My appointment with the surgeon in Dandenong today confirmed that I do not have temporal arteritis. He advised me to continue with the cortisone and have a blood test later this week as requested by the rheumatologist, and to see her next Monday as scheduled, as there's a possibility I have polymyalgic rheumatosis. I'm sure I don't, I'm pain free and have felt well for some days since the strange events of last week. I will follow through, another blood test and trip to Dandenong to have the specialist finalize this bizarre episode will not inconvenience me greatly.
I'm grateful to be healthy, and hope I remain so.
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Monday, May 23, 2011
The Intricate Tangle
I'm still reading 'War and Peace'. Last week I read that on 2 Sep 1812, as Napoleon's army entered the semi deserted Moscow and spread out starwise and reached the area where Pierre Bezuhof was staying, events found Pierre in a dream like state.
He had left his home two days earlier, "solely to escape the intricate tangle of life's daily demands which held him fast, and which in his present condition he was incapable of unravelling."
That simple description struck me as so pertinent to my own feelings of the past several months and particularly recent days.
After my late night call from the doctor advising me to go to the nearest hospital straight away I have been back the doctor the next day, a rheumatologist the following Monday, a surgeon the next day, and Monash Medical centre last Thursday for bilateral artery biopsy, and I now await tomorrow's appointment with the surgeon to remove the stitches and follow up with rheumatologist next Monday to learn the result of the biopsy.
I feel fit and well but extremely frustrated that I have lost my productivity with all this interruption to my routine and the running around and the considerable expenses (excess and gaps) above my private health insurance cover.
Were it not possible to read my book a little more than usual and run the lovely 'September Song' of Leah Flanagan (whom I discovered recently on U-Tube)through my brain at the most unexpected and perhaps innapropriate of times, I think, like Pierre, I may have bordered insanity. Whereas he resolved to locate and assassinate Napoleon, I think I would have strangled a receptionist or two at the very least.
We do indeed exist in an intricate tangle and are as vulnerable as bad luck would have it.
He had left his home two days earlier, "solely to escape the intricate tangle of life's daily demands which held him fast, and which in his present condition he was incapable of unravelling."
That simple description struck me as so pertinent to my own feelings of the past several months and particularly recent days.
After my late night call from the doctor advising me to go to the nearest hospital straight away I have been back the doctor the next day, a rheumatologist the following Monday, a surgeon the next day, and Monash Medical centre last Thursday for bilateral artery biopsy, and I now await tomorrow's appointment with the surgeon to remove the stitches and follow up with rheumatologist next Monday to learn the result of the biopsy.
I feel fit and well but extremely frustrated that I have lost my productivity with all this interruption to my routine and the running around and the considerable expenses (excess and gaps) above my private health insurance cover.
Were it not possible to read my book a little more than usual and run the lovely 'September Song' of Leah Flanagan (whom I discovered recently on U-Tube)through my brain at the most unexpected and perhaps innapropriate of times, I think, like Pierre, I may have bordered insanity. Whereas he resolved to locate and assassinate Napoleon, I think I would have strangled a receptionist or two at the very least.
We do indeed exist in an intricate tangle and are as vulnerable as bad luck would have it.
Saturday, May 14, 2011
A Quiet Week Please? Not Likely
With the Mother's Day thing over for another year I was looking for a quiet peaceful week but it was not to be. I'm short of time so I'll use a copy of an email I just wrote to a friend to explain.
Thanks Pat,
I've had no severe pain since the episode after my doctor visit on Wednesday and after sleeping most of that afternoon I've felt quite well. Doctor took more blood tests Thursday am, after saying a possibility was 'temporal arterioitis', which can cause sudden blindness if untreated, and I worked Thursday arvo no problems.
That night about 11pm I was preparing to go to bed when the phone rang and another doctor from the clinic in Berwick told me the pathology people had rung to say my tests were done and I should go to casualty at nearest hospital straight away. So I did and was at Ferntree Gully hospital till about 4.30 am where they did more tests and took exrays etc. They said my blood tests had improved, my exrays and other test showed no problem and as it was unlikely I had the TA they sent me home.
Next day, yesterday, I worked in the morning then went to doctor again that afternoon. He agreed with hospital that it was unlikely I had the TA, as I seemed well and pain free but he suggested I keep taking the cortisone tabs and antibiotics the hospital had put me on over the weekend, have more tests on Monday and see him again on Tuesday.
He rang again last night to say he'd sought advice from a specialist who is in the auto immune area and she said TA can behave in the manner that I had exhibited and she could see me on Monday, so I'm going to see her in Dandenong Monday morning. It's all very tiresome now as I feel fine, but I'm happy to follow through on it because the pain I had was unpleasant for a couple of days and terrible for the brief burst, and going blind is not something I would relish.
I'll let you know next week. Thanks for your concern.
Carey
Thanks Pat,
I've had no severe pain since the episode after my doctor visit on Wednesday and after sleeping most of that afternoon I've felt quite well. Doctor took more blood tests Thursday am, after saying a possibility was 'temporal arterioitis', which can cause sudden blindness if untreated, and I worked Thursday arvo no problems.
That night about 11pm I was preparing to go to bed when the phone rang and another doctor from the clinic in Berwick told me the pathology people had rung to say my tests were done and I should go to casualty at nearest hospital straight away. So I did and was at Ferntree Gully hospital till about 4.30 am where they did more tests and took exrays etc. They said my blood tests had improved, my exrays and other test showed no problem and as it was unlikely I had the TA they sent me home.
Next day, yesterday, I worked in the morning then went to doctor again that afternoon. He agreed with hospital that it was unlikely I had the TA, as I seemed well and pain free but he suggested I keep taking the cortisone tabs and antibiotics the hospital had put me on over the weekend, have more tests on Monday and see him again on Tuesday.
He rang again last night to say he'd sought advice from a specialist who is in the auto immune area and she said TA can behave in the manner that I had exhibited and she could see me on Monday, so I'm going to see her in Dandenong Monday morning. It's all very tiresome now as I feel fine, but I'm happy to follow through on it because the pain I had was unpleasant for a couple of days and terrible for the brief burst, and going blind is not something I would relish.
I'll let you know next week. Thanks for your concern.
Carey
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Fair Dinkum, I'm Flabbergasted (2)
On Friday 29 April I came home after a busy day. Our overseas visitors were still with us and before I hit the bathtub I checked my email. I'd had an appointment that afternoon with the local State MP at 3.30pm re drainage issues in Nobelius Park, and learned at 2.00pm when I went home to pick up some paperwork that something had come up and the meeting had been cancelled. I had been rushing to get things done in order to make the meeting, and I also learned from the answering machine that a late foliage order had come in, one our customers was obviously preparing early for Mother's Day. I switched from meeting mode to picking mode and struggled through, arriving home feeling like a truck had run over me after a testing week.
There were several emails as is the norm these days, including one from the politician's secretary asking me ring to have the meeting rescheduled. The email on top, sent only a short time earlier, was from a name I didn't recognize but was vaguely familiar. It was from Barry and Lesley, and the subject was 'Google is Amazing'.
You could have knocked me over with a feather. In the email Lesley explained she had found a box containing letters from me during a clean up at her house and out of curiosity she put 'Carey Williams' into google and found herself reading my blog. This was the first she had heard of me for 33 years and her email to me was ditto for me.
How come Lesley had letters from me in a box in her house? Late in January 1974, aged 21, I caught a train with Ricky Ralph at Spencer St. We travelled to Brisbane where we separated, he flying to Mt. Isa or somewhere enroute his return to a cattle station where he'd worked as a jackeroo, I enroute to Qld Ag College at Gatton where I had enrolled. I called in to visit an aunt who lived in Brisbane where I stayed for a weekend. For most of the time I was there it rained heavily, the Brisbane River flooded so I was stuck in Brisbane for sometime, before getting to the Ag. College and starting the academic year, a year that was pivotal and for me a lot of reasons, not the least of which was that I made great friends in Dave Suters and Dave Dickson who have both have played roles in my life, and that I was to learn about beekeeping, a wonderful opportunity.
I also met Lesley. I don't understand these things fully but if I said I "fell in love" I don't think I'd be wrong. Maybe "had a crush" would be a better term, or "infatuated". I realize it's part of being human. We didn't have a romantic relationship, Lesley had a boyfriend (Barry), and I accepted she was not available, although my affection didn't diminish. The beekeeping students (3 only) sat in on other classes for things like entomology, botany and business studies and I was in Lesley's entomology class and recall being her prac partner once which had me in quite a state of concealed excitement and agitation.
I returned to Victoria at the end of 1974 and wrote to Lesley in 1975 knowing that she was again at the college doing the third year of a Diploma in rural technology, if my memory serves me correctly. We became pen pals and corresponded for a few years until about 1978 when I stopped writing after she and Barry married. She sent me a piece of wedding cake. I think I'd secretly hoped their romance would not last, and perhaps I was a little piqued. Around that time there was much happening in my life.
Letter writing was common back then. The was no email or mobile phones or texting so people actually sat down and wrote to each other and waited for a reply which may come in some days or weeks depending on the circumstances of the recipient. I was always a keen letter writer, until recent times, now it seems blogging satisfies the urge.
I last saw Lesley on Fraser Island. Dave Suters and I drove to Qld., I think in Feb 1978. We were stopped on the beach for some reason and a Landcruiser coming along stopped to see if we were OK. Amazingly the occupants were Barry and Lesley.
Last October when Lib and I were on Magnetic Island, while walking along the beach, I wondered at that remote coincidence and about Lesley and what her life had been, regretting that I'd stopped writing and wouldn't see or hear of her again. I felt genuine sorrow about it. And now, totally unexpectedly, I have contact again.
I replied to Lesley's email briefly saying how amazed and delighted I was to hear from her and asking for some news of the last 33 years when she had time. A second email came with some news and a great family photo. Looking at it puts a big smile on my dial, so does just thinking about it. I have miraculously found my pen pal again, 37 years after we met, in another record flood year.
Take care Lesley and Barry. Thank you Blogger.
There were several emails as is the norm these days, including one from the politician's secretary asking me ring to have the meeting rescheduled. The email on top, sent only a short time earlier, was from a name I didn't recognize but was vaguely familiar. It was from Barry and Lesley, and the subject was 'Google is Amazing'.
You could have knocked me over with a feather. In the email Lesley explained she had found a box containing letters from me during a clean up at her house and out of curiosity she put 'Carey Williams' into google and found herself reading my blog. This was the first she had heard of me for 33 years and her email to me was ditto for me.
How come Lesley had letters from me in a box in her house? Late in January 1974, aged 21, I caught a train with Ricky Ralph at Spencer St. We travelled to Brisbane where we separated, he flying to Mt. Isa or somewhere enroute his return to a cattle station where he'd worked as a jackeroo, I enroute to Qld Ag College at Gatton where I had enrolled. I called in to visit an aunt who lived in Brisbane where I stayed for a weekend. For most of the time I was there it rained heavily, the Brisbane River flooded so I was stuck in Brisbane for sometime, before getting to the Ag. College and starting the academic year, a year that was pivotal and for me a lot of reasons, not the least of which was that I made great friends in Dave Suters and Dave Dickson who have both have played roles in my life, and that I was to learn about beekeeping, a wonderful opportunity.
I also met Lesley. I don't understand these things fully but if I said I "fell in love" I don't think I'd be wrong. Maybe "had a crush" would be a better term, or "infatuated". I realize it's part of being human. We didn't have a romantic relationship, Lesley had a boyfriend (Barry), and I accepted she was not available, although my affection didn't diminish. The beekeeping students (3 only) sat in on other classes for things like entomology, botany and business studies and I was in Lesley's entomology class and recall being her prac partner once which had me in quite a state of concealed excitement and agitation.
I returned to Victoria at the end of 1974 and wrote to Lesley in 1975 knowing that she was again at the college doing the third year of a Diploma in rural technology, if my memory serves me correctly. We became pen pals and corresponded for a few years until about 1978 when I stopped writing after she and Barry married. She sent me a piece of wedding cake. I think I'd secretly hoped their romance would not last, and perhaps I was a little piqued. Around that time there was much happening in my life.
Letter writing was common back then. The was no email or mobile phones or texting so people actually sat down and wrote to each other and waited for a reply which may come in some days or weeks depending on the circumstances of the recipient. I was always a keen letter writer, until recent times, now it seems blogging satisfies the urge.
I last saw Lesley on Fraser Island. Dave Suters and I drove to Qld., I think in Feb 1978. We were stopped on the beach for some reason and a Landcruiser coming along stopped to see if we were OK. Amazingly the occupants were Barry and Lesley.
Last October when Lib and I were on Magnetic Island, while walking along the beach, I wondered at that remote coincidence and about Lesley and what her life had been, regretting that I'd stopped writing and wouldn't see or hear of her again. I felt genuine sorrow about it. And now, totally unexpectedly, I have contact again.
I replied to Lesley's email briefly saying how amazed and delighted I was to hear from her and asking for some news of the last 33 years when she had time. A second email came with some news and a great family photo. Looking at it puts a big smile on my dial, so does just thinking about it. I have miraculously found my pen pal again, 37 years after we met, in another record flood year.
Take care Lesley and Barry. Thank you Blogger.
Friday, May 06, 2011
Fair Dinkum, I'm Flabbergasted
Somehow I managed to go through a whole month without putting finger to keyboard (to blog) for the first time I think since I started blogging. To my friends who may have checked me for news I apologize.
April was an eventful month but is somewhat blurred already in my ageing faculties. Early in the month I spent a weekend extracting honey, spare time was spent on the end of a spade or fork trying to get some garden beds ready for autumn sowing, finally some work in Nobelius Park started to happen which took what was left of my remaining energy in order to co-ordinate it, and along the way I hardly had time to have a conversation with Lib except for Easter when we went to Wangaratta to see Molly from Friday to Sunday (which included some serious cutting back in Moll's garden). When we arrived back Sunday Ian Sinclair and his son were at our house having arrived on the Saturday after travelling from W.A. They stayed for a week, leaving last Saturday when I took them to the airport to fly back to Canada.
Ian wanted me to go to the football with him, he hadn't been for about 20 years so we went on the Tuesday after Easter Monday to Hawthorn/ Geelong at MCG. Pretty ordinary game I thought but without my team in it I may have been too uninvolved emotionally. Geelong was far too good for them and impressed me as a seriously good team still.
So Easter was a wipe out as far as an opportunity to catch up on work. C'est La Vie! But I haven't yet mentioned what flabbergasted me and I'm out of time so if the above is mundane believe me the next post won't be as I'll cut straight to the chase.
April was an eventful month but is somewhat blurred already in my ageing faculties. Early in the month I spent a weekend extracting honey, spare time was spent on the end of a spade or fork trying to get some garden beds ready for autumn sowing, finally some work in Nobelius Park started to happen which took what was left of my remaining energy in order to co-ordinate it, and along the way I hardly had time to have a conversation with Lib except for Easter when we went to Wangaratta to see Molly from Friday to Sunday (which included some serious cutting back in Moll's garden). When we arrived back Sunday Ian Sinclair and his son were at our house having arrived on the Saturday after travelling from W.A. They stayed for a week, leaving last Saturday when I took them to the airport to fly back to Canada.
Ian wanted me to go to the football with him, he hadn't been for about 20 years so we went on the Tuesday after Easter Monday to Hawthorn/ Geelong at MCG. Pretty ordinary game I thought but without my team in it I may have been too uninvolved emotionally. Geelong was far too good for them and impressed me as a seriously good team still.
So Easter was a wipe out as far as an opportunity to catch up on work. C'est La Vie! But I haven't yet mentioned what flabbergasted me and I'm out of time so if the above is mundane believe me the next post won't be as I'll cut straight to the chase.
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