Saturday, May 4, 2013

18th April to 3rd May 2013


18th April 2013
Barry fitted new flywire to one of the front bedroom screens plus both of us doing a lot of cleaning cupboards and things and also loaded the car with as much of our stuff ready to take to Steve and Terry’s tomorrow so that it is out of the way with all the packing happening and also guarantees that we can get the remainder of our gear into the car on Friday when we all leave the house.
19th April 2013
We drove up to Steve and Terry’s and dropped of the first load of our gear and returned in the afternoon in time for Barry to fit new flywire to the other front bedroom screen so that they can both be refitted to the windows when Garon is free to do it.
20th April 2013
Garon and Barry pulled part of the second bedroom wall apart as it had been water damaged and used expanding foam to seal the void above the wall and replace the Gyprock panelling and prepared it for a few coats of paint.  Meanwhile, Merry continued with the cleaning process.
21st April 2013
Garon continued preparing the wall for Barry to paint tomorrow whilst he is at work.  Sue is busy packing and selling their unwanted items that have been on eBay for the last week and are being collected today.
22nd April 2013
Barry cut out a small area of Gyprock in the office wall that looked dodgy and bought some more bits and pieces to replace it.  In the afternoon he sanded the bedroom and applied two coats of paint.
23rd April 2013
Barry did some more sanding in the bedroom and applied another three coats of paint and it now looks finished.  He also did some preparatory sanding in the office and replaced the flywire in the office flyscreen.
24th April 2013
Barry needed to return some multipurpose filler to Bunnings hardware store but is unable to find his wallet which he last used in Bunnings yesterday, however, when he asked if it had been handed it was met with a negative.  Having searched the house, car and enquired at the last known place of use it was thought to be lost but by checking our bank account on-line it became apparent that no-one was using my bank cards.  Merry transferred the money in the account to an account that is in her name only so if anybody did try to use my card they were going to be very disappointed.  After lunch Barry spotted something under the ends of the bed that we are using, that turned out to be his wallet.  How we hadn’t found it before is a mystery as we had both checked under the bed but we now have the wallet back without cancelling numerous cards and organising a new driver’s license, bank cards, etc.    
25th April2 013
 Barry went with Garon to his office and helped him pack up the items he wanted to bring home and pack for transportation to Perth We contacted Colleen in Perth to wish her a happy birthday continued with the sanding, painting and cleaning whilst Garon did some work on the roof, replaced the flyscreens and Sue got on with packing their boxes. They were both home for the Anzac Day holiday. In the evening we went to the local Thai restaurants for our farewell dinner as there was nothing left in the house to cook with.
26th April 2013
Barry finalised the painting and cleaned that room and then assisted Merry with cleaning other rooms.  Garon’s car was collected and taken to be trucked over to Perth.  Meanwhile the removal guys cleared the house out that allowed us to clean the last two rooms by one o’clock we had finished and walked to the Concourse shops and had an alfresco lunch.  We then cleared the remaining remnants to either the back of our car or the roadside verge for the council to remove.  We headed out to Woodend at about 3.30pm leaving Garon and Sue to finalise their packing their cases and to be picked up for the trip to the airport in a Limousine courtesy of a friend, at 4.000pm.  We arrived in Woodend slightly later than expected as the Navman took us via a different route that included an unnecessary tour of the St Kilda area so we turned it off and followed the signs to the Westgate Bridge after which we turned on the Navman again.  It then took us along the Ballarat highway instead of the Calder Highway for a scenic tour of Gisborne but the distance was no different.
27th April 2013
We had slept in the house at Woodend so that we didn’t need to clear the caravan of all the stored items so we spent most of today preparing the van for habitation.  We were able to use the van with ease in the afternoon and evening and slept comfortably as it wasn’t especially cold.
28th April 2013
We finalised the clearing up in the annex and Steve’s sister arrived for morning tea and to decide on a pattern for the quilt that Terry is going to make for her.  When she left she took advantage of one of the never opened 10 litre cans of paint that we had taken from Garon and Sue’s to take to the tip.  The evening turned a lot colder.
29th April 2013
The night was much colder than the previous night and Foxy joined us in bed at about 2.00am.
 
29th April 2013
We drove to Melton and disposed of the unwanted tins of paint that we removed from Garon and Sue’s when we left.  Melton is one of the few tips that allow paint disposal but was on an elongated route to Sunbury where we had to visit to drop off the front wall of our annex for a modification. We also picked up some relatively cheap 32gig USB keys from the Aldi shop before heading home.
30th April 2013
Merry spent most of the day doing a spring clean of the caravan even though it is nothing like spring temperature wise at 7 degrees at night.  Meanwhile Barry had a gas bottle filled as we are using a gas heater for warmth rather than run up Steve and Terry’s electricity. We are also using gas for our fridge, water heating and boiling the kettle, the same as when we free camp without using the generator.  Whist he was out he collected the new timetable for the V-line train to Melbourne in readiness for tomorrow’s trip.
1st May 2013
 We took the V-Line train into East Melbourne and then the Metro train to Parliament and the ten minute walk into Peter Mac Hospital for Merry’s first radiation treatment.  It was booked for 2.00pm but by the time she had been though the procession of short interviews and preceded by emergency cases she received the treatment at about 3.30pm.  By the time she had finished and had a chat with the social worker we couldn’t get back to East Melbourne in time to board the V-Line train before 4.00pm so we had to upgrade our pension rate fare to the full frae for the return trip.  The treatment left Merry feeling slightly dizzy and nauseas for a while and not too keen to eat dinner, although she did eat some, but otherwise okay. This may have been due to us leaving t5he hospital rather hurriedly in an attempt to get to home at a reasonable time.  Tomorrow we’ll take things a bit easier prior to leaving the hospital and hopefully that will make things a bit easier on Merry.
2nd May 2013
Merry went into the hospital for her second treatment on her own and fortunately didn’t experience the dizziness or nausea.
3rd May 2013
Merry tackled the hospital on her own again today which meant going in for an early appointment plus meeting with a doctor and dietician.  She managed it okay without any unpleasant effects so we assume that Wednesday’s unpleasantness after her first treatment was the release of pent up tension due to the long build up to the treatment.  She has been presented with a timetable for her treatments which do not exactly fit into the 10.00am to 2.00pm window that we asked for, due to the hour each way travelling.  One is at 9.30am and another at 3.00pm so she will have to leave very early in the morning for one and come home late for the other.  Having said that, they don’t seem to stick to the timetable anyway so it could change at a moments notice.

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