What a Wonderful World

Tonight I reflect briefly on my last ten days or so and the world we live in. It abounds beauty and amazing people, which counteracts the ugliness and bastardry of which there is also plenty.

A week ago today I spoke to my surgeon in the private hospital, St John of God, Berwick. The previous day he performed keyhole surgery to repair hernias on each side of my groin. He said, "I was very happy with the operation and the placement of the mesh. We are giving you some painkillers to take home. Don't be a hero. Take the painkillers. You won't feel like doing anything for a few days, then you must be very careful for a couple of weeks. It is important that the mesh settles in well with scar tissue and does not separate. Leave the dressings on for a week and the staff will make an appointment for you to see me on Monday week."

He was right about the painkiller, a strong narcotic, I was very sore and needed it for a few days or more, before reverting to panadol and ibuprofen which I kept up for a few more days. There was three holes in a row in my abdomen starting next to belly button and going down, an inch or two apart. I took a long deep bath tonight and soaked the dressings and removed them. All seems well, I'm not in much pain or discomfort but still do not feel robust and since I have been home I have been walking around and working on light duties both home and work, carefully of course.

I have not had any RA medication since Aug 2 and have not collapsed with the RA but i do have some stiffness and soreness developing in the chest, upper back, ribs and upper arms, but it is not bad and I'm hoping it does not escalate in the coming week or two as I want to stay off the medication if I can. I have a scheduled blood test late next week and I'd like to see what the results are after a month of no meds.

In the last two days I have met and talked to two amazing people, both ladies, one a Gembrook neighbour just around the corner, B, and the other K, in Clematis.

Both these ladies helped me with some firewood. B and her partner had some trees down some years ago, wattles and peppermints, and I have availed myself of some of it this past two years when I have been short. Some of it has gone to balsa and is not much good but it is of some heat value when mixed with more solid stuff. There was always an open offer to get more this year but I didn't make it there till yesterday. I had quite a long talk to B who revealed that for 12 months she had been recovering from an operation to repair her hamstring that had torn from the bone at the top of the leg, which explained why I had seen her walking not her usual running over some months. She had her first race since the injury last weekend, a ten miler, and was thrilled about it. She is aged 65 and has been a serious athlete in Europe and Australia. She also told me she's blind in one eye after the retina detached and has has serious problems including an operation to save her limited sight in the other eye. The problems have returned and she has an appointment shortly with a specialist to see if anything can prevent her from going blind in the near future. She is extremely anxious as anyone would be. She also shared with me her excitement at the expected birth in six weeks in England of her son and his wife's child. She attended their wedding a few months back in the UK. Her son and his future wife were in Australia last Christmas and B said it was her best ever and the baby must have been conceived on their holiday to OZ. 

I have known K for more than thirty years. She worked at our farm as a casual in the garden in the 1980's. She had two sons by her first marriage one of whom is the same age as Gord and was at Emerald Secondary the same years as Gord. K's marriage split and she became a working single parent. She had a relationship with another man which did not last but gave her twin boys who are now young men. She basically raised these on her own. Along the way she became very sick and would have died but for a liver transplant. She offered me some wood last year that had been her shed for many years after she had a tree down, she no longer relying on firewood for heat as her circumstances did not suit all the hassles with it. I didn't get there last year but after my op I went to her house as I was short of wood and looking for some easy stuff because of my soreness and recovery.

So these two marvelous ladies helped me in my hour of need. How lucky am I? Both these ladies love their garden and watching the birdlife and both told me lovely stories. These exceptional human beings would never throw a piece of litter onto the roadside, as neither would any of my friends or people I associate with.

The ugliness and bastardry I referred to at the beginning of this post? When Lib and I were driving up the coast Rd north from Perth we were astounded by the huge amount of litter on the roadside for hundreds of kilometres. Bottles, cans, plastic bags, you name it every sort of rubbish and debris just chucked and left. If I had not seen it with my own eyes I would struggle to believe the scale of it.

Then last Monday I went to the dentist in Berwick (to get a second opinion to my bloke who wanted me to get a crown for about $1500... I have decided against... my teeth can break away at their own pace and will probably outlast the rest of me anyway) and I stopped at Aldi in Beaconsfield to shop on the way home. I crossed the highway to go to the organic butcher and was disgusted at the amount of litter strewn through a low hedge and garden in front of the shops. Cans, bottles, takeaway food containers, butts, bags, wrappers, straws. Right in the middle of the shopping centre.

What is the matter with the % of people that trash our country. It's a national disgrace. It should be cleaned up nationwide and I don't care if taxes and rates need to be raised to do it. It is said that if a place is cleaned up people are less likely to litter and it is logical. I find it scary to hear how are our oceans are becoming so polluted with plastic and this is a follow on from our trashing of the land.

Thank goodness for all the good people I encounter that enable me to feel "What a Wonderful World."

For how long, who knows? There are many good things happening to repair the environment so l live in hope.