MWNews 245

Probably take all week, but let's get started.

We planned on going to get Maeghan yesterday and take her for fish and chips. Maeghan and William do not like fish and chips but I had been craving them for a long time and this was a chance to go. They could have just chips or chicken nuggets or whatever else they might have for them. I wanted fish and chips.

We were going to have it on the beach or near the beach but things didn't work out. It was raining. So, no sitting on the beach or at a picnic table near the beach unless we wanted to get wet and sit in a puddle. Since Maeghan lives near the beach, and it was cool instead of really hot, I thought it was a good idea. But rain. So we tried to do it anyway.

My plan was to just pick her up, take her to lunch, and then take her back home. Juanita had other ideas and talked her into going home with us. She didn't bring her wheelchair, so they are not going to go anyplace else, but she has started trying to walk with her walking stick a lot lately and maybe that would be good enough. Juanita said she had to go to her swimming therapy today, so going home and staying with us so Juanita could take her was probably a good idea. Normally, or lately, Maeghan's helper comes over and takes her, but the helper has been sick, so she wasn't coming. Juanita was the only way for her to get there.

Going to have to step away, it is opening time.

Ok, I am back, sitting in the middle of a bunch of classes, trying to give IT support and none of them are using computers. Maybe I have a few minutes.

We decided to go to one of the cafes on the beach anyway. It was not facing the beach, so you could not see anything, but it looked like a nice cafe. No fish and chips. Breakfast items only, and kids meals. And very, very expensive. It was nice food, but at $36 for a place of bacon and eggs, it was kind of on the high side. I had avocado toast. Twenty dollars for one piece of toast. It did have a whole avocado on it that had been rolled in dukkha. Thats a spice mix native to Australia. It had a couple of pieces of rocket and spinach and some whipped, beaten thing that was white and fluffy. Kind of like whipped cream but it wasn't, or it could have been but it had almost zero taste. I was afraid it was mayonnaise, but turns out it wasn't, or maybe my powers of persuasion are good enough to convince myself it wasn't. Might have thrown up if it had been as I was determined to eat it at $20.

Maeghan had the kid's meal of bacon and eggs on toast. William had a bowl of fries but he said they were cold, so he didn't eat them. Maeghan and I ate most of them. Juanita had the big breakfast, something they called the carnivore meal. Lots of bacon, sausage, eggs and toast. But still, it was just breakfast. It had a big round ball on it that turned out to be a big round fried potato. Sort of like a hashbrown but it was big and round like a ball. She ate that first and then was almost sick. Never found out why, but once she was over it, she ate the rest. Gave some bacon to William and some sausage to William and Maeghan, there was that much of it. It came with fried tomatoes and mushrooms. I got the mushrooms. They were actually pretty good and went well with my avocado. 

In all, it was good, expensive, but good. I would have liked to sit there for a while longer, but the place was trying to close, so we finished and left. Not fish and chips, but it was good and probably, with the price of fish and chips these days, probably the same price. We had coffee also. I asked for a medium but it came in two large cups that can only be described as massive. I would have hated to see what the large was like. I can usually only finish about half of mine before it gets cold on a normal cup, but this was so big and hot, I drank most of it. Not a bad coffee. I have not been having coffee lately. Drinking mostly tea. Iced tea, green tea, some lemongrass tea here at work when I can get it. Just haven't been in the mood for coffee. But anyway.

I have been typing on this thing off and on all day. Started at 6:45, it is now 12:00. Not much progress. But I have found that I can type easier on the laptop as opposed to the keyboard I am using now. No idea why.

We had lunch/breakfast. It was raining or lightly raining. I decided to walk around the building to the park that was in front of the water. It might have been a nice park, but it was raining. Only one BBQ, but how busy could a place like that get. The water was way out. Only mud and rocks for about 200 metres. Not sure what it looks like when the tide is in but seeing it like that was kind of disappointing. Since it was raining, we didn't stay long. They had a nice wooden walkway, but I am not sure why. It was off to the side and did not really go anyplace except around the BBQ. I am not sure what purpose it served. The car was parked right in front of the park, so we walked the path, maybe 100 metres, and then got back in the car. 

I wanted to find a shopping center I knew was near there and we had been to sometime way in the past. I didn't remember a lot about it and was not really sure where it was, but I thought if we could find it, Maeghan might be able to go there instead of all the way back to Morayfield. I went the way I thought it was and went through a lot of neighborhoods and farms. Everyone kept telling me there wasn't one, but I kept going as some of the stuff looked familiar. I knew if we didn't find it, eventually we would end up back at the water. Even if we did find it, it would be too far for Maeghan to go.

I am not sure we actually found it. We came to a little shopping center with an IGA in it, but it was smaller than the one near Maeghan's house. Not many shops at all. I am not sure it was the right one, but we assumed it was and I went past it just in case. Ended up near the bridge to Bribie Island but no one else seemed to realize that. I turned and headed for home. There was a good farmers market along the way, but I did not stop. We were headed home, or actually, we were headed to go shopping for groceries. I did not want to go to the shops, so I went to the standalone store, meaning the one not in the shopping center.

It is now the next day and I have been tasked with a lot of work. I will not get a chance to type anymore in this entry, so we will leave it for another time. This one was ok but I have to get better, or back to the old ways, soon. Looking at the statistics, no one is actually reading this. Not that they ever did, but I would occasionally get some visits and there have been none in a while. Maybe I should actually advertise or put it out there that this exists. I did that way back when but never followed up with it and I am not sure I know how anymore. Guess it's just for me these days. That's ok. I like writing. Guess that wraps it up.

Until next time,

Later

MWNews 244

I don't have my pictures available so am not sure what this will look like when I go back and add it. I am not sure I have ever done that before; I usually start with the picture and then with the stories, but since I am taking the Naplan test, I have a little bit of time in between letting people go to the toilet.

Naplan is an Australian thing where they periodically test the students to see how they are doing. Not sure what the American equivalent would be. It's been 50 years for me. Tests take three days to complete and the school where I work has been number one for five or six years in a row, so they take it very seriously.

Right now, they just broke for lunch. Thirly minutes, which I would not consider lunch, but that's what they do here. Hardly a reason to leave as far as I am concerned.

A little catchup on where the operation is going. I am scheduled to go back in July. I have to call them in June to remind them I am scheduled for July. It seems there is some specialist from Germany that will be in Australia in August. He is doing something in Perth for three weeks and then he is coming here to Brisbane. I am told he is one of the top three in the world at this type of operation, but I was told my doctor was one of the top three in the world, so I am not sure who to believe or how they measure that type of thing. My doctor is from Russia, by the way. Or I have heard him say this is how they did it in Russia while he was operating on me.

Anyway, the operation in July is to put the other stint in and to check on how the other thing he was doing is going. Apparently, he put three stints in but could not completely clear the blockage. It allowed the blood to flow further into my heart, but not all the way. I am guessing this new doctor from Germany is going to try to completely clear it. I am told he is only going to do three operations while he is here, and my doctor is going to recommend that I am one of them. So, it is still up in the air, but if it happens, it will be in August. That operation will take the five hours the first one was supposed to take, but since it ended up taking 6 and 1/2 hours, I am not sure how long this one might take. We will have to wait and see.

In the meantime, I am feeling pretty good. I did have what I can only describe as a three-day heart attack right after the operation. I was fine when I went home and fine for about a day after that. They I got a chest pain that would not go away. I was afraid. Very afraid. But I did not go to the doctor or even tell anyone for the first day. I had to go back to work on Monday. Long story, but I had to go back to work on Monday. We cannot afford for me to retire and taking the time off for them to put me back in the hospital was not an option. So, I suffered and lived with it. I am just hoping it didn't do too much damage.

I know, I am stupid and should never allowed it to happen. But I had my reasons, and it is too late now. We will see what they find in July. For now, I am fine. Haven't had any chest pain or anything other than general fatigue since the operation.

Now we can get back to your regularly scheduled program.

I think William is working again. My old job, the contractor, has contacted him on a couple of occasions for work. I am not sure for what and he has not been yet, but I think he is working tomorrow and over the weekend. The weekend should be good money. He is Level one support, which means doing all the grunt work like carrying boxes and stuff, but he does get to occasionally watch what others are doing and hopefully, he will ask questions. That will get him more experience so he can start doing other things. Not being able to travel on his own is a problem but if he sticks to jobs, he can actually get to, it shouldn't take long before he can start to do other things. 

Maeghan has a babysitting job. Not sure if it is one or two days a week but it is for several hours, so it is some money. I think she has applied for a couple of retail jobs in the mall, but I haven't heard how that is going. Maeghan still has only the one roommate. I think a few people have asked to come see the extra room, but they never show up, so they don't have any prospects at the moment. Don't know yet how that is going to affect her rent.

She only comes over for a day or two a week now. She tells us she is having a good time. I hope she is. I hope she is starting to get her own life and not be forever tied to us. I hate it, but as I have said many times, it has to happen. I just hope she stays happy with the people she is with, and she gets some good roommates soon. And since no one ever reads this, I miss you, Maeghan.

I still don't have a picture to use. I am ready to close this entry and post it, but without a picture, it looks bare. Since I am already supposed to be home and am working late. I am just going to leave it for now and not post. Next time you read this, it will be posted.

Until next time,

Later

Remember

It will all be ok in the end, and if it's not ok, then it's not the end.

MWNews 243

So, I'm lying on the table. Suffering silently, or actually saving oxygen since I can't take a breath. It's getting more and more difficult to stay still but at this point, I have no idea how long I had been there. I kept thinking it had been a long time, but I was sure if someone had told me, it would have only been an hour or so. So, I kept telling myself, I can take it for an hour, so just relax and try not to suffer.

Turns out, it was six hours and at this point, I was beginning to feel a terrible pain in my abdomen. It was getting worse and worse, so I started telling the doctor I had to move. I could not take it any longer. They set everyone into a panic. People running around everywhere, asking me if I wanted more pain medicine. The doctor telling me not to move.  All the other doctors and nurses gathering supplies. I have no idea what for, but the doctor kept saying I need this, and I need that, and they would try to find it. This is where the large barriers come into play. 

One of the nurses, from the other room, did ask me if I need to pee. I said I already had. They began moving the big screen and as soon as I they lifted it up, I started urinating into the bag. Felt like I went a lot, but I never found out. When I was finished, the pain was gone. It would seem that when they put the barrier in place, they had placed it on my bladder or somewhere where it was blocking me for voiding. As soon as they lifted it, everything was free, and it relieved my pain. I know, a horrible story to tell in here, but it is important because that effectively ended the operation. Since they had apparently backed everything out and were ready to let me move, they decided not to go back in and complete whatever it was they were trying to do.

I took another half an hour to get everything removed and make me stable, but the doctor was finished, and he came up and talked to me. He said it was a win and a loss. He got some blood flow back but was unable to completely clear the blockage. Plus, he never got around to clearing the other blockage he had planned to do. If I had not said something about the pain, there is no telling how much longer I would have been lying there. And you think, now that the actual operation was over, the torture would have ended. No, no, no, no, no. We have a long way to go.

I am actually do this entry back at work on Monday. Did not get a chance to do it on the weekend at home. It is now time for me to work, so this will be completed at a different time. Just a warning about optical illusions that may or may not occur.

I was having a look at the statistics on the blog and started reading some of the old ones. I miss them.

It is almost 8:00 and there about a dozen girls in here, none of them want anything from me but since it is pouring rain, I assume they come in here to be out of that. And as soon as I typed that, several of them came up to see me.

OK, next day and I am tired of writing this epic about my premature write-off. I'll try to wrap it up as soon as possible. The way I am going is it will be a couple of more entries. I will try to complete in less.

They moved me from the metal table to a bed. Hard to do as I was not allowed to move. Two people held me still and three slid me to the other bed. Then they rolled me over so they could get the bloody sheets out from under me. I would have thought rolling me over would be a bad thing but apparently you have to be highly trained to do that sort of thing. It was a lot more comfortable in the bed. It had better be.

I had to remain in the bed, on my back, do not move for the next five and a half hours. That's right, 5 1/2 hours. They did slightly raise my head so I was not flat anymore, and I was on a mattress, so that helped, but I had already been on my back for 6 1/23 hours and now faced another 5 1/2 more. At least I was allowed to breath. Bad thing was, my catheter or whatever they were using to allow me to pee, I won't go into it, but it had fallen off during the move. I found out the hard way. From that point, someone had to hold a bottle for me. Enough said about that.

After 5 1/2 hours, I was ready for the next step. I seemed to recall that once the procedure was finished, every time in the past, they had removed something and then had to press on my artery in my groin for 20 minutes. I asked about it. She said yes, that is what they were about to do. I dreaded this part. There is a nerve right there where they press and when they do, they press hard. So first they removed what I can only describe as garden hose from my groin. This thing is about 10 inches long and about a half an inch around. There were two of them. I did not really feel them taking them out. I did feel the pressing. Twenty minutes of the nurse pressing on a nerve that hurt. It really hurt. It always has, every time I have had this done. But, after twenty minutes, she was done. No such luck. Now she had to remove the other one. That is when I found out there were two of them. So, twenty more minutes of pressing.

Finally, it was over. Everything was out and I was in recovery. No, no, no, no, no. Now I had four more hours of laying still so I did not rupture the veins or arteries. Four more hours of laying on my back. Not allowed to move. A living hell.

So lets try to add this all up. 6 1/2 hours on the table. 5 1/2 in recovery. 1/2 hour pressing on a nerve. 4 hours waiting for things to settle. Sixteen- and one-half hours laying on my back, not allowed to move, not allowed to breath for a lot of it. My back hurting, my butt hurting, my shoulder hurting and not really being able to drink anything. And awake the whole time, not allowed to sleep.

I am sure there is a lot more. I know there is, but I am going to have to work for the next few days and there will be no chance to finish any of this. I am going to close this and maybe talk about the aftermath some other time. For now, that will have to do.

Until next time,

Later

Remember

It will all be ok in the end, and if it's not ok, then it's not the end.

MWNews 242

Pleasing sounds and somber music. Be kind of boring, so let's get into it.

Part 2 of the conspiracy saga. It is Friday and I am at work. I thought if I started, I could finish over the weekend.

Even as I typed that, people were coming in and I had to leave, so continuing today would seem to be problematic. I'll do what I can, but it will be tomorrow for the majority of this entry. If for some reason I do not complete the tale of woe in two episodes, I will create a third. Probably be boring to most, but mildly irritating to others. Now I have to go back and figure out where I was.

Ok, where we left off was me lying on a hard metal table with 4 or 5 people hovering around me. First, they extended wings on the side of the table to ostensibly make me more comfortable. The real reason was so they could tell me to hold on to some handles and never move. Never moving is a constant refrain in this tale. Over and over again, they reminded me not to move. And when I say don't move, it means I was not allowed to move anything during the operation. I could move my head a little bit, but nothing else was allowed to move. I was not even allowed to take a deep breath. Every time I did, they said don't do that.

You see, the key part here is, I had to be awake for the whole thing. The entire operation. And I will spoil the news now, the entire operation took six- and one-half hours. That's just the part on the table. There was more to come, but for now, I was on the operating table for six and a half hours and I was unable to move and unable to take a deep breath. I felt the least they could have done was to strap my arms and legs down, the most they could have done was to knock me out. But neither of those was an option, or so I was told. Someday, I might ask why. Maybe when I have to do it all again later this year, but that is a tale for another time.

They started by trying to setup some equipment in the room. I have no idea what it was for but they kept asking how to do this and how to do that, to the point I was ready to ask why they can't find someone who already know how to set up the equipment.

One of the things they set up was some kind of barrier between me and the doctor. I huge screen thing. It was made of glass or something so you could see through it but then they covered it in plastic and that made it no longer see through, so I didn't see the point. I still do not know what the actual purpose of the screen was. Maybe to protect me from the blood splatter when they hit a gusher. I mention this screen as it comes into play a bit later on.

After all the setup and running around, they just kind of started. No warning or no indication they were now doing stuff, just the doctor telling the other people in there what he needed and what to do. I never could tell when he was talking to me and when he wasn't. Mostly, he wasn't, but then he would repeat himself and I would realise he was talking to me. I did have one doctor who was supposed to make sure I was comfortable. He did a poor job. Mostly, I was thirsty, but lying like I was, it was impossible to drink, so he would get some little tube or something that had maybe four drops of water in it and he would squirt it in my mouth. Once I figured out to not allow him to squirt it down my throat, it was easier, but then about an hour into the procedure, he disappeared. Never found out where he went and no one really replaced him. So I was on my own for most of the operation, except when I would forget and take a deep breath and all the doctors would say no deep breaths, no deep breaths. My thoughts, just knock me out and you don't have to worry about it. Didn't seem to be an option.

So for six hours, I laid there and I laid there. My butt really started to hurt, my shoulder started to ache very bad, I was thirsty all the time and no one was listening to me moan, or maybe they were just ignoring me. It was a bad time. What the doctors were doing didn't really have any effects on me. I didn't feel it most of the time. Every once and a while, I would feel a needle or some strange movements in weird places, but really, I have no idea what they were doing. Found out afterwards, but during the operation, it was the lying still and not being able to breath that was the torture.

It is time for me to go home now. I was trying to do this during lunch and caught a few minutes before I leave but now I am closing it for the day and will start a new one tomorrow.

Until next time,

Later

Remember

It will all be ok in the end, and if it's not ok, then it's not the end.

 

MWNews 241

Not going to mention how often I get to do this or does that count. No way to do this today.

My health has taken a turn. Maybe better, probably not. I'll try to go into that story.

I recently had angioplasty surgery again. This, however, was a step beyond that. As I tell my coworkers, they recently found my old heart and they wanted to put it back. Apparently, there have been advances in medicine since my last operation. You know the one, where they took my heart out and tried to wash it but decided that was not working so they replaced some parts, sewed it up and put it back in me. It's a long story and probably precedes this blog. It was in 2005 and I cannot go back and find if I have ever referred to it. Doesn't sound like me, but I might have said something. Previous to that, I had angioplasty in 2001 or so. You know, they heart attack I had three days after arriving in Australia for good. Just a small welcome gift they have for new arrivals. The Australians are friendly like that. If you have never heard any of this, remind me and I will tell those tales. It was very entertaining. Probably be a repeat of previous entries but I'll never know. Remind me of that if it is.

Speaking of rereading previous entries, I saw from my statistics that one of the entries had had a couple of views recently. I was curious as to why so I went back and reread it. I cannot believe how entertaining I used to be. I have really fallen off my game. Maybe the kids are not as entertaining as they used to be, but that was a good entry and I still laugh about it. I would tell you which one, but I think I will make you go back and reread everything just to find it. Okay, it was 75, but there are other more entertaining ones out there. Someone come up with a ranking system and get back to me.

Okay, time for me to go to work. I'll see who interrupts and get back to this when I can.

I'm sitting out front but can be interrupted at any time. I think I was at the point where they were sticking a lot of things in me for a very long time, trying to reach my heart from around the corner of the room and they kept going through the wrong places. I think he got lost twice in my arteries and had to make a left turn to find the right spot. Basically, I had lots of little wires through most of my body, all of them hunter-seekering for the exact spot to attack. Might have been a fun game, but I wasn't allowed to play.

The new procedure, although depending on which doctor I talk to it might not be a new procedure, is to try to clear the old, blocked arteries instead of bypassing them. Since mine had already been bypassed, I think it gives them a lot of room to play. The artery is already failed, so if they mess up, no big deal. I think that is how they described it before the operation. They were going to try to unblock the big artery (is that spelled right, every time I type it, it looks wrong, but it is not telling me it is wrong). It is the one that feeds the back of the heart, or so I am told, and it was the most blocked. It had been bypassed way back when and this doctor seemed to think he could fix it. As a back story for the doctor, I was told he was one of the top surgeons in the world for this type of operation. I was told one of the top three but later details might shed a different light on that. 

So this doctor was the one to do it if it could be done. I had had a lot of pictures drawn for me in the lead up to this on what they had found and what they planned to do to fix it. Basically, I had stints put in way back in 2001. I have no idea how many but one or more of them was now blocked. The real picture was about the bypasses that had been made. Basically, they did three bypasses, I was always told four so that was a worry, still is. One bypassed an offshoot of one of the main arteries in the front. They did a bypass of another one near it and then used something I can only describe as a shunt that would feed the big artery in the back. So a bypass of a bypass, but that is not really accurate. I am kind of hazy on the details, but in the end, I had three new arteries, from my leg, that had been used to make new paths in my heart. This was all done in 2005.

Stepping forward to today, one of those bypasses was blocked. One of the original stints was partially blocked. The plan was, put a new stint in of the partially blocked stint and try to fix the old artery that had been bypassed. No plans, as far as I know, to fix the blocked bypass. The doctor would try to, what I can only describe as, drill through the blockage of the big one in the back.

Now that the story has gotten interesting, I have to go. Be back someday I am sure.

I am not going to have a lot of time to finish this. In fact, it is looking like I will have no time to finish this. Someone just came in. I have also noticed that this entry is already getting long, so maybe this will have to be a two parter, or maybe even a three parter. Depends on how many tangents I go on or if I start to rant again. It will have to wait though. I have to go eat cake. Too much to try to explain that, but really, I have to go eat cake. And why is parter not a word. Seems like it should be.

Back the next day. Will wrap up part one of this tale and begin another when I get the chance. If I go back and read where I was, we might have a coherent trip, but probably just going to be a trip.

I think the doctor had a drill and was waving it around looking for something to stick it in. But that was after I was told to be there are 6:30am. When I got there, the reception area said it did not open until 7:00. I'm not sure, but I think they could have scheduled me at the proper time. But, as I was first off the rack, when they did open, I was called immediately up to the desk. She checked all my paperwork and made sure I had signed the 'I don't blame you' documents, a nurse came in and took me back to the waiting area. Now this part gets a little personal but part of this operation is they have to shave you. And I don't mean give you a nice shave and a haircut. I mean shave the area's where they might be putting the roto-rooter in. Every time before, they have always gone in through the groin because way back in the day, that was how you did it. I am told in today's modern environment, they can go through the wrist. Since the nurse did not know what the plans were, they shaved everything. Arms, legs, groin, mustache, and the bottom of my feet. It was a pretty thorough cleansing. And then the personal part of it, I kind of like it, but that is the last we will speak of that portion of the operation.

Of course, I had to put on a backless gown, although I am not sure why they use a backless gown as I am laying on the back (a lot more about that in part 2) so why does the back need to be open. But hospital rules. They do give you some fancy plastic underwear but with all the shaving they ended up just leaving them off. Now that I was undressed and ready, it was time to go. 

My operation was set to start at 8:00 and, the most amazing thing, it actually did. Or they took me into the operation room at 8:00. Put me on a skinny metal table and then began what I can only describe as a day of living hell. I can honestly say, this was the worst physical experience I have ever had. It really felt like torture. I will go into it extensively in part 2, but for now, I need to start work and will close out this entry, leaving you in excruciating anticipation of what and where I will go next. It is a harrowing tale that will probably not sound so terrifying when I write it down, but just remember, Worst Physical Experience of My Life.

Until next time,

Later

Remember

It will all be ok in the end, and if it's not ok, then it's not the end.