27th June 2013
Not such a good day for Merry as she woke up with a rough
throat again that didn’t improve throughout the day, but still managed her
eating.
1st July 2013
Nothing of note happened over the last few days other than a
walk in the local park behind the visitor centre and around the supermarket so
that Merry continues with some exercise towards some more fitness. Acquiring her previous level of fitness will
take quite a while and will be very gradual.
Otherwise, she is still doing well and she actually managed her first steak
last night and some toast this morning.
Tomorrow we have to travel into Melbourne to the hospital for a check-up
with the specialist and the nutritionist, and will probably then be informed of
the arrangements for the PET scan.
2nd July 2013
We drove into Melbourne without any hassles other than the
fact that all of the 2 hour parking bays were taken up and had to use a 1 hour
one. This was closer to the hospital but
meant the car had to be moved to fit in both appointments even if things are
running on time. We arrived early so we took the canvas print and some
returnable goodies down to the radiation therapy area first. We then had a coffee in the café before
collecting the high protein liquid meals that Merry didn’t like, or use, and
took them into the ‘C’ clinic to give to the nutritionist at the first
appointment. Barry returned to the car
and moved it to a vacant 2 hour parking bay, and brought the other canvas print
in for the second appointment with the specialist. We then went up to the pharmacy and paid an
outstanding bill before finding somewhere to have lunch. This meant moving the car again as there were
no suitable cafes within reach in the time left on the parking meter, so
started in a homeward direction until we spotted somewhere to park and
eat. This done we headed to Taylor Lakes
shopping centre and bought a nebuliser as it turns out that Merry needs one for
at least another two months. If we had
known this we would have bought one three weeks ago instead of hiring one, but
we can’t change that. The outcome of the
hospital appointments is that everybody is very pleased with
Merry’s progress, and doesn’t need to see the
nutritionist again. She has been assured
that the tiredness this length of time after the treatment is normal and will
last for a long time yet so she can stop stressing about that. Her vocal chords are still burnt and will
take several months before sounding anything like they used to be, and will
never sound exactly the same or as strong , but that will be a great
outcome. Currently the voice is whispery
with the occasional sudden hoarse growl, a bit like a teenage boy whose voice
is in the breaking process. We have to
see the specialist in 2 months time which will be just after the PET scan, the
date of which has yet to be set and us informed. Assuming everything is great after that we
can think about travelling around in Victoria again, but being within easy
reach of Melbourne for another check-up around February. That means we will probably be somewhere like
Bendigo at that time as we have some free V-line train tickets that we can use
for that visit, or back here in Woodend with Steve and Terry, if they haven’t
had enough of us.
4th July 2013
We took a drive up to Kyneton to use the closest Woolworths
store to Woodend with the possibility of a stroll through the town but by the
time we got there the weather had changed from not very good to downright
miserable, with more of the same to come.
5th July 2013
We had some wind but nothing dramatic and a little rain,
however, nothing like they said on TV yesterday, but the lower coastal part of
the State copped a bashing. We have
arranged for our windscreen to be replaced next week after having some rust
being cut out first.
6th July 2013
6th July 2013
We went over to Macedon to visit Steve’s sister, Sue, for
morning tea and to inspect her hot house.
The hot house is quite impressive but the weather didn’t show it off to
best advantage but obviously will live up to its name with a bit of help. Her ‘shedio’ (shed/studio) is also
impressive although it is still a work in progress but will eventually offer
many options including a bedroom/toilet with mezzanine storage. In total the cottage, shedio, and hot house
are a very nice unit. In the afternoon
we went to Sunbury where we were able to return Barry’s eReader to Aldi for a
return of money as it had died and refused to recharge of do anything
useful. We continued on to Dick Smith’s
where Merry bought a, 8.9 cm Kindle Fire HD so that Barry can now take over old
7cm version, now that the Aldi one has gone.
7th July 2013
Despite lousy weather we went to the Gisborne market with
Steve and Terry and actually managed to pick a time when the rain didn’t affect
us, and better still, resisted buying anything.
After we arrived back home the weather deteriorated some more so we had
a day of leisure.
8th July 2013
This turned out be the coldest night we have experienced
since arriving here. When Barry went to the
car to take it for the windscreen and rust removal, he had to use some warm
water to clear the ice off the screen.
He then went to the shops first and the screen started to freeze over
again whilst he was in the shop and had to drive around to the street behind
the shopping centre to face the car into the sun to clear the screen. In the afternoon Barry went to the guys
property who is removing the rust to have a look at the damage, which is not as
bad we had been led to believe and will only cost about $300.
9th July 2013
Another freezing night but at least no one had to get up
early to deliver cars anywhere. The
frost and ice doesn’t start to thaw out at about 9.30am as it takes that long
for the sun to rise above the tree tops which are way up Mt Macedon. Our car will be ready for the new windscreen
tomorrow (Wednesday) but the screen will not be fitted until Friday morning as
the installers have to fit in a time to travel up from the Geelong area which
is about a 1.5 hours drive, as we definitely aren’t driving there without a windscreen.
12th July 2013
We have done nothing for the last few days but should get
our car back today which will allow a bit of mobility, but the lack of it has
allowed us to watch the cricket test match.
We have been told today that the screen will be done by midday and can
collect it at 3.00am. Merry is still
doing great although she has been getting headaches due to insufficient water
intake (she claims) and her food intake has decreased now that she has come off
the steroids. Colleen rang yesterday to
inform us that Abby was in hospital with appendicitis which she had obviously
had for a while but hadn’t told anyone that she was in pain. She didn’t want to miss out on her netball
practice, or games, so she chose to put up with it. Apparently they were gangrenous and about to burst
when they finally took them out via keyhole surgery, and will stay in hospital
for a couple of days. There goes this
weekend’s netball game for our little tough nut. We arranged some flowers through Interflora for
her but we suspect she would have preferred the money towards new netball
shoes, or something similar. Abby phoned
us later in the day to let us know the flowers had arrived and loves them, and
to let us know that she is fine.
13th July 2013
Merry still doing very well and took Foxy for quite a long
walk (by her current standard) despite the drizzle. We then drove down to Sunbury and returned
the Kindle Fire HD to Dick Smith’s as it will only accept files Kindle files
that are bought directly from Kindle (Amazon) so it will not recognise the 4500
books already on her original Kindle and a lot of audible books.
She now has a Samsung Tablet instead which in theory should cater for both
.
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