Sunday 19 August 2012

Goodness me

Blogger has changed yet again.  One way to get a bit of web experience I guess.

Anyway, it's been an interesting week.  Recently I was called in to the doctor's office to get some test results.  We have been working toward eliminating my pain centres.

We changed my medications - Panadol Osteo for the arthritis, Indocid for the back.  Coincidently the Panadol helped the back.  But it didn't help the achilles tendon, which worsened when the back went out.

Turns out I have some degeneration of where the tendon joins the bone, due to wear and tear.  Favouring the back has put more strain on the ankle.  And my iron levels are low again.  Sigh.

I left there armed with a note for an X-ray and ultrasound, with added steroid injection for my ankle, and a referral to a specialist for my iron levels.  Both in the same building.

But with my interstate visit, I deferred it to this week.  It's been a week of stuff going on.  First, Dobby lost her retainer, so on Tuesday I had to leave work early and take her down to the dentist to do another mould on her teeth.  Wednesday I worked back an hour, and Thursday I had to go to a meeting for the Family and Friends Caravan and Camping Club.  That's right, no more SAPI.  Sad, but exciting all the same.  It was also pouring down rain!  Amazing the amount of rain we had.

Thursday morning was also ankle day.  I was unable to get both the appointments for the same day, so it was just the ankle.  I had the X-ray, then the ultrasound, then the radiologist grabbed a medico and they gave me the steroid injection.  I have had a permanent limp for about nine months or more now.  Very painful.  I remember one rally where I could barely walk, I felt like a cripple.

So imagine my surprise when I get to the take away shop Thursday night, and walk limp-free down to the grocer and back.  It was amazing.  I am now pain free for the first time in months.  Well, in the ankle anyway.  That was way quicker than anyone expected.  I was told it could take at least 5 days.

Then, Friday morning was the specialist visit.  I parked the car a couple of blocks away, and as I alighted the car, I noted the sky was black.  Very black.  I popped the boot and as I was removing the umbrella from my bag, it started to rain.

I closed the boot, locked the car and while crossing the road opened the umbrella.  By the time I got it all the way open it was pouring!  And windy to boot!  I got to the crossing lights, and the rain had turned to small hail.  It was pouring, wet and windy.  The umbrella got blown inside out and I had to walk very fast (I simply do not run) to get to the shelter of the hospital.

I made it with time to spare but was soaked all down one side.  Never mind.  That aside, the visit went well.

I found out that my tiredness and blonde moments were typical to low iron (I already knew that) but I also found out that my restless leg symptoms are a direct manifest of the condition as well.  That made so much sense.  I have been suffering for some time with achy, tingly, jumpy legs.  Feels horrible.  I can't get comfortable and they don't seem to relax.  Jiggling them is the only way to feel any type of relief.  What an amazing thing to find the conditions are related.

Anyway, when I told him that's what I was experiencing, he changed his plan of attack.

First we are going to have an endoscopy with a colonoscopy.  Nice.  Not.  That is just to rule out any pathological reason for the low iron levels.  Once I go back for the results for that, we will make a date for a drip feed.  I could go on supplements again, but he said that for the restless leg symptoms, he would like to kick start my treatment with a direct infusion via IV, which takes about 3 hours, and has a faster effect.  The pills will take a couple of months but the IV will take a few days to a week.  I like that idea.

I was feeling a bit crap so now that I have my laptop, I was able to pack up a bag of work and head home early.  I also had to take Dobby back to the dentist to pick up her plate.  Poor lamb, though.  Her teeth have shifted and the once-straight front teeth have shifted and one now slightly overlaps the other. She is sooo not happy.

In other news, Dobby has a boyfriend.  I am not sure how I feel about that.  When we were young it wasn't done.  At all.  And add to that, she is 15, he is 17.  They don't see each other, she goes to a girls school and he lives in a small town outside Adelaide.  But they are in regular contact.

Apparently he has been pushing her to meet us, so we arranged for him to come to lunch Saturday.  They were both nervous.  Ain't that sweet?

So he comes over around ten Saturday morning.  He's very tall (around 6').  Has a stretcher and snake bites, glasses, short hair, and is quite imposing.  No, that's not the right word.  He's a presence.  Loud.  Dobby introduces him and Fluffy invites him to sit at the table where we are.  I ask Fluffy to make coffee but he doesn't move, so I make it.

Conversation is awkward.  He's not a great communicator, and I think the poor bloke was nervous.  Dobby was.  She was also doing the 40 hour famine, so she's not eaten either.

I send them off to the shop for cheesecake ingredients, which keeps them occupied for a while.  When they get back they disappear to Dobby's room (she at the desk, he on the bed, don't worry we checked!) while Fluffy and I go about our business.  I cooked Fettuchini Bolognese for lunch with a salad.  

There is a lot of laughing and chatting coming from down there.  That's nice.  He makes her laugh and she him.  Sweet.

At lunch he tells us he wants to be a body piercer.  No problem with that.  He is doing a type of bridging course equivalent to year twelve so hopefully he can get good enough grades to get into TAFE for his apprenticeship.  I hope he finds something he can do which he enjoys.

They again retreat to the room for a bit, eventually deciding to go for a walk.  They are gone 3 hours before Dobby comes back, but she was on FB so I asked what they were doing and she said they walked to Castle Plaza where she saw him off on the bus.  They both enjoyed their day and she had a great distraction from her hunger.

She came home, briefly spoke to us, then put herself into bed to watch TV.  When Fluffy checked on her later she was sound asleep.  We sat and watched Karate Kid together before heading off ourselves.  What a day.

Sunday sees the end of the famine at 12.00.  At 12.01 Dobby is at the kitchen table munching on leftover pasta.  Happy kid.  I am very proud of the job she did.

I brought work home on Friday afternoon so I had better do a little of that today.  Otherwise, think I'll just sit quiet.  Yes, think that's just what I'll do...

Sunday 12 August 2012

Interstate Visit

This blog will be a long one, because it's got lots of visual art for your enjoyment.  I won't bother blogging about the last two weeks, cause that was just work and stuff, so nothing worth reading about there.  However, this last four days has seen a visit from my bestie Wally.

I'd like to say we turned on great weather for her.  She thinks we did - there was no hail or snow, so she's happy!  Today, she flew home, and the sun's out and there's not a cloud in the sky - typical! 

Anyway, where to begin.  
Wally arrived on Wednesday afternoon, while I was at work, and settled herself in at the motel down the road from home.  I picked up Dobby from netball and we headed over to collect her (and pizza for dinner).  It was lovely to see her again.  Dobby was also beside herself, seeing her Godmother again.

We brought Wally back home for dinner, but as she'd been a busy little beaver that day she called it a night before seven.  Piker... :-)
Thursday I had the day off work, and Fluffy took the van up to Port Wakefield for the weekend.  It was also the SAPI AGM.  He needed a few days peace and quiet and I needed serious girlie time.

Fluffy took Dobby to school, came home and hooked up the van.  After I saw him off Wally and I headed down to Hahndorf for the day.

We both were inrtigued by the candles in one store, and she wanted to buy me one, and I wanted to buy her one.  But she bought me a big one and only wanted a little one for herself, the wicked girl.  They had virtually no smell in the store, but when we got them home the smell was very strong.  Weird.

We stopped for a look at the Beerenburg farm outlet for some fresh jams and things.  I found some garlic sauce which looked very nice.  Wally found some other little delights.


After this we parked a bit closer to town and did the walk up the street.  We had lunch at "the top pub" although I think we should have gone to the "bottom pub".  Poor Wally had to go to the bathroom almost immediately after.  Badly.  While she was in there I took advantage of the flora outside the toilet block.





Kept me out of mischief for a bit anyway.

Then we crossed the road and did the other side.  Wally's dream has been to see the pandas, so you can imagine how excited she was to find this:



What she is pointing to there is the initials TW, scratched onto the Panda's forehead.  She swears she hasn't been here before to do that... we wondered if her sister hadn't been here before her!

Eventually we decided, after spending more money, on afternoon tea at a dear little bakery, that had three tables with massive cow-hide covered chairs around them.  We chose a berry mousse type dessert and scones with jam and cream.  Lovely.



One of the more unique things we did was "make our own candles".  This little shop tucked up the back had some lovely (but expensive) candles.  They are made with wax particles which are melted.  We had the opportunity, for $14 each, to make our own.  Wally shouted, because it was a unique expereince.  The lass in the sorter advised us to keep them upright, but of course, that was near impossible.  This is what happend when you don't.  Each colour is a separate scent, but although mine didn't do too bad, poor Wally's all blended together.  She didn't mind at all.  This one is mine.  I tried for the rainbow look...


Eventually it was time to go home.  Dobby was waiting excitedly for our return.  I bought her a coffee cup with a delicious bubblegum scented candle inside it, so she was happy.
Chinese for dinner in front of the crime channel completed the day.

Friday Dobby got the day off school so she could go to the zoo with us.  Fluffy came back later that afternoon to pick her up and take her up to Port Wakefield with him, to give Wally and I some girlie time.  Bless him...

Pretty much the first stop (after the flamingos) was the Pandas.  This display was outside, and the girls had to stop for a pic.




Wally was in heaven.  Don't blame her really.  This one is Funi, she's the female.  She was happy just lying in the sun sleeping.



See Funi in the background?



This bloke is Wang Wang.  Wally nearly wet herself, because he was sitting so close outside eating.  It was wonderful to see them upclose and active.  Lovely creatures they are.



After the pandas we wandered about looking at the rest of the animals.  The seal feeding was interesting too, but I didn't put up any photos of that.
We walked through the bird sanctuary, and right inside the door was a black cockatoo.  He was jumping all around the railing, making himself quite known.  He was very friendly too, you could get right up close.  Dobby took her chances and he let her pat him very carefully.



Mum would have loved that bit.  I think we would have had a hard time getting her out of there.
These monkeys were cute.  They were the white-cheeked something or others.  The little white baby was playing with her black father.  It was sooo cute!


The other animals that took my fancy were these lemurs.  They always remind me (and everyone else I guess) of King Julian from Madagascar.  Lovely creatures they are.


Wally bought us both gifts from the gift shop (Dobby loves her owl, it went to Port Wakefield with her) and I love my bookmark and bag).  We dropped Wally off at the motel and Dobby and I came back to wait for Fluffy.

After they left I had time for a quick shower then off to pick up Wally for dinner.  We had to make a stop first to see a lady about some skin care samples.  That took a bit longer than I had planned but we eventually made it to the Buffalo Bistro. 

Adelaidians will know where I mean.  For the rest of you, the Buffalo is a ship that sits in the water at Glenelg.  It's a lovely old place, although it's not very busy.  I believe it's in a spot of financial bother too.  But the food (although in the uppper end of the price market) was fantastic and the service lovely.
Here are our desserts...





After dinner it was back home.  Wally was happy for me to drop her off home for an early night. On the way out to the car I dropped my scarf.  As Wally was bending down to pick it up an elderly lady walked past and farted.  Well Wally just lost it.  She says "that old lady just farted".  I'm giggling like a loon trying to get her to shut up, but she's adamant the lady should have said excuse me.  Very embarrassing but totally hilarious as well.  We couldn't stop laughing all the way home.  You just can't take some people out in public.

That evening, the frogs decided to croak.  Roger came for a look...


Saturday we had to drive up to Port Wakefield for the AGM.  This was an important one, as we had to vote in our name change.  Fluffy has a hammock set up outside the van.  Wally decided to try it out...


I didn't get any photos of her exit.  I was too busy laughing....

This tree stump was beside the caravan.  I was quite taken with the worm markings on it.


After the meeting, we acknowledged that the SAPI Caravan and Camping Club is no longer with a ceremonial lowering of the SAPI flag.


We are now known as the Family and Friends Caravan And Camping Club.  Here's to new beginnings.

Wally and I drove home after the flag lowering, and I said my goodbye's about 6.15pm.  I had a giggle actually because I had planned on letting Fluffy know I got home, but Dobby phoned me just as I was driving down the next street.  Had I gone directly home and not taken Wally back to the motel, I would have been just parking the car.  Great timing.

Anyway, last night I got the place to myself, nothing to do, no one to answer to.  I really have enjoyed the peace and quiet.  I sure did ned it.  Even the cat likes me again.  When Dobby is home he seems to gravitate to her (dunno why, she doesn't even like him).  So he has been sleeping on my bed and smooching all around me.  Lovely.

Today it's going to be a quiet morning, then off to buy some crickets for the frogs.  I have done one load of washing (sheets) then it's just the second load to do and vacuum the floors before the others come home.  I wonder when I can convince them to go away again?  I'm not sure if the cat misses the dog or is enjoying the quiet - at the moment he's asleep on the dog's bed...