15th May 2015
Merry went to the QE2 community centre to attend her
second art class and came home with her first quite good painting. Barry refitted the reticulation system that
feeds the bedroom courtyard and patio gardens to the new veranda in such a way
that you hardly know it is there. He
also finalised the odd few touch up details.
All that is left to do is the fancy flashing to cover the slight gap
between the gutter and the veranda roof.
This might be done tomorrow if the weather defies the prediction of 10mm
of rain for this area. Barry has
arranged for his knee replacement operation to be done in Bethesda Hospital in
Claremont, near Perth, to be done on the 27th May and also arranged
to stay with Ann and Ashley for a week or two for the initial recovery
period. This will allow plenty of
recovery time prior to our Singapore trip.
This afternoon we had a mad moment and played nine holes of not very
special golf as Merry is considering joining our old golf club again. Barry will not be joining as his rigid right
wrist doesn’t allow the required flexibility to get involved with club
competitions but may play occasional casual games.
16th May 2015
No progress with anything today as the predicted
rain started about 8,00am and continued all day as predicted and will continue
into tomorrow. However, we did enjoy the
ability to be outside under the new veranda during the rain although it was
chilly for us as the temperature was down to 21 degrees with gusty wind. On the other good side is the rain doing the
garden a huge favour and also has topped our rain water tanks up. There is a slight amount of rain sneaking
between the gutter and the sheeting as expected and will be overcome after the
rain has gone as we have the flashing ready to go, but not in the rain.
19th May 2015
The flashing has now been applied to the veranda
roof and is now waterproof except for about 1 metre at the end that isn’t going
to affect anything. The 10 metre roll of
sticky flashing was not a full 10 metres, plus Barry wasted about half a metre
in the process of applying it, which was not an easy performance.
21 May 2015
We have now added to the reticulation system and
checked it all prior to going to Perth for up to a couple of weeks and provided
the fish with feeding blocks to last the same time, plus the fish pond pump is
now on a timer to keep the water circulated for a while each day. Barry has to have a dental check tomorrow so
that all is in a good condition prior to the operation as he can’t have any
major dental work for 6 months after the anaesthetic. We have hired some crutched in readiness for
his after operation movement for several weeks use.
22nd May 2015
Barry attended his dental appointment and was
subjected to one filling that seemed to take an age and then had to have a
total mouth x-ray to obtain a letter stating that he will be dentally okay for
at least 6 months after the surgery on his knee. We are ready to leave on Sunday (tomorrow) to
head down to Perth.
24th May 2015
We drove down to Perth and called into Colleen’s to
see Richard and then continued on to Ann and Ashley’s including a minor detour
into a Kmart store on the way.
25th May 2105
We drove up to Bethesda Hospital in Claremont to
attend an appointment with the Pre-op nurse and the physio department, and had
a tour of the hospital to show us the room with a view that was awaiting
Barry’s arrival.
26th May 2015
We drove to the hospital again to be there for
7.00am and Barry went through the admission performance and then was taken
through to get ready for the operation.
His operation was the first for the day and was back in recovery by mid
day.
27th May 2015
Up out of bed and took his first short walk with the
aid of a frame to get showered before breakfast. After breakfast he started his physio
treatment and did very well.
31st May 2015
Merry collected Barry from the hospital and returned
to Ann and Ashley’s where we stayed for one more night.
1st June 2015
We left Perth and headed for Geraldton with Merry doing
the driving as Barry is not allowed to, with rest stops at Moore River and
Jurien Bay. Barry had to sit on the back
seat across the car as there is inadequate room for his leg any other way as it
doesn’t bend enough to sit normally yet
whilst needing supporting.
10th June 2015
Nothing of note has happened in the last few days
other than Barry visiting the physiotherapist and has performed his exercises
ever since but still hasn’t achieved the amount of movement we are after. He can get into the front seat of the car
now. He acquires more movement during
the day due to the exercises but come the next day he seems to back where he
started from, It is still very swollen
which makes it stiff.
9th June 2015
Barry has been taking walks to the end of our street
and back which is about a half kilometre walk but today he tossed the crutches
and walked round the block which is about a kilometre.
11th June 2015
Barry had the clips removed from his knee.
14th June 2015
Despite exercising as required 4 times a day and
some days even more, plus 45 minutes per day in the Hydrotherapy pool for the
last 2 days Barry’s knee bend still hasn’t improved, or at least not noticeably
enough to satisfy him.
15th June 2015
Barry visited the physiotherapist and was surprised
and pleased to be told he was doing much better than expected at this early
stage of recovery.
17th June 2015
Barry walked around the circuit that he used to do
each morning with Foxy which is about 1.5km and all went well although it was a
bit slower than usual.
18th June 2015
Barry took Foxy for her morning walk which will now
be a regular feature again just as it was prior to operation. He is still going for up to an hour of
hydrotherapy each day whilst Merry swims in the main pool which is improving
her fitness along with the eight km walk she does on most days. Today Merry had to have a visit to the
dentist for clean up job which is never a lot of fun.
20th June 2015
The weather is now definitely winter weather, even
by Geraldton standards. Barry’s knee is
still swollen but has gone down quite a bit and he is still exercising it four
times a day as well as walking and hydrotherapy.
21st June 2015
The weather is continuing to be pretty miserable
producing 60mm in the last twenty four hours. Fortunately, since daylight it
has stopped raining and appears to be improving slightly which is good as Merry
is driving solo to Perth to pick up Richard, Jack and Rory and will be
returning late this afternoon and evening.
They will probably arrive home after midnight as the kids flight from
Darwin doesn’t land until 4.00pm.
22nd June 2015Merry, Ric and the kids
arrived home earlier than predicted, about 11.00pm, but at least it was safely.
24 June 2015
Merry had her annual colonoscopy and all went well
and has now been clear to only undergo the procedure every three years.
26th June 2015
Barry had his return visit to his specialist who is
happy with the job he did on his knee and that he has progress well. Barry’s physiotherapist is also happy with
the progress and doesn’t require his attendance any more as he knows Barry will
continue with the prescribed exercises.
27th June 2015
Barry has been gradually increasing the length of
his morning walk with Foxy and today did a 3.5km walk that took almost an hour
as he is still not as fast as he used to be as yet but still working on
it. As it turned out, this was a bit on
the long side so future walks will be a bit shorter but have two of them per
day.
1st July 2015
Ric and the kids returned to Perth and will stay
with Colleen and Craig until the kids fly out on Tuesday back to Darwin and Ric
flies out to a mine site shutdown for 11 days on Wednesday before returning to
Geraldton, subject to more work appearing on the scene. Meanwhile we have our house back to ourselves
along with the peace and quiet and are able to get back into our own routine
that also includes the use of our vehicle. Ric has taken the kids to a variety
of activities during their week and a half in Geraldton, such as archery
Dongara, sand boarding and rock climbing at Greenough river mouth, fishing and
the local cinema.
3rd July 2015
Today’s walk was different in as much as we walked
down to the beach and back which is about a 15 minute walk each way under
normal conditions. Barry is a bit slower than that currently but the walk
involves a steep downhill walk for the middle 200 metres (the type that
cyclists get off and push) which means smaller steps to control your
speed. Naturally this also means coming
back up it on the return journey and is a real cardiac test but we survived and
the new knee managed very well.
Unfortunately, no matter which way we walk from our house we will always
have a hill to climb to get back home as the house is almost at the top of Mt
Tarcoola which puts us well clear of any surprise Tsunami even though three
quarters of Geraldton would vanish.
4th July 2015
Yesterday’s trial long walk with steep hills went
well but cause some knee stiffness today so the walks will be slightly shorter
without the severe hills for a bit longer but we will have two walks per day,
which is also easier for Foxy.
5th July 2015
Being a determined type creature, Barry decided today
that he attempt to operate the stationary exercise bike that we bought when
Barry was in hospital. It needed some
adjustments to the saddle height and saddle positioning front to back, but
found a position that allowed his right knee (the operated knee) to move
sufficiently to allow his foot to stay on the pedal as it rode up and over its
apex. In the process this meant the knee
was forced to bend to the 90 degree position with the help of some force from
the other leg. He then sat on the bike
rocking that pedal back and forth over the apex several times to let the knee
that he was going to win this argument.
It turned out to quite painful but now that he has achieved it he will
continue to do it every day for longer periods until it becomes easy.
8th July 2015
We both went to the QE2 community centre to the Gentle
Gym session that Merry had been going to prior to stopping for Barry’s hospitalisation
and follow up assistance. She is now
able to return and taken Barry also as the exercise may assist his knee.
9th July 2015
Barry is still doing the walks and still riding the
bike even though it is not yet any easier, but is doing it for longer session several
times a day.
