

On the other hand, where you are now you do have those hot guys on hand, so to speak, 24 /7, which I imagine might brighten the grey cells a little in the course of a day, LOL.

Don't be too depressed about it (try not to be, anyway) - that hoist thingy could turn out to be one of those weird things you end up saying "how ever did I manage without it?!" Give it a go, see what you think and if it's too grizzly, we can think of alternatives...

Hope the fitting session isn't too painful, I'll check in on you tomorrow,

love you lots, Frogga xxx
all the best!