APRIL to JUNE 2010 |
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| 8 April 2010 Went to lunch with Marj…. She talked me into going on the Mary Rattler trip on Mother’s Day. After I thought about it I thought I might as well…. Otherwise it will be just like every other day, except Jason might get takeaway for dinner. I’d still be stuck here on my own all day. |
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| 9 APRIL 2010 I don't feel like doing much of anything today.... I'm sick of all the crap happening here, seems to be never ending.
Jason took Shadow to the vet on Wednesday to be neutered, get his shots, nails clipped etc... he was to stay indoors for a few days BUT he sneaked out last night and being black we couldn't find him.
Jason found him early this morning... dead on the road.... hit by a car. Even with all the problems he caused over the past weeks, he was growing on me..... and the rest of us. I feel sad and sick to the stomach. Plus I’m sure it would have cost Jason more than a couple of hundred $$$$s at the vet on Wednesday.
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| 11 APRIL 2010 I feel like $#!T today…. Have had 3 of the new injections so far…. Hasn’t made one iota of difference. I’m in constant pain and totally fed up. There’s so much I want to do and CAN’T. Looking around this house doesn’t help either… every room is a mess. I clean up the TV room and by the next morning you wouldn’t know I’d done anything. I’m not used to living like this and it’s DEPRESSING!! I get occasional help if I ask for it… if I don’t no one else notices the place is a pig sty! I had a cry to myself this morning…. I should stop feeling sorry for myself… but it’s hard…. every movement hurts. I wish Mum was around, I miss her company. I get little conversation out of Jason and NONE out of Jared. Jared spends all day watching TV and goes out at night, sometimes not coming home. I’m sick of wasting MY money on food that’s thrown out because he’s not here to eat it. Yet when he is here he eats everything in sight, especially things I had planned to use for dinners. I wish I had known what was ahead of me 20 years ago…. I would have changed everything! Especially my attitude with George. He didn’t love me or he would have made sure I would be OK. I feel like a sucker. I hate having no money…. No transport…. Having to rely on other people….. I went through around 3pm to prepare dinner but would have had to fight for space in the kitchen…. Jared had the chip pan on the stove WITH THE LID ON…. It took me 20 minutes to clean the damned thing this week! Why can’t he eat sandwiches like NORMAL people????? Grrrrrrr!!!! |
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| 24 APRIL 2010 Jason has convinced me I need to go to the hospital...
Went to the hospital after I had a shower... arrived about 2:45pm. There was only one other person in the waiting area. Waited around 15 minutes for the Triage nurse to appear and was thinking "I'm going to be here until midnight!"
She took my details, then we went in to take my blood pressure (normal) and get weighed ...(I rolled my eyes! She laughed !) Then we went back out to the waiting area and she checked more details. Asked my birthdate.... said that means you're 63.... I replied "Unfortunately!!!!!!" She laughed and said "You're beautiful!!" Jamie said.... "NO!!! I USED to be beautiful!!! I used to get wolf whistles. That ain't happening any more!!!" She just about fell off her seat laughing. Then she told me to go sit in the waiting area. I'd brought 2 magazines so I could do the puzzles to fill in time. I just pulled out one magazine when my name was called!!! I said to the doctor "I don't believe this!!" Doctor... "What do you mean???" Me... "Getting attention so quickly... I better not tell anyone or the hospital won't get any extra funding from the government!" He laughed. He checked out the 'hole' in my leg... I finally got to see exactly what it looked like... YUK!!! Full of green stuff... he took a swab to have it tested. He was full of sympathy for the condition of both of my legs. He put a waterproof dressing over it that draws out all the fluid and gave me a script for antibiotics which I got at the hospital. I have to go back on Monday to have the dressing changed and the sore checked out. If the dressing fills up and starts to weep before Monday, then I have to go back to the hospital to have it changed immediately. Went to get the script... the pharmacist asked if I was allergic to anything. I told her I'd already told the Triage nurse and the doctor I was allergic to penicillin. Well, this antibiotic has a little penicillin in it.... did I want her to double check with the doctor and maybe get a different antibiotic???? I said "Yes, please." The doctor preferred that I get this particular antibiotic. I had to take one there and wait 15 minutes to see if I got a reaction. So I did..... no reaction..... Rang Jason to come and collect me.... and I was home by 4:10pm. The whole experience took only 1 hour and 20 minutes!! I couldn't believe my luck!!! The last time I waited at A & E I was there for HOURS before being seen. Jason was there for hours waiting for the cat bite to be seen to... he left without being attended to and returned early the next morning. The doctor also told me that they do a changeover of staff between 7am and 8am. So... on Monday (which is a public holiday here) I'm getting Jason to drop me off around 8:30am and pray I'm as lucky as I was this time. Lord... I wish my life was a little more dull !!! *S* |
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6 MAY 2010 My medication for my arthritis hasn't been working and I've been in a lot of pain. Then... since Friday 23rd April we have had 2 long weekends and I've been to the hospital 4 times and the doctor once. I was lucky at the hospital the first 2 times, was out within an hour and a half. Not so lucky the last 2 times though. On Monday when I arrived there were 6 people already waiting so I figured I wouldn't have a long wait. After checking in with the Triage nurse I waited and waited and waited.... There would have to have been at least 40 people check in after me! I realise that there were more important problems than just getting a dressing changed so I expected them to be seen in order of importance BUT sitting on the hard seat for over 2 and a half hours and the itchiness under my dressing was driving me crazy! I hatched a plan!! There were no patients waiting to see the Triage nurse... so I got up and sat on the chair at her cubicle. She arrived after 10 minutes. I told her my arthritis was getting the better of me with the long wait.. "...perhaps I should come back later???" She didn't think that was a good idea because I'd probably end up having to wait just as long.. (no kidding!! *S*) She rang a nurse and asked if he could fit me in and how long would I have to wait since I'd already been waiting for more than 2 - 1/2 hours. She told me he'd see me shortly... I went back to my seat and within two minutes my name was called!!!! The hole in my leg I found out was an ULCER! YUUUUCK!! It was almost 1/2" deep when I first had it attended to... now it was half as deep. Still full of gunk... I managed to get on the gurney (bed) and sitting up, twisted my leg up on the bed so he could wash and dress it. He asked if I was diabetic.... (I've been asked that every time I've been to the hospital.... don't they read my records????)... I said NO! I even double checked with my doctor last Thursday... definitely not! When he'd finished I posed another problem for him. I'd brought my container full of used injection pens. Told him the chemist / pharmacist wouldn't dispose of them for me, could he find out where I could get rid of them?? I still want to keep the container for future pens. He had no idea (can you believe this??) but he'd go check it out for me.... He came back with an empty container.... *S* Said he didn't know it was going to be that easy. By the time I got home it had taken 3 1/2 hours out of my day... could have been longer if I hadn't told the Triage nurse I was thinking of leaving *S* I can't complain about the service in the hospital.... they're short staffed and doing their best under the circumstances. How they manage to stay cheery beats me. I have to go back again today to have the dressing changed again. As for the arthritis injections... they're not working. My GP agrees... she can tell by the readings from the blood tests. What's worse is... I rang the nurse at the specialists surgery... she said it could take up to 12 weeks for the drug to start working. So I'm getting jabbed every week with no effect. That means I still haveanother 6 weeks to wait to see if it's going to work. My GP also said the specialist has more authority than the powers that be who refused to let me continue with the Humira because of a misunderstanding on my part. She should have stood her ground. As a result my wrists, ankles and back still hurt like hell. I'm tired all the time. This past long weekend I threw meals together because I didn't want to be standing for long periods. I've spent a lot of time sleeping.... nothing hurts when you're asleep. OH... BTW... Jason went fishing one night last week (2 days after the full moon) Caught 10 big fish !!!! They're called Grunter ... good eating and don't smell 'fishy' when being cooked.  He already had 4 big Flathead in the freezer waiting to be filleted. So after he did all the filleting we had over 20 KG of fish packaged, ready for meals. Jason paid $14 for prawns for bait for the 10 fish he caught... pretty cheap considering fish anywhere from$16 to $30 a kg depending on what sort of fish it is. I've just checked out all my emails... more than half were spam. So much for the spam filter my provider uses... it's rubbish! |
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| 9 MAY 2010 Got up at the crack of dawn to get ready for the Mother's Day trip. Got to the bus at 6:15am.... We drove to Imbil where we had lunch (up 2 flights of stairs of course). I had an 'altercation' with a woman jumping the queue. Not only did she push in she tried to get her husband in too.... not with Jamie around!!!! My feet were sore standing waiting and my legs killed me getting up the stairs!!!! Where we had lunch... on the upstairs balcony.  Marj, Ruth and I had a walk around the market after lunch where I bought a couple of magnetic bracelets then we headed for the train. Marj and Ruth on our way to the train.  Mary Valley Rattler  We had a rickety ride back to Gympie where we got on the bus to head home, but had I felt OK I really would have enjoyed it. By the time I got back to Hervey bay I could hardly get off the bus. My ulcer was giving me hell and my ankles acted like they were broken. I was so glad to see Jason there waiting for me. We got home and had Chinese delivered. I was never so happy to sit down and put my feet up. |
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| 2 JUNE 2010 Went to the GP last Thursday... she said that even though it didn't feel like it to me the inflammatory reading is reducing, ever so slowly. Maybe the injections are finally starting to kick in.... They're not working on the psoriasis... it's back :-( I still feel like I'm walking around on a broken right ankle so she's organised x-rays for me on 11th June along with a shoulder x-ray and ultrasound. She hadn't realised I was going to Accident & Emergency to have my ulcer attended to.... so she sent a referral to the hospital Wound Clinic....... WOUND CLINIC.... what WOUND CLINIC?????? One would think the doctors or nurses in Accident & Emergency would have referred me to their Wound Clinic... but that means they'd have to care first! She was wondering why I was waiting for hours to be attended to.... doesn't happen in the Wound Clinic... you get appointments. She got her nurse to change my dressing... that's another joke.... The dressings are 12.5cm x 12.5cm and according to her nurse... expensive. So she cut a quarter off the dressing to put on my wound. This was supposed to last me 7 days... yeh... right.... it was soaking wet and falling off by early afternoon! So Jason went to our Chemist Warehouse and bought 2 dressings ($13 each) and got 2 charcoal & silver pads ($2 each). The charcoal and silver pads were cheap because when the chemist passed the barcode across the register to find out the price the register threw a hissy fit... produced a receipt and opened the drawer!! She tried again and it did the same thing so she sold them to Jason for a couple of $ each. LOL!! We found out later they're worth between $15 - $20. How lucky could we be???? LOL! Anyway the specialist at the Wound Clinic which I went to yesterday was a gem.... she was impressed with the way Jason was caring for the wound... gave me dressings, silver pads and some cream so he can change it every second day and I go back next Tuesday to have it checked. She also put 2 compression stockings on my leg. Not as tight as the ones I had tried to use before but with the 2 on the one leg it feels tight. They are so much easier to get on and off. She also contacted the therapist (Christen) I had been going to for my swollen legs. I haven't been back for weeks because I was in too much pain and wasn't looking forward to being prodded and poked. I got a call from the hospital yesterday saying they had made an appointment for me to see Christen after I see the wounds specialist next Tuesday. I protested... saying I was in a lot of pain.... didn't matter... she still wants to see me. At least the specialist and therapist communicate. I've to go to Centrelink on Friday armed with forms, passport and birth certificate... that could take a while. I got a letter recommending that I change from a Disability Pension to an Aged Pension in July when I turn 64. YIKES!!! Have filled out the forms but with the way things work here I don't want to mail in my birth certificate or passport... I don't trust them. Mind you..... they already have all this information... it was provided when I got the Disability Pension. Not being an Australian citizen, just a permanent resident (since 1956) is the reason why. You'd think they could pass photocopies from one department to the other, but again that would mean using their brains.... brains.... what brains???? LOL!! Now my tutorial testers know why I make errors in my tutorials..... and you all know why I sometimes forget things..... so many things spinning around in my head! Why is life so complicated???? *S* I shouldn't complain.... My cousin in Sydney phoned me last week... she has 'clusters' in one breast. Has to see a specialist and get a biopsy, she's petrified. I've had to calm her down and try to get her not to worry. She can't tell her mother, she's too old and frail. Her sons are not helping, neither is her husband BUT I think that's because they don't know how to support her. She's neurotic... believe me.... some of you already know what I went through with her earlier this year.... but I don't hold grudges and she has no one else to talk to about it. So I'm hoping they're hormonal or benign. So life ain't dull down this end of the world.... |
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| 27 JUNE 2010 I went to the nurse at my GPs surgery on Tuesday. She changed my dressing on my leg and replaced the dressing which was supposed to stay on for a week. I ripped it off abut an hour after I got home because I couldn't stand the burning.
Thursday & Friday I had ultrasounds on my leg. One day for the veins, the next for the arteries. Both are just fine... blood flowing as should be. But both days I felt sick... and didn't feel up to doing anything. However, talking to the lady who did the ultrasounds made me think about other methods of treating the ulcer. SO....... I got online and did some searching. I found a product "Dr Wheatgrass Skin recovery cream"..... Couldn't believe my luck... we actually have a store here that sold it.
I got Jason to take me on Saturday to the store, got the cream and a supplement that has to be taken with juice... bought both. Last night (Saturday) I cleaned off the wound, used a silver patch, then spread the cream on the dressing (with no adhesive) and taped it to my leg with the same paper type tape they use in hospitals. NO PAIN! Took the supplement this morning in some apple juice... looked like pureed grass (LOL!!!) but it tasted OK. It's supposed to help restore the immune system destroyed by steroids and other drugs. Here's hoping. I changed the dressing this morning. Instead of it being gross with horrible, digesting lumps of crap over the sore area, once it was cleaned it was just one smooth red area. So I've repeated the process today. STILL NO BURNING PAIN!!!! I'm hoping it will look so much better by the time I go to the doctor on Tuesday (I cancelled the appointment with her nurse on Monday) and maybe she'll tell the nurse that she shouldn't be using dressings that irritate patients.... maybe listen to patients for a change. It seems this "Wheatgrass" has other uses as well.... |
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