GOOD JOB!

Since Bill came out of hospital, he has been improving everyday. He is back to his old self now except he still uses the rollator for stability and safety. However, he managed a walk around the lake at Underwood Park.  I was impressed. 

Around the lake we go.

Ducks galore.

We haven't had rain for some weeks. The lake is very low.

Melaleuca Trees love living in wetlands but they can survive in gardens.

 Moorhen

The water was murky but the lilies brightened up the scenery.

ISLAND HOLIDAY

 It's a long time since I have added to "My Story" where I have been scanning old photos and remembering my past. I have published it in a series of books but still haven't quite finished. I used to write it here first and then make a book but after a while I changed the system and just went straight into the book. But I'm going to continue here with snippets from the past.

Back in 1984 Just after my father had died, I promised my mother to take her on holidays. She always wanted to visit the Whitsunday Islands on the Great Barrier Reef off the coast of northern Queensland.

So during the school holidays I took her and the girls to Lindeman Island. Bill had to work but he had recently been on a trip to Fiji, as a reward for using York equipment at work.

We flew to Proserpine and then caught a ferry to the island. The water was blue as blue and the weather was perfect even though it was winter. We stayed in a nice resort and it catered for families. There was a kid's club and loads of activities for everyone.

The kids go on a boat ride to a camping spot and stay overnight.

They loved playing in the pool and making friends. They were 10 and 12.

Feeding the Lorikeets.

We went on hikes through the National Park

Mum enjoyed her island holiday. 

One day we went on a launch trip around some other islands in the Whitsunday group. Daydream Is, South Molle Is, Hayman Is, and Shaw Is. We didn't do them all far too many. It was a great experience and beautiful scenery.

The resort on Lindeman was owned by P&O shipping line then but it was sold to Club Med in 1992. However, the resort was closed in 2012 after being destroyed by Cyclone Yasi. It was purchased by a Chinese Company, which was going to redevelop the site but the project failed. It was bought this year by a Singaporian family but there is still no redevelopment. We were lucky to be able to enjoy the place back in 1984.

A PINK PARTY

 One of our energetic, vivacious residents organised a Pink Party to celebrate her 70th birthday. It was a fun night with everyone wearing pink and enjoying dancing to the band and eating the delicious food, which she cooked herself.

Annie and her husband Herbie.

It's great to see the oldies up and dancing.

Everyone wore pink.

We sat with Tony and Lois. I used to teach with Tony's daughter, Donna.

Wishing Annie Happy Birthday under the pink flamingos.

So great to see Bill enjoying himself again.

"MURDER MOST FOUL"

 Thank you to those friends who wished Bill a speedy recovery. Once he got home and had me looking after him and physiotherapist visits he did start to recover some strength. He still uses a walker  for confidence and stability. Luckily, he was fit enough to attend our village's 13th Anniversary Dinner.

Our managing director, Chiou See's husband, Brendan, decided to provide the entertainment instead of hiring anyone. He wrote an interactive play similar to a murder mystery dinner. He called it "Murder Most Foul", which was about the murder of a promiscuous woman in our village.(fictional of course) He chose some villagers to take parts in the play but we were sworn to secrecy before the night.

Bill made a powerpoint presentation of famous detective shows on TV to be run on a loop on the screen. He also took video footage of the play to make into a short video for the village residents.

Everyone was encouraged to come dressed as a detective or police officers and many did. I had the role of police crime scene photographer and suspects photographer.

Taking photos of a condom at the crime scene.

Bill was back on deck.

Many residents dressed up.

I'm photographing Kathleen, the first of five suspects. Eric was the arresting police officer.

I took a mugshot of Bill as a practise shot before the show started.

Brendan was the investigating detective. (He is a real one in his day job)

The suspects are arrested and put into a holding cell.

Then they are put into interrogation rooms.

The set is changed and it becomes a courtroom and Brendan is the prosecutor. The residents who go to the workshop every Tuesday made the sets. 

There was a twist at the end. None of the suspects were found guilty but another well known resident who was in the audience was found guilty. He had motive and blood on his coat besides his phone calls gave him away.

It was a fun night. Chiou See cooked dinner for the 120 guests because the chef was away. It was Osso Buco and almond cake or poached pears. The dinner committee and the highschool students helped out.

AROUND THE VILLAGE

 

It was sad to see Bill in hospital but he is home now and I'm looking after him. But when he was in hospital I went for a walk with my buddies into the forest early in the morning.

The Wattle, our national flower, was blooming and the Eucalypts were reaching for the sky.

That evening I walked down our street to visit a friend, who invites the neighbours for Happy Hour drinks. The sun was setting and lighting up the forest.

Now that Bill is home I go for short walks around the village. My mailbox is getting swallowed by the lavender bush.

This big Blue Tongue Lizard paid us a visit on the porch. They are beautiful and harmless.

One of the residents had another kind of visitor, A wallaby with a full pouch.

It's the first day of Spring today but these beautiful Magnolias were flowering early this year. They are in village Zen Garden.

We have been warned that it is going to be a hot summer with a high chance of bushfires. Not looking forward to that but I'm loving the beautiful Spring day today. Bill even went for a short walk on his wheelie walker. His knee is getting better and his cough has gone.

HOME AT LAST

After a CT scan of his lungs showed Bill's lungs were clear, he was allowed to come home even though they wanted to keep him for another two weeks for rehab. He wasn't keen on this idea so I said we had our own physiotherapist who will do the rehab and our health fund will pay. So he was transported home in an ambulance as he is still not agile enough to get into and out of the car.

The ambos bring him right inside the unit and help him into a chair.

He was happy to be home.

I made him his favourite lunch. Continental frankfurters and sauerkraut because he had lost his appetite from the antibiotics. He enjoyed it but couldn't eat it all.

We bought a new chair which is easier to get in and out of as well as having a variety of positions. He's learning how to fly it. It actually stands him up.

Bill used to do all the cooking now there is a new cook in the kitchen. I have to learn all over again after he has cooked for the last fifty years. Chicken, mushrooms, spinach and egg noodles. Easy stuff for the beginner. Unfortunately Bill is still coughing but is walking on a walker a little better. Slowly, slowly getting better.

YOU NEVER KNOW WHAT IS AROUND THE CORNER

 It has been ages since I posted. A lot has been going on in real life and I haven't had time or inclination to post. On 23 July, Bill got up from the table and walked around the corner to his study when I suddenly heard him say, "What's going on ?". Then I heard his feet shuffling followed by a crash. I knew he had fallen. I rushed into his study and found him unconscious on the floor. He came to when I touched him and spoke to him. He was on his side and he rolled over and attempted to get up but I insisted he stay still and rest for a bit. His glasses were broken on the floor and his face was bleeding where they had dug into his head. His paper thin skin had been torn off his arms and bleeding. Luckily, it wasn't too hard to stop with a handful of tissues. While I was doing this his Apple watch was asking if he was okay as it had detected a fall. I knew he wouldn't be able to get up off the floor so I said let the watch do its job. So after 60 seconds the ambulance service spoke I answered and explained what happened and they told me how to stop the bleeding and sent an ambulance. 

Bill spent three days in hospital. They x-rayed his head to try to establish why he blacked out. Everything looked okay except they found a screw loose!!!(Hee Hee). The little screw that holds on the arm of his glasses had embedded in his head. So they dug it out and sewed him up and patched up his arms and sent him home with a change to his medication to try to avoid low blood pressure.

The next day his knee swelled up and he was in a lot of pain and couldn't walk on it. He was having loads of trouble trying to get around the house. Village friends lent us a wheelie walker and we hired devices to help him get out of bed and chairs and in the bathroom. Our daughter flew from Melbourne to come and help. She is an angel. However, the pain got worse and the skin went red so we had a video consultation with the doctor who suggested he went back to hospital in case it was cellulitis. 

Unfortunately, our favourite private hospital was full so he was taken to our local public hospital. After a week of investigations and intravenous antibiotics they transferred him to a private hospital where he still is today. He has been treated for gout (uric acid crystals) and pseudogout  (calcium crystals) in the knee. He is having more drugs and physiotherapy. Just as he was beginning to walk a little on the painful leg  he developed pneumonia so that was a set back and more intravenous antibiotics needed but all his veins collapsed when they tried to insert yet another cannula after a few days. So now he is on another tablet.

He had a terrible cough but it is subsiding now. The doc said his chest is clear but they saw a shadow on his lung in the X-Ray so now they are investigating that. Poor guy has had enough. He is sick of being unwell and of being in hospital. Our other daughter flew from Melbourne for a week to cheer us up and help at home. We are so lucky to have such fabulous daughters. They both flew home last Monday.

Hopefully I'll have some fun things to write about soon.

The public hospital had modern equipment, great nurses but too many people and not easy to communicate with doctors.

Learning to walk again but it was painful. In a private hospital, which is showing its age but he had a room of his own with a view and good nurses and a doctor who spoke with us every day.

Our girls come to cheer up their dad.

Then pneumonia strikes.