9th June 2013
Merry started well this morning with a poached egg and 2
slices of buttered bread. Toast is too
rough at the moment. The skin on her
neck hasn’t started to weep yet but is looking quite red and dry but not as bad
as anticipated for this stage of the proceedings. Lunch was a good size tub of
shepherd’s pie and vegies which actually followed an earlier Vitabrit and the
lunch was followed by 8 squares of dark chocolate. Dinner was another large serve of fish with
rice and vegies followed by more stewed apple and custard. Her eating has grown in both capacity and
frequency so she is getting plenty of the required healing protein.
10th June 2013
Merry is still eating well and her neck is still not
requiring the fancy dressing that we have for when it starts to weep and the
skin to break down, so it just might not happen which might be due to the cream
that she is applying regularly. The red
area on her throat is actually smaller in area than it was. Barry cooked dinner for tonight under
Merry’s guidance to give Steve and Terry a break and it obviously suited Merry
as she ate a huge amount plus the usual easy to swallow stewed apple and
custard. This was after a good sized
lunch and a banana between meals which gives the impression she is going to eat
even if it is uncomfortable rather than drink the foul tasting high protein
liquid food.
11th June 2013
Merry dived out of bed at 6.00am and got her own breakfast
cereal to overcome her hunger so something is working. Lunchtime she had a fair sized omelette and a
large lamb shank dinner so her appetite is back to normal. However, the
exterior of her throat is now dark red and could be getting to the stage were
the skin starts cracking and weeping. We
have now started to use a different ointment and a fancy dressing supplied by
the hospital nurse before we left the hospital in anticipation of this
happening. The different cream and the
dressing seem to sooth the throat by keeping the air off it, much like any burn
case. Apart from that, all is going to
plan. We have cancelled the installation
of the PEG as a waste of time and effort now that Merry is eating so well and
the fact that it is almost past the worst of the problem before it would be
installed. Merry has had numerous
abdominal operations and another one is something she can manage without,
especially as it is no longer required.
12th June 2013
Merry’s hunger is still with us so she devoured a plate of
scrambled egg mixed with bacon pieces and 2 slices of bread, toast is still too
rough, although she ate it with the crust this time. So that Steve and Terry aren’t left to do all
of the cooking Barry is providing some of the meals, under supervision. The weather is typically Woodend winter, cold
with continuous drizzle, or rain, so Barry and Foxy have not been doing the
morning walks and the prediction is for a continuation of rain for the next
couple of days. The skin on Merry’s
throat is now gradually flaking off, similar to sunburn, which will probably
happen for a few days until all of the red area has gone and regrown new skin.
The red area of Merry’s throat is still peeling but
definitely shrinking. Her appetite is
still good and eating well with slightly more solid content. As a point of interest, we haven’t watched TV
for over 3 weeks now, and haven’t really missed it.
14th June 2013
We travelled to Taylors Lakes this morning to invade
Officeworks to order two stretched canvas pictures from two of Merry’s photos
to donate to the Peter MacCullen hospital, and also went into to Harvey Norman’s
to buy a new PVR as our current one is not doing what it used to do. Our
old one degrades the incoming signal to the point that on many occasions it is
not worth watching, or more to the point, recording. The one we have just bought has to perform
much better, or it will go back where it came from. The time spent in the shops plus having lunch
there and calling into Sunbury for some grocery shopping wore Merry out and was
very glad to crash out once we arrived home
15th June 2013
We initially took Foxy for a short walk to the end of the
road to get Merry used to exercise again.
The 5 weeks of radiation and the following few weeks have been very
tiring for her so she hasn’t been active, which now needs to be overcome as she
gradually improves. The redness on her
throat has both shrunk and lightened and looking much better. The inside of her throat no long feels full
of razor blades but is still slightly rough.
Talking is still very much a whisper but we expect that improve over the
next few weeks. Eating still requires
soft food but generally is much easier which is good as her current appetite is
putting a great demand on her eating ability.
After the walk we drove over to Riddell’s Creek to the Farmers’ Market
see what that was all about and gained a few vegies before returning via
Macedon. The trip was actually an
excuse to get Merry out of the caravan confinement for a while and create some
extra exercise activity. We called into
an organic jam making establishment and bought some scones and jam to share
with Steve and Terry when we arrived home.
16th June 2013
Basically just a day of rest other than the first 4kms walk
that the weather has allowed Barry and Foxy to have, although it was quite cold
despite a certain amount of sunshine that we haven’t seen for a while.
17th June 2013
Another day of rest and another walk for Foxy and Barry, and
the weather more threatening. The red area on Merry’s neck is only about 4cm
across the front compared to the halfway around each side, and not as wide from
top to bottom, and looking really good and the food we have produced in soft
form but high in protein and nutrition has proved to be doing the job, as she
is healing well and gaining weight, much to her disgust. Permanent tiredness despite sleeping quite
well is the main problem.
18th June 2013
Merry’s neck only has about 2cms across of red area now and
her voice is improving beyond a weak whisper, so it is likely to be fully
cleared of red within the next few days and sounding more like Merry . We drove down to Taylors Lake today to
collect the stretched canvas pictures that we ordered plus going to Bunnings,
BCF and Spotlight. From there we moved
in to the main shopping centre and had lunch followed by a romp around the
supermarket. This was more exercise than
Merry actually had planned on, so we headed home and abandoned ideas of
acquiring a new battery, or batteries that had been on the agenda for the caravan, until another day. We
want to double up the battery power to ensure that there is sufficient to cover
several nights of power for Merry’s sleep apnoea pump when we run it via our
inverter on the occasional use of free camping sites when we eventually start
moving again.
19th July 2013
Merry’s throat is now showing very little decolourisation
compared to the rest of her neck but is still very slightly sore, but she is
now leaving the dressing off. The inside
of her throat has returned to the razor blade feel as she also stopped using
the Fentalyn patches that are designed to overcome background pain. This proved to be stopping too soon and she
has gone back to using them a bit longer. Generally, she has pulled up quite well after
yesterdays exhausting excursion. We have
now order two batteries on-line as that way we get identical batteries to the
original one, with free freight, and will be $277 cheaper than two of the ones we checked out yesterday at BCF. From experience we now that the chosen brand
of battery is good for 4 years as the original one is still hanging in but not
good enough on it own for more than one
night using the apnoea pump. Bearing in
mind it also contends with the 12v TV, 12v PVR, water pump for the taps, toilet
and shower, and lighting, although drainage by the lighting has been reduced
dramatically by changing to LED globes.
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