9th June to 19th June 2013

9^th 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.

10^th 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.

11^th 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.

12^th 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.

 13^th June 2013

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.

14^th 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

15^th 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.

16^th 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.

17^th 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.

18^th 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.

19^th 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.

1st June to 8th June 2013

1^st June 2013

Saturday passed as a wet day of rest which we took advantage of.  Merry had two attempts at real feeding, once in the morning with porridge and again in the evening with scrambled eggs but both attempts were not a great successes but heading in the right direction.

2^nd June 2013

 

Also a day of rest but not as successful as yesterday as Merry’s feeding tube developed a blockage, however, we did managed to clear it without having to return to the hospital for another one.  It isn’t much fun having them put in, the last time they had to have three attempts before being successful.  Otherwise the weather has cleared up a bit and allowed Barry to load some of our non-required items into the car in readiness for our departure on Wednesday.   The feeding method and the specialised food is not agreeing with Merry as it leaves her feeling permanently bloated, however, the Steroids that were prescribed for her on Friday do seem to be helping with the swelling in her throat and the soreness has reduced.  She has decided to remove the tube and go back to real eating, albeit somewhat mushy, as swallowing is easier now.   If that works it will leave us with about $300 worth of high protein liquid food and an untouched box of gravity feed bags that we no longer need.  Pity they didn’t try the steroids a week ago.

3^rd June 2013

We had an easy trip into the hospital today and found some easy parking that was partially paid for before we arrived, but still left some time on the meter when we left.  We phoned the suppliers of the liquid food and they are willing to take back the un-opened carton and are trying to arrange the return of the gravity bags, but we have yet to hear about that.  We came back to the hostel via a slightly different route in order to pick up some fuel and because it seemed easier used the same route after the afternoon treatment.  It was easier in the afternoon except for the last couple of kilometres but we were able to duck off through some backstreets to get around the snarl up.  Merry is feeling pretty good now and is eating regular food although only small quantities of mashed up stuff, and drinking tea and drinking chocolate, so all is good.

4^th June 2013

I spoke too soon as today’s meeting with the nurse has prompted them to panic because Merry has lost a couple of kilos due to not being able to get the liquid food done and only small real meals.  Just what she wanted but not what the doctor, or nurse, wanted as she must maintain her weight to prove she is receiving sufficient protein etc to help the healing stage.  Tomorrow we have to see another specialist to have a PEG installed so that we can feed her directly into her stomach which will probably happen in a little while.  So after the afternoon meeting with the specialist, etc, we head back to Woodend for a telling off from Foxy for abandoning her.  Apparently, even though Merry has come through the radiation treatment very well, the next few weeks will be worse as the effect of the radiation continues on its own, so basically the tumour has gone but that was the easy bit.  The staff in the radiation treatment machines, and especially those on machine 3 where Merry received most of her treatment, who treat her like a long lost friend and are the most caring people you could wish to meet.  She is now required to use a nebuliser to assist the clearing the muck in her throat which we would have to buy, or hire.  We have arranged to hire one from the Wooden Pharmacy for when we get back there but in the meantime we called into the local pharmacies in Ivanhoe to hire one there so merry could start straight away.  None of them had any for sale and only one hired them out but they were already in use but the lady on the check-out in the third pharmacy called us aside and said she had one at home that was longer needed, and later in the afternoon she delivered it to us and rejected any payment for it.  It is an old model but it works, a bit like us, so how kind was that.  Barry drove out to Bayswater to collect the annex wall that we arranged to be modified at Southern Cross Canvas who hurried this job through for collection prior to leaving Melbourne.

5^th June 2013

We have moved out of our room at Ryder-Cheshire House but as Merry’s appointment is not until 2.15am we are taking advantage of the community room until we need to leave.  

The trip into the hospital was easy as it was in a good time slot but there were no 2 hour parking bays available and we knew that we would be there for quite a while so Barry had to move the car here times.  Merry saw the nutritionist first with respect to having the PEG fitted who ended up not knowing whether it should happen or not, so she consulted Merry’s specialist who also became uncertain but decided to continue trying to eat and use the liquid food to supplement it.  Meanwhile they would arrange to have the PEG fitted with the ability to call it off if it proves to be unnecessary.  She then saw another two nurses who determined where the PEG would go but chose not to mark the spot.  She then saw the surgeon who would be putting the peg in and he sounded very unsure because of the number of abdominal operations Merry has already, with some leaving adhesions and a one surgeon put it ‘there is a mess in there’.  However, at this point it is going to happen unless it is called off prior to when it will happen.  We eventually left the hospital for the hour long drive back to Woodend

Yesterday we were given a printout of all the charges for Merry’s treatment which fortunately have been paid by our Medicare system as it is a public hospital.  It totalled around the $5000 mark.

6^th June 2013

Today the hospital rang twice, firstly to inform us of an appointment for tomorrow to see the nurse to have the PEG spot marked on her stomach.  Why didn’t they do that yesterday, having determined where it would go?  Now we have an 80km each way journey for them to put a Texta mark on her stomach.  Secondly to inform us that Merry is booked for the installation on the 17^th June which is going to be after she has battled through the theoretical worst period that the PEG is supposed to avoid.  Somehow we don’t think the PEG will be going in, especially as Merry ate a good sized fish meal last night, a good scrambled egg breakfast this morning and another good fish lunch followed by a chocolate mousse.  This evening she ate like it was her last meal being a chicken (slow cooked) with mashed potato and vegies with a second helping, followed by more fruit jelly and cream.   If she can continue like this even without the liquid food, it probably won’t be necessary anyway.  The nutritionist is supposed to be contacting us tomorrow to check on what she is eating and/or drinking, plus we will be checking that her weight isn’t still dropping which tonight was on the upward trend.  Things are looking good at this point in time as Steve and Terry are producing meals that really suit her situation.  Foxy seems to have forgiven us, and due to the lower night time temperatures in the caravan compared to the temperature in the house has decided to join us in bed again.  This could mean she is happy to be with us again or she is simply just looking after number one.

7^th June 2013

Merry has generally been a lot better today and her weight has improved.  She had a good breakfast (liquid meal), although she wouldn’t necessarily agree, a good lunch, a liquid meal mid afternoon and a good dinner/dessert.  Steve and Terry are being quite innovative with the meals to ensure Merry is able to swallow them and fill her up with goodness without discomfort.  Barry phoned the hospital in the morning and cancelled today’s belly marking session as it didn’t seem necessary in the light of Merry opting out of the PEG operation with it being so far though the worst of predicted rough time.   At this point in time it is not as rough as expected.  The nutritionist phoned in the afternoon to check on her progress and sounded satisfied with what she has eaten and her weight.  An appointment is being made at the hospital for Wednesday for another check-up and the final decision with regard to the PEG being installed or not, but our guess is that it will be ‘no thank you’.

8^th June 2013

Another day of eating quite well in small doses but still very weary despite having a good night’s sleep, so rested for most of the day.  The hired nebuliser is doing a good job for Merry’s throat and having done a side-by-side comparison with the old one that was given to us have decided to continue with the hired one.  We appreciated the lovely gesture but the old one takes three times as long to achieve the same outcome and with a lot more noise. Basically it is just a compressor that can’t compete with a modern unit as it is obviously very old and may have had a lot of usage.  Once we have no further use for a nebuliser we don’t have the room to carry it indefinitely so it would have found its way to the tip eventually.  Merry treated the evening dinner like it might be her last with the equivalent to a normal full dinner plate after she had her second helping followed by more apple and custard.  Things are looking good so far.

22nd to 28th May 2013

22^nd May 2013

Today Barry braved the Melbourne rush hour traffic to get Merry to her 9.30am appointment at the hospital.  As luck would have it, there was a vacant 1 hour parking lot right outside the hospital which was much appreciated and only cost $2.40 for the hour which turned out to be more than adequate.  The alternative had been to use the hospital parking but you can only use it on a day basis for $11 dollars plus when we got there it only had 1.9 metre clearance which would have removed our roof rack Being an early appointment there hadn’t been time for them to get behind their schedule so Merry actually had her treatment and was on the way of the hospital by the time she should have been starting it. On the way there we spotted an area where Barry may be able to park for 2 hours that is a relatively short walk from the hospital.

23^rd May 2013

The afternoon parking was also quite fortunate but due to seeing the nurse and doctor as well as the treatment Barry had to move from one 1 hour parking bay to another, but in this case only meant reversing into the bay behind him.  Today was an even earlier appointment and Barry was able to use a 2 hour bay which still had some time left on it so only had to pay $1.20 to top it up.  Being early meant the treatment happened straight away and allowed time to have a blood test sample taken by the vampire department.  Even allowing for this, we were back at the car very quickly and probably didn’t need to have put anything in the meter, but you never know in advance.   Merry actually had a pretty rough day yesterday as eating and drinking is getting more difficult and in the afternoon became nauseas, developed a bad headache plus leg cramps.  It was this that instigated the blood tests but she has since discovered that she feels a lot better if she stays off the morphine, so the blood test may not prove anything but we shall see.   The afternoon treatment took a while as they were running late again so Barry had to juggle parking bays.

24^th May 2013

Today shouldn’t have been a problem as we arrived early and Merry received the treatment early but had to see the doctor and nutritionist.  The doctor turned up early and checked Merry’s throat which apparently is looking good, however, it was suggested that a gastro nasal tube be installed to assist with eating and drinking, as swallowing is becoming very difficult and painful.  She then saw the nutritionist for a while and in theory that was it for the day except now she has to go back downstairs and have the tube installed which then meant having an X-ray to check that the tube is positioned correctly.  Meanwhile Barry returns to move the car which has now got a $70 parking fine attached to it because Melbourne can’t, or won’t provide adequate parking within the area.   Barry moved to a 1 hour bay expecting Merry to emerge soon, but that didn’t happen as she had to wait for the nutritionist again to have a bag of food drained into her, so Barry had to move the car once more before Merry finally returned to go home for a short break before returning for the second treatment session.  This time we found a closer cheaper parking bay which is not usually available as other people get there earlier than us.

25^th May 2013

Being the weekend Merry doesn’t have to present herself for treatment so we can relax in the knowledge that we now have to order and therefore buy the nutritional packs and gravity bags so that she can maintain her weigh, and eat in some form of comfort.  If we were Victorians this would be freely given to us, but being West Australians we have to buy our own.  Paying into the so-called National Medicare scheme for years means nothing because when you need treatment etc it suddenly becomes State based, and having not lived in WA for the last six months we get nothing from them but we are expected to go out of our way to vote in their mandatory elections, or face a fine.  We haven’t been in Victoria for six months either but it probably wouldn’t help if we had, as we aren’t on a Victorian electoral role.  In many ways the health system is as archaic as the original Victorian age.  On the brighter side, the nursing staff and Merry’s specialist are absolutely great.

27^th   May 2013

We had a very clear run through to the hospital as it was after the mad rush that is usually absolute bedlam, and makes you wonder what it would be like if some dramatic event took place.  There would be more people killed in the panic on the roads than from the actual event   We found a 2 hour parking reasonably close but the hospital was running on time and we could have got away with a 1 hour bay which would have been closer still and would have been of benefit to Merry who is now struggling to walk any distance beyond 20 metres.  Future visits will involve dropping her off at the door and then find a parking bay.

28^th May 2013

Today was another early appointment that meant battling with the rush hour traffic again but we usually allow extra time to allow for it.  However, the twelve 1 hour parking bays opposite the hospital entrance had been roped off for some sort of major maintenance but we did manage to grab one beside the hospital.  The treatment was over quickly but Merry had to also see the nurse which took a long time so the car had to be moved.  After that session she then had to get some prescriptions made up and are told it will take an hour.  After waiting as long as possible Barry went off to move the car again but as there were none available to move to simply decided to slowly circumnavigate the block a few times.  Fortunately Merry called him on the phone just before finishing the first lap and was able to pick her up and head home.  The afternoon appointment gave us the opportunity to use the same parking area and we got away with only one 1hour session by a few minutes.  We noticed that the work across the road from the entrance amounted to half a dozen star pickets being driven into the ground and tape attached to keep traffic out.  Not bad for a day’s work, Barry wants a job like that.  Overall, today was a much better day for Merry who was feeling a lot better.

4th May to 21st May 2013

4^th May 2013

Last night when Merry attempted to turn off our gas heater that we have now used for the last seven days, it wouldn’t let her.   It wouldn’t let Barry turn it off either so he turned the bottle off to kill it.  Later in the night he was able to turn it off so it seems that something expands with the heat and stops the control knob from turning.  It did it again in the morning so Merry phoned the shop where we bought it and arranged to have it changed.  This meant driving to Carrum Downs on the other side of Melbourne, about 110km each way, so the $129 heater has now cost us about $50 in fuel and toll road fees to get it replaced.  If the replacement does the same thing in a week’s time, or any other time, it will hit the rubbish tip rather than cost another $50, and use that money towards something else unless the Primus sales rep comes to us.  We sent a text message to Sue wishing her a happy birthday, which seems to be the modern, totally impersonal, way of communication.

7^th May 2013

So far the new heater hasn’t let us down but it is still a bit early yet. Merry has now had four of her radiation treatments that now take approximately two minutes time now that the initial two visits are over.  During those visits they have to take X-rays to study to ensure the alignment with the target is correct and make necessary adjustments to the mask that holds her head in place, and still.  It is just unfortunate that she has to travel for about 1.5 hours each way to receive the treatment.  Next week she moves into one of their hostels that will put her much closer and will be able to travel on the trams.  This will be much better for especially when the treatment becomes twice a day with six hours between them, but the hospital is trying to get her into one of the hospital accommodations alongside the hospital and possibly into hospital for the final week

9^th May 2013

Merry’s treatment is still going okay and has confirmed the accommodation for Sunday.  Barry and Foxy will be able to maintain their 4kms morning walk along with Steve and his dog Badger, and his sister’s dog Toby on Thursdays. 

12^th May 2013

Barry took Merry into Ryder-Cheshire House and settled her in.

13^th and 14^th May 2013

Merry is managing by herself at the Ryder-Cheshire House which has included a trip to a 3D movie.

17^th May 2013

Barry drove down to the Ryder-Cheshire House to bring Merry home for the weekend.  Her twice a day treatment starts on Wednesday so Barry will move in with her as it is expected to make her more tired than she currently is. 

18^th May 2013

Whilst here in Wooden, Merry is cooking a variety of stews, one which will provide for tonight’s meal and the remainder will be put into a blender to make it virtually drinkable.  The other stew will suffer the same fate so that Merry can eat/drink them next week as swallowing is becoming an uncomfortable exercise.  It currently feels similar to having tried to swallow a large pill that has chosen to lodge in the throat.

19^th Nay 2013

Barry drove Merry back to Ryder-Cheshire house and moved in as well.

20^th May 2013

Barry went into the hospital with Merry in the ambulance as Merry had an early appointment and would probably be out again very quickly.  That didn’t happen as the ambulance was late doing the pick-up and got to the hospital late and then waited more than an hour before having her treatment, which was quick but they arranged for her to see the nurse because drinking water was becoming a problem.  This led to her seeing a doctor who has now prescribed Morphine to make it easier to eat and drink as she is not allowed to lose weight because that affects the fit of the face mask that holds her head still during the treatment and accuracy is vital.

21^st May 2013

Having now tried using the liquid and tablet morphine, eating and drinking is marginally better at this point in time

18th April to 3rd May 2013

18^th 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.

19^th 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.

20^th 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.

21^st 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.

22^nd 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.

23^rd 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.

24^th 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.    

25^th 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.

26^th 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.

27^th 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.

28^th 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.

29^th April 2013

The night was much colder than the previous night and Foxy joined us in bed at about 2.00am.

 

29^th 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.

30^th 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.

1^st 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.

2^nd May 2013

Merry went into the hospital for her second treatment on her own and fortunately didn’t experience the dizziness or nausea.

3^rd 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.

1st April to 17th April 2013

1^st April 2013

Garon took Colleen, Craig, Emma and Abby to the airport after a huge farewell roast dinner.  Apparently the flight back was better than the one coming here, and they arrived intact.

2^nd April 2013

The weather has now turned cold and wet but at least Colleen and Co don’t have to suffer it.  Garon and Sue have returned to work and left us at home alone once more.  Merry has now been informed of a date (11^th April) for a PET scan and another CT scan.

3^rd April 2013

Barry contacted an arbourist to check out the neighbour’s tree for a quote to get rid of it as it is a treat to Garon and Sue’s house, but he didn’t turn up.

4^th April 2013

Barry contacted some more arbourists to check out the tree but could only get one to come tomorrow and left a message to ring back with the other.  The original one from yesterday has come today with a final result of $1950.

5th April 2013

The second arbourist came this afternoon and is somewhat dearer at $2750 so we can guess who will get the job on the assumption the neighbour is willing to go ahead.

6^th April 2013

Garon and Sue approached their neighbour with the quotes for removing his tree and also replacing the rotting fence, and were pleasantly surprised that he agreed to both projects.  He has agreed to go halves on the fence which Garon and Barry will replace to cut the cost.   Fortunately it never got to the stage were Garon had to offer to pay half as incentive towards its removal, so it is assumed the neighbour will bear all of that cost as it is his tree.  Garon had been willing to share that cost purely to remove the treat to his house as more than half is already hanging over his side of the fence and it is a very tall tree leaning his way.  We will wait until the tree is removed before attacking the fence in case we disturb the tree roots and bring it down prematurely in one hit.  Apparently he is going away for a few weeks so the projects will be on hold for that period.

7^th April 2013

Garon and Sue took a drive along the coast and found a spot for a picnic whilst we drove out to Karokook Park and took Foxy for a 1.8km walk around the lake.

8^th April 2013

Barry started to sand the wooden bridge floor between the bedrooms and bathroom and was then joined by Merry to assist along the edges and do the vacuuming to keep the dust under control.  This is being done to re- treat the floor because a roof leak damaged an area some time ago.  The leak was fixed but the wooden floor was left looking sad.  As Garon and Sue will be moving to Perth soon it needs to be done prior to either renting or selling, and we just happen to be here at the right time to help sort out some of the tasks.

9^th and 10^th April 2013

We continued with the sanding using Garon’s orbital sander.

11^th April 2013

Barry continued with the sanding only today we hired an industrial floor sander and a belt sander and made a huge impression and gave us the chance of getting the job finished.  Merry went up to the Hospital for her PET scan which is designed to ascertain whether there are any more cancer problems within her anywhere which could be the originators of the two cancers that she has now produced  or whether they may the originators of others.  It turns out that there are no more signs of any others cancers anywhere else so all is good, and her radiation treatment starts in a few weeks time. 

12^th April 2013

We finalised sanding of the edges  and cleaned up before heading out to Steve and Terry’s at Woodend for the weekend to give Garon and Sue the chance to coat the stairs and landing with a sati polyester finish.  This requires three coats and 16 hour in between coats.  That would have put the upstairs bedroom and bathroom (ours) out of reach which is why we went to Steve and Terry’s.

13^th April 2013

Steve drove us up to Bendigo to visit the Aldi supermarket to buy a $49 ereader which includes a protective case and is also a calendar, calculator and FM radio, plays videos, music and photos as well as being a book reader.  It has a four Gig on board memory and a mini SD card slot to take a 32 gig card.

14^th April 2013-04-15

Steve drove us to Sunbury to visit Big W shopping centre to buy a 32 gig mini SD card to enlarge the memory of the new ereader that we bought yesterday in Bendigo.

16^th April 2013

We drove back to Garon and Sue’s and were pleased to see the final results of the 5five and a half days of sanding with the new coating were well worth the effort despite there being a few bits that could have been a little better.

17^th April 2013

We bought some flywire screening and replaced the flywire in the lounge front window and have enough on the roll to do the side lounge window tomorrow and will buy another roll for two upstairs windows.  This will avoid any potential tenants from complaining about the screens when Garon ad Sue are in WA and have to get the agent to hire somebody to do it.

20th March to 31at March 2013

20^th March 2013

We have now heard that Merry has an appointment at Peter Mac Hospital on 26^th March and unfortunately at 8.30am.  They don’t take into account the fact that we have a 1.5 hour journey to get there, however, unless we misinterpreted the booklet they sent us, the treatment is not going to cost us much if anything.  We will know more next week which coincides with our daughter, Colleen arriving with her husband Craig and two girls, Emma and Abby.   It is a fair bet that Colleen will go to the hospital with Merry in place of Barry who will look after Craig and the girls.

21^st March 2013

We had a trial run to Peter Mac hospital so that we knew the exact whereabouts and the train times merry needs to know to ensure she arrives on time on Tuesday.  We got to Parliament station alright but exited by the wrong exit which caused us to take about half an hour to get to the hospital instead of the ten minutes that it should take.  We timed the correct return trip to the station so that we were sure of the overall timing and then found somewhere to have a late breakfast.  From there we went to Carlton Gardens to a Garden and Flower show with the sales type stalls in the gardens and the flower show in the Royal exhibition Hall.  The Hall is a massive, beautiful building that looks like it should be someone’s palace but is completely empty except for the flower displays.  We spent several hours at this show before heading to find that Foxy had managed to escape.  We don’t know long she had been out for but Barry found her sitting on the pavement just around the corner about 30 metres away, but she seemed worn out as if she had been going round some of the walks we take her on, possibly in the hope of finding us.  Fortunately it all turned out okay but we now have to make the fence somewhat more secure before we leave her again.   

22^nd March 2013

Merry had her MRI scan at Clayton that took about 2.5 hours by the time they had done the scans and made the CD for her to take to the Peter Mac Hospital on Tuesday.

24^th March 2013

We all spent a fair part of yesterday and today preparing the house for Colleen, Craig, Emma and Abby arriving tomorrow, which involved organising two double airbeds. Moving our stuff down to the lounge which will become our bedroom so that Colleen’s lot can have the upper level and Garon, Sue and us use the bottom half of the house for sleeping, etc.  Soxy the cat, has also had a slight infection and had to have a visit to the Vet but seems to be okay now but is on antibiotics as a precaution.

25^th March 2013

Susanne collected Colleen, Craig, Emma and Abby from the airport, for which Barry will be forever grateful, and they arrived home in time for the dinner Merry had prepared, after a not too brilliant flying experience with Virgin Airways.

26^th March 2013

Merry and Colleen were dropped off at the railway station to go to Peter Mac Hospital for Merry to meet her surgeon.  This took her about 2 hours which worked out fine by the time the rest of colleen’s tribe had come up for air and went with Barry to the train station and meet up with Colleen and Merry to all go to the Victoria Street Markets.  After some lunch we all took the City Tram which did a roundabout trip to Harbour town, and then in to Federation Square.  We bailed out at a stop before Fed Square and went into the Melbourne Aquarium to see the Penguins, etc before crossing the Yarra River via one of the many footbridges and walked along the West Bank and veered off to the Eureka Skydeck were Colleen’s tribe took the trip to the top whilst Merry and Barry waited at the bottom as we did this during are previous trip to Melbourne.  We then all walked to Fed Square where we took in the atmosphere for a while and then took a Horse and carriage ride out to the Botanic gardens and back. 

This was followed by dinner and then back to the casino on the West Bank so our visitors could see the gas flares on the riverside and a look inside the Casino.  We then headed home to avoid keeping Garon and Sue up too long . Whilst we waited for Colleen’s tribe in the Sky tower we had a phone call from one of Garon/Sue’s neighbours to let us know that they had Foxy in their house as she had escaped again despite Garon and Barry putting in a much improved barrier to keep her in.  Apparently she burrowed out and Garon has now improved on our improvement.

Merry now has more information with respect to her treatment and knows that it starts in three to four weeks time for six weeks.

27^th March 2013

Barry took Colleen’s tribe out to the Dandenong ranges to enjoy the views, have lunch at Grant’s Picnic Area cafe were one used to be able to feed the birds which now isn’t allowed.  We had lunch in the cafe and moved on the Belgrave to the Puffing Billy Train ride but Colleen/Craig considered it too expensive and also didn’t fancy sitting on a train for two hours, so we headed home.  However, they did get to see an Echidna cross the road during our travels.

28^th March 2013

We took our car plus Sue’s car to the railway station and then took the train into Melbourne where we walked from the Richmond station to the MCG and took the tour of the facilities which are used by both Australian Rules Football (aerial ping pong) and cricket.  We had lunch in the 'Paddock' cafe and then descended into the Sports Museum which has an interactive sections where the girls could practice there skills at archery, football, soccer, running out batsmen, netball and more, which they enjoyed more than the museum as such.  We then crossed over the road and railway via the footbridge to the Rod Laver Tennis Arena, but unfortunately that was closed.   The footbridge interconnects with about five different sporting venues as well as accessing the trams, trains and walking back into Federation Square (about tem minutes).  We took the tram into Fed Square where Merry and the girls took the train from Flinders Street station to go back to our car at Mentone and to take the girls shopping and to the cinema.  Craig, Colleen and Barry stayed in town and walked some of the lanes and alleys to pass some time until meeting up with Sue and Garon in Fed Square.  During this time Barry received a phone call from a neighbour that was in possession of Foxy who had escaped once again, so Barry phoned merry who was heading that way so that she could retrieve her.  Hoe she managed to escape is a mystery as the improved barricades show no signs of disturbance, no tunnels, etc.  After meeting up with Sue and Garon we all walked back to the MCG and watched the Footy match between Carlton and Richmond.  We left at three quarter time as the preferred team was losing badly, and walked back into town for a coffee were we discovered that the preferred team had come back dramatically, but eventually lost narrowly having had at least two missed chances to win.  

29^th March 2013

Barry transported Colleen, Craig and the girls to the railway station so that they could take a train up to the Melbourne Zoo, and collected them on their return.  Meanwhile the rest of us had a lazy Good Friday around the house.  The evening dinner was to be homemade pizzas Sue mixed the base ingredient and allowed to rise and from there the two girls took over and kneaded and rolled the mixture to produce the three bases and applied the variety of chosen toppings.  Garon cooked two of them in the Weber Q whilst Sue did the third one in the oven, and all three were really good.

30^th March 2013

Being a Saturday there was a late arising, especially with the teenagers but we eventually drove along to Saint Kilda for a fancy breakfast and a walk through the shopping area to buy a heap of cakes for afternoon tea.  Dinner was to be Indian style made by Colleen but Garon thinks his Indian meals are better so we had an Indian cook off.  After the cook off, Abby and Garon went for a run which pushed it a bit for Abby who was running in sand shoes which was tough on her legs.  The eventual conclusion of the cook off was that both were great in their own right and complemented each other despite the obvious differences. 

31^st March 2013

Colleen and her tribe, along with Merry went to a Direct factory Outlet to that Abby could buy some proper running shoes for future runs.  Unfortunately that will not happen today as Colleen’s tribe have to fly back to Perth in the afternoon.  It has been a short but sweet visit which has been great for us as it was five years ago that we last saw them.  The girls were literally little girls and are now young ladies, although lady doesn’t quite suit Abby as she is the impish one.  Emma is the bright academic type and Abby is the energetic sporting type although Emma does play netball and also referees netball.  Merry was very happy to have colleen with her at her hospital meeting with the surgeon as she know the right questions to ask, and now that she knows exactly what is happening with her mother cam stop worrying about her.