Getting closer

The antibiotic finished yesterday and the drain was removed today. I'm freeeee! I kept forgetting I had attachments when I'd go to get up.

Assuming all continues to go well I'll be out of here on Saturday.

Himself has rung me so many times today my head is spinning. The Mermaid rang me three times and Three rang and texted several times. I think I need to go home for a rest!

Himself will get the keys for the house tomorrow. Sadly it won't be til later in the day and Three and Sally will have already left so it will a lonely handover.

We have told the real estate agent that we will most likely see our lease out so the pressure is off a bit and we can move and unpack at our leisure and hope the weather gods will be kind and deliver the dry winter we were promised so the gardens can be installed.

So there we are. Not what I had planned but all will be fine. 

On the mend we hope.

My surgeon saw me yesterday afternoon and said he would do a "little tidy up" of the wound.

I went to theatre around lunchtime and had a washout and debridement. I now have 24 hour antibiotics going into my left arm and a drain coming out of my right leg. I fear I may end up like a tangled ball of yarn!

At least it has put an end to the waiting game that was the suction dressing. Now it's just a case of making sure all is going well and then I can be discharged.

I am hoping for Saturday as that works in best with the Mermaid but I think it might be Thursday or Friday which will interesting as I have nobody who can easily collect me.

No point worrying about it. If I have learnt anything over the past couple of weeks it's that sometimes one just has to suspend all plans and just go with the flow.

Still here

The wound is still draining so I am still here. We had discussed discharge tomorrow but it will at least be another day or so.

To be honest, bored and starved for fresh air as I am, I am in the right place.

I think I was a tad ambitious expecting to manage this any other way.

I could post pictures but you might be eating!

At least I have my kindle, my phone for podcasts and my knitting.

A mentioned to my nurse I had to ask Three to get me some shampoo and she gave me some hotel size bottles. The staff collect them when they stay in hotels for when patients forget ... or don't plan on long admissions!!

So my excitement tomorrow will be washing my hair.

It's the little things, folks!

Back

Not back here as such, but back in hospital.

Long story short, I ended up losing more fluid than my dressing could handle so came back up to Melbourne yesterday and was re-admitted today. A fancy sucky dressing in situ and if that doesn't work back to theatre on Friday. One of my sutures went AWOL so the wound opened a bit.

I'm in the best place, have no pain and am bored out of my mind but it could have been much worse. Main thing is not to get an infection.

At this stage he might let me out on Sunday and Three will take me home on Tuesday.

We get the keys to the house on 12th so I'd really like to be home for that!

Cool photo from the drive back yesterday.

Day 1 post op.

Thanks so much for all your good wishes.

This is the view from my chair. I've just had lunch.

The op went really well. The anaesthetist took my issues with my previous experience on board and the whole thing went really smoothly.

I have been up walking with physio and the frame and, bliss, had a shower. All dignity goes out the window when you're in hospital, doesn't it. My nurses have been wonderful but some of them look as if they should still be in high school!

I am being sensible and asking for meds if I feel the pain increasing but haven't had to much at all.

I did learn that leaning towards the right and bending over to pick up a pencil is NOT a great idea.

Tomorrow I should graduate to crutches and independent mobilisation and home Sunday.

When we left home it was still dark. We drove through some beautiful country with low mist as the sun rose. 

Can't wait to see that countryside again. The Mermaid is driving me home and I told her minimal freeway driving!

Getting weary now so will go and have a nap. 

MIA for a bit longer

Life has become a cross between busy as all get out and boring as a wet week - of which we have had a few.

The house, whilst so close to finishing I can taste it, has ground to a halt as we wait on people to come and fix their stuff ups. I can't begin to tell you how frustrating this is.

Other than that nothing is really happening apart from still loving where we live.

Three and the girls came down a couple of weeks ago over the King's birthday long weekend and it was lovely to see them. Alice is such a chatterbox now.

Tomorrow we head off at sparrow's fart for my 11.00 admission. I have every hope to be back home on Sunday if I can convince the Mermaid that I do NOT need to spend time at her house and she just needs to get me home asap. 

How long before I get back here is unknown but I will be back. I will try and post a quick update from hospital.

Love you all.

Catching up

I have taken a bit of a break from blogland. Indeed, the whole interwebs. 

Anyway, I am now back and should get back to regular commenting soon.

I left home after criminology and craft on Tuesday. I went via Rosedale (about 2 hours from here) as they have a yarn shop that I had to check out. Two balls of stripey sock yarn fell into my hands. I bought a take away coffee and a hedgehog slice as it was getting late and they only had a couple of sandwiches left. The car was pointing away from the highway so I decided to go the pretty way. Along the South Gippsland Highway through Yarram, Foster, Leongatha, and then up through Tooradin the way I usually go. The scenery was spectacular and I had a great drive but it did make a 4 hour drive more like a 6 hour one! Oh well, it was on my bucket list and I won't do it every time.

I saw the eye doc on Wednesday and he lasered both eyes. That was a very strange (and expensive) experience (I ended up about $400 out of pocket) but the difficulty with reading small print is much improved.

I headed home on Thursday. I might have taken another *ahem* short cut (as the crow flies, yes, as the car drives, not so much as it was a dirt road) but then I saw these views and was so happy I did. 

I am always a sucker for mountains and clouds ...

... and trees and paddocks and wide open spaces.

 

I love this photo. The road, the clouds, the smoke from the bushfire and the hill in the background. There were no alerts so I assumed the fire was possibly even a planned burn.

 

 

I got home and was so glad to be here. 

As I said before, I love clouds and Lakes always provides a stunning display ...

 

The house is coming along well. All the flooring is down. The site supervisor thinks we could get handover by the end of the month. How cool would that be?

On Saturday we chose our curtains for the living area. They won't be ready when we move in but we have blinds on all the important windows and with double glazing and good insulation we won't suffer with heat loss. 

Yesterday the weather turned. We have had rain and wind and more rain. I love this weather but think I am in the minority.

I went to history this morning and we had another great chat about lots of things. 

You have seen lots of photos from my balcony and today the surf was amazing even from this distance ... (biggerise the picture to get an idea of the waves and the spray - we are a good 4 or 5 kms from these waves).

On Saturday when we were in Bairnsdale we popped into the local Hyundai dealer and ordered one of these ... 

... it is another Kona but larger than my current one and has more bells and whistles safety features. I love the bright yellow. It is a very safe colour and I will never lose my car in a car park! I was happy with my current car but Himself has been itching for a new vehicle and as his car is the dog mobile it is not practical to replace it so I get a new Kona and he gets to drive it. We picked the sweet spot for trade-in. The change over price is excellent.

It should be here at the end of the month. About the time the house will be finished and I get a new hip! I really hope I get to drive it BEFORE the op or it will be a three week wait - maybe I can ask them to delay delivery.

Regardless, the next few weeks will be very busy with lots of things happening.