Monday 28 September - An 'Out-of-doors' Time

How nice it is to get out of doors now that the weather is finally improving. 
I include the following photo of our outside fernery - simply to share what a delight it was to get outside the other day armed with gardening gloves and secateurs, and to roll along in the wheelchair clearing things up a bit. This was the first time all year when I was able to actually feel I could do something  useful out-of-doors as it was quite a handy height to manage.

The left side doesn't have a timber border so I rather inelegantly got 'bogged' when I wasn't watching where I was reversing in my wheelchair!

And then on Friday, Brian and I joined with friends Jeff and Eunice to have a day of exploring for Spring orchids. 
We headed northwards past Heywood, Casterton and tiny old townships like Digby and Merino and then had lunch at a pretty spot called Bailey's Rocks. Brian, Jeff and Eunice all had a good explore at the various stopping spots, and found a variety of at least a dozen different and beautiful native orchids. Sometimes I'd hop out in the wheelchair, but mostly I could see some from the car window (and I also came prepared with the paper to read). 
We all enjoyed the day - and Brian and I came home surprisingly tired. 
I'll include a few of the photos taken - but they are only a small snapshot of the day's efforts!

A pretty picnic spot to enjoy lunch.

Jeff checking out an unexpected 'find'.

Eunice and Brian with cameras capturing the moment.

 I marvel that the following all come under the heading of 'native orchids' as they are all so spectacular and different in their own ways.

 

 

 

As  I said, these are only a very small representation of photos taken!

I just thought I would let you know too that the lady I mentioned recently (Villie, from Fiji) has now had her spinal tumour removed in a lengthy surgical procedure at St Vincent's hospital in Melbourne. It is looking like there has been an answer to prayer, in that this tumour appears to be benign, and not a malignant cancerous tumour. She has retained all spinal cord function, and has only minor nerve damage, but is doing very well and should be back in Portland very soon. As I said, an amazing answer to prayer! 

I too am feeling very well, with very little pain and I am continuing to lessen the pain killers. 

Brian has ups and downs with his health and and wellbeing - some good and some not-so-good days so we just have to go with the flow and take each day as it comes.

24 September 2015 Thursday

Last Sunday was a special and unexpected day.
First of all, Brian and I went to church and it was one of those worship times where every word spoken was relevant and every song sung was exactly the right one! We were uplifted  to be there.

After a late lunch Dale popped across the road to say g'day, and then there was a further knock at the door. 
Next thing, in walked Sonya (from Albury) with three of the four children in tow (Morgan was napping.) We had no idea they were coming so it was indeed a surprise to see them all. Scott stayed behind for work (and no doubt some peace and quiet), but the next few days for us were spent having delightful times with Sonya, Liam (9), Lauren (5), Kaylee (3) and Morgan (18 months). They didn't sleep here, but we soon had an impressive coverage of books, toys, games, craft supplies and the like - that remained until they left yesterday. 

These next few photos are unashamedly devoted to them! 

Poor Nan got stranded in her sitting chair on quite a number of occasions, while the children practiced driving the wheelchair around safely inside! Liam took this very seriously.

Kaylee was keen to have a go with a willing Lauren to assist from behind.

No way was Morgan going to miss the opportunity to push from behind!

Meanwhile Poppy and Morgan connected on a personal level - and in fact Morgan showed little interest in the toys, but rather moving stones from the candle holder to Poppy and back again... or locating any remote control within cooee. 

Blonde hair and blue eyes - so different from the other children but just like his Daddy.

Much time was spent enjoying stories... as if Nan minded!

You always know it will never work when you try to get the 5 grandchildren together for a photo (this includes Kodey)          - but it doesn't stop you having a try anyway!!!

It was such a lovely few days and we enjoyed every minute (but I will say we slept well at nights!)
 

19 September 2015 ... and a detour to Mt Gambier and back

Yesterday we made a visit to Mt Gambier. 
Firstly we needed to purchase a new tyre - thanks to our recent mishap (which was irrepairable) on the way home from Melbourne. Now it's done so we hope we never have to play around pulling out wheelchairs in the rain again in order to fix tyres that have been attacked by stray drill bits.

Meanwhile, we had the opportunity in Mt Gambier to check out some different shops and eating spots - and take the new red wheelchair for a bit of a spin. 

Enjoying a meal at Sorrentos

 Actually when I say 'take it for a spin' - I need to say that I am being a bit more than cautious. The day before I had been sitting on a special cushion in the wheelchair when I did a quite graceful slide forward with the cushion and landed on the ground (on my left side) right in front of the visiting OT! Of course, while I knew I wasn't in any way hurt, she had to do the right thing thing and amongst other things contacted my GP who ordered an xray on the left hip and pelvis. What a pill, as I knew I was fine!

On the way home, Brian wanted to check out if there were any scented  spider-orchids at Swan Lake, just off the Mt Gambier Road. So off we went in search.

From the Highway you can see the sand dunes and sea.

While Brian searched for (and found) some of the spider orchids, I stayed at the car keeping watch.

Before long, along came some dune buggies, and with their orange flags up high, off they entered the sand dune area. Brian and I have done this before when we had our Suzuki, and it was great fun getting past the initial sharp dune rise and into the 'lunar-looking' sandy landscape beyond, quite amazing to see.It's one of the few places in Victoria where vehicles are allowed onto the sand dunes. 

From there it was basically back to the highway and home again - feeling surprisingly tired after what was really a rather straight-forward outing.

However I am feeling more than sad right now, as I have just heard today that a dear Fijian Christian friend has just been diagnosed with a severe pain-inducing tumour on her own spine. She has been airlifted to Melbourne for surgery today (Saturday) and the whole family - including 4 school-aged children, must truly be in a state of shock.
And another of our kind local friends has also just had a fall and injured a vertebrae on her back. 
What is going on over here???
 
 

 

16 September 2015 - We've been to Melbourne and back!

Well here we are - we've been to Melbourne and back - and have had a wonderful family time together! It had nothing to do with hospitals or recovery, but everything to do with family celebrations.
This is a bit of a quick sampler of the past few days... 

First let me say the weather was superb - it amply accommodated our desire for an outdoors brunch on Saturday, let alone a pleasant 'late in the day' wedding. 
Brian and I stayed with Geoff (brother) and Robin, and this worked very well as their house has been adapted to some degree to also accommodate Robin's paraplegic brother Steve. How easy is that for us! 

Geoff and Robin

The bride and groom - Amy and Brian - planned a quite informal wedding all at the one venue, and we were able to enter into the spirit of celebration with great ease.

Amy and Brian

Amy made such a beautiful bride!

Sisters - Imogen and Amy

Parents of the bride - my sister Jeanie and Pete.

By chance, the wedding date coincided with my birthday entry into senior citizenship! What a sweet bride to add a (gluten free) cake to the celebrations (observed by my sister Marlene and David). I doubt that anyone wanted too much of the top of the cake after Mrs 'Fatty-cheeks' had had a good splutter over the candles!!

 

 Somehow on Sunday Brian and I managed to get to the early Box Hill worship service, and we appreciated this very much, not only because we have been appreciating the prayerful support from this church community, but because we also met some unexpected people after church - including a friend from Primary School days at Warrayure!!! (I won't say how far back that goes!) 
We were then able to to relax at Geoff & Robin's place, spending time with their family and also Simon and Caitlin. Thanks everyone!

 

Monday morning saw us packing up and heading back home to Portland after a lovely family time together. As we headed towards Geelong the temperature went up to highly pleasant 29 degrees, and our major stop-over was to begin exploring wheelchairs at a warehouse at Grovedale. We were happy to be able to refine our search very quickly to just 1-2 'self-propelled' models, and refrained from making any purchases until we had also visited a Warrnambool warehouse further down the track. This confirmed our research, and a new (red!) wheelchair will be delivered shortly.

Just to make our home journey a little more interesting, the closer we got to home, the cooler the temperature - until it had dropped to 13 degrees with more than a few spots of rain... when clatter, clatter, clatter... yep - we had a flat tyre - and I mean flat. So out into the rain came my (old) wheelchair, and  the spare tyre, and Brian very ably managed to change the tyre which fortunately was not too 'seized' up. It later emerged that a drill bit had pierced the tyre and we have had to replace the tyre itself. It's been many years since we've had to make a change such as this and Brian can't remember when he last had to change a tyre that wasn't just a slow leak.  

 
However, in no way did this spoil the weekend itself, and we have such lovely memories of special family times together.
 

10 September 2015

How nice it has been to be able to simply potter about at home, grow a bit stronger every day, wheel myself around and take up the planning of some of our meals again! I tend to 'load up my lap' when I go to the pantry cupboard, and in fact this morning I discovered myself in the wheelchair accidentally sitting on some vegemite from breakfast (after several hours!)
Most afternoons I have a bit of a 'nanna-nap' but other than that I am moving about where possible, folding washing and the like. 

Yesterday was a lovely sunny and warmish day - so much so that Brian said, "Come on, let's go for  drive."
So off we went into the local bush land... 

First we drove up into nearby Mt Clay, near Narrawong.

A little spot of water over the road was no deterrent for this robust pair!

Brian tried very hard to find my favourite 'bird orchid' in this area.

However we were a bit early for this season, and all he found was one in bud.

The drive continued into the Cobobbonnee  Forest, where we sat for a time at this forested section of the Surry River, listening to the birds and deep frog rumblings around us!

As I said, it is good to be home and do something as simple as go for a refreshing drive.
Tomorrow we head back to Melbourne - but this will be for the wedding of my niece Amy - my sister Jeanie's daughter. 
This has been on my 'bucket list' to do, and has been very achievable as I am healing and managing pain levels so well. Besides it has nothing to do with me or hospitals - just a happy family occasion to enjoy. As we speak, Brian is outside giving the car a clean (after yesterday's drive), and he too loves to be doing the 'normal' stuff (without having to do as much care or visiting of me which of course he has gladly done when needed). 

So tomorrow it's off to Melbourne - and the possibility of checking out wheelchairs on the way home. (I've been advised to get a red one as they go faster...)
 

4 September 2015 HOME!

I. AM. HOME.
Exactly on cue.
After spending a little over a week in the Portland hospital I have been making very good progress with healing and movement. Each day has brought new noticeable improvements, and so the doctors and physios were all happy to let me go today, prior to the weekend when nothing much seems to happen.
And how nice it was to head outside and on a pleasant spring day too!
It didn't matter in the slightest that I had a little wait in the car while Brian did a pharmacy visit on the way home - in fact what a pleasure to just sit in a car and feel 'normal'. 
It's great to be home, enjoying a lovely spring bunch of daffodils and jonquils.

Over the next few weeks I will be adjusting some of the pain relief medications I have been on, in order to reduce them as I am now in such a better place pain-wise than I was pre-surgery. So good. 
So all is currently on track to attend the family wedding of my niece next weekend. 
The next few days I expect will follow the plan of re-adjusting to home life in a wheelchair, and ensuring I don't accidentally sneak extra weight onto my left side, while my arm strength and right leg continue to strengthen. The mixed blessing I have is that I don't get any pain in the left hip, so I don't get any cue if I am doing the wrong thing (However I'm not complaining about this lack of pain I can assure you!)

Now comes some research as we look to purchase our own wheelchair (up til now this has been hired from the hospital). With so many factors to consider this is not as easy as it sounds. I'd love to hear from anyone who has some insight into this?

2 September 2015 It's a new month...

Yes, there is something about a new milestone, even if it as simple as turning the calendar over onto a new month. 

August is done and dusted for us, and a big month it has been! After the steady decline into back pain and spinal cord compromise, intervention arrived very suddenly with a different doctor on the scene. Spinal surgery has happened to stabilise the spine with long rods and screws, a diseased vertebrae has been removed and replaced with a small cage and I am still in Portland hospital improving a bit further every day from the whole procedure. 
Yes the surgery was a grueling assault on the body; yes, the effects of the anaesthetic shocked me with a two-day confusion of the head, the emotions and not to mention the utterly crazy thoughts of the mafia being out to get me???? Where does that stuff come from?? 
But now that is over.
It has been lovely for Brian to be home and he has been helped along with some meals from caring friends. I have also thoroughly enjoyed calls and visits from lovely friends - what a blessing you all are!
The other morning, one of my 'crazy' friends - a regular early morning swimmer in the freezing Portland harbour waters - waved frantically from outside the hospital. I calmly waved back, but had no idea until later that actually she wasn't just waving but marvelling at the double rainbow over the hospital. Wow - a double blessing over me for the day! I had no idea it was there but will take it any time!

So now we are into September. Today the dressing was removed from my back and everyone seems very impressed by how how it looks (not that I have seen it - I just know it's the longest suture my spinal surgeon had ever done.). Perhaps I'll get Brian to measure it sometime!
But in the meantime, I am very excited that every single day brings something new and achievable into the healing process. Two days ago I couldn't manage a particular exercise easily - today I can. This morning the physios took me (actually I wheeled myself in a wheelchair) to a set of bars where for the first time I tried 'hopping' (oh so gently) along bars of rails a few times to improve upper arm strength and lower right legs strength (but strictly not on the left side). I was pleased with the efforts and look forward to getting stronger every day.  
My pain levels are significantly reduced, and it feels like it is mainly the surgical healing that continues to take place, not any prior pain management issues. There are more pain meds to go, but this is a gradual process of reduction. I never need to ask for any 'extra' pain relief as I exercise or move around which is a bonus too.

I am not sure when I'll get home - in a few days I hope, but dependent on my mobility and transfer from one 'aid' to another. 
Might hear more from doctors tomorrow - so will keep you posted.