Recovering (2)

On By gxhIn Health food diet, Lifestyle medicalLeave a comment

Perhaps I’m over-thinking all this but for now my life revolves around the convalescent process!   As I’ve already said, I was well-informed about what to expect during the current phase.   This took the form of both verbal and practical instructions, but everything is put in writing, as well.   But “living the experience” is more challenging than I anticipated.

In hindsight, it’s interesting to have moved from the “full-on” hospital environment where you’re monitored 24/7 (the nurses seem to spend as much time at their computer screens as they do with patients) to a home environment where you’re completely left to your own devices.   Yes, there are numbers you can call if an issues arises, but nothing pro-active, such as a check up phone call.

I’m aware that the there are rehabilitation facilities in the system, so I’m not complaining;   it’s not as though I feel that level of support.

… and, yes, I’ve been using a stick when out in the streets.

In the meantime, at least I feel that I’m progressing, although in “fits and starts”.     There are a couple of issues remaining,  one of which is sleeping.    I try not to doze too much during the day, and to get out and about walking the streets (in moderation).   But even so, sleeping at night has at times been  “patchy” – very annoying.  But this aspect has been gradually improving, particularly as the pain has lessened (nearly all gone, in fact) and I’ve been able to adopt less restrictive sleeping positions.

Cats

On By gxhIn Animals birds, Canberra, Writing and poetryLeave a comment

I see that new rules are being introduced for domestic cars in the ACT, under a new cat plan.   Even though these rules do have an element of micro-management, I can understand their rationale.    We had a cat for many years, and it was hard to stop him from exercising his instincts to hunt the birds.   The rules in ACT are being phased in and “grandfathering arrangements” are to apply for cats owned before 1 July 2022, which means that already-owned cats do not need to be contained if their owners do not live in an existing cat containment suburb.

I couldn’t help contrasting the ACT’s approach with the Greek approach to cats, including the Leigh Fordors at Kardamyli.   Joan apparently liked to have cats around, and in her biography, it’s stated that there were numerous cats there,  all descended from a single Abyssinian.   At one stage, someone counted 73, although mention is made that Joan sometimes put them down using strong sleeping pills. 

Recovering

On By gxhIn Health food dietLeave a comment

Life continues to be “subdued” while I’m in the “convalescent” phase. There’s pain management of course (coming along OK, I think), but there are also significant lifestyle constraints while my body recuperates.    One of them is sleeping, but bear with me if I don’t go into all the details.    Suffice to say that some aspects are coming along better than others.

Lots of support and information about pain management

I think that the care I’ve received has been very good.   I was sent off to a couple of different specialties before the procedure, so I was fully informed as to what to expect, and things have in fact been in line with what I was told would be the case.    However, the mental trauma has been greater than I anticipated.    Family support has been great which has helped, and it’s been nice to have had a couple of rank discussions with friends, but at the end of the day, it’s sometimes been hard at times to stay positive about the whole thing.

Post surgery

On By gxhIn Around Victoria, Health food diet, Natural eventsLeave a comment

I was glad to get out of the hospital and back home.    Although I’ve nothing but praise for the care and attention provided by all the staff at Cabrini (and the wi fi was fine!), I much prefer being in my own environment, even if there are going to be on-going issues that are definitely going to limit my lifestyle for a while.  There are the obvious ones, such as no heavy lifting and no driving, but the procedure I had comes with its own issues and I am having to work through these.  There’s nothing unexpected; I was fully informed about what would occur, but that doesn’t remove the need to deal with each issue.

The recent storms in Victoria occurred during my stay in hospital, but it was only after I got home that I had any idea of extent of the damage.

Surgery

On By gxhIn Health food dietLeave a comment

I’ve had a few procedures over the past year or so, but the surgeon told me that there was an issue that needed to be fixed, so I’m in hospital.  It took a total of 3 hours from when I “went under” until I saw the time on the clock in the recovery room.  How long the procedure took, I’m not sure because I don’t know how long the process of “waking up” takes.  Be that as it may, the anaesthetic certainly left me very groggy for the rest of that day.    Also, I was surprised that my vision was a little blurry for longer than I expected.   However by mid-morning the next day, the pain was being managed effectively, although seemingly it’s going to take a little time for life to get back to near normal.

The surgeon seemed somewhat self-satisfied with himself when he called past in the morning.   Hopefully this was a good sign!

Offer to buy “off-market”

On By gxhIn Consumer issues, HouseLeave a comment

We get lots of “stuff” from estate agents, all of whom would like to sell the house: flyers in the letterbox, emails, phone calls to “keep in touch”, and so on. I know this is usual; the challenge for most agents is to get the listing.

Less common are the “plain” letters: “we’re a couple and we’d like to buy your house, without involving an agent”.    We got one of these recently: “My partner and I are actively looking for a family home in the area having recently sold our home”.  It went on for a few paragraphs, and ended with an offer to meet over coffee.

Well, it didn’t actually state that the “couple” concerned were going to live in the house.   And, strictly speaking, would it matter?   But the email address given led to a property development company (easily googled).   I guess that if a transaction eventuated, it could be said that the hint was there from the outset.