Some Good News

Yep . . . I have a few good news stories today. Mum's miraculous (considering how close she came to checking out of 3D once and for all), and gradual, recovery continued, and by the time Pete (my brother) and Barb (his wife) arrived in the early hours of the Monday morning (of the 15th) her ability to feed herself had pretty well returned to normal, her appetite was almost there too, and her decision to stay on a while longer was clear (one good news story). Here she is in hospital with Dad and Barb.


She had been told on the Sunday (the 14th) that she could go home when she was able to go a day without oxygen, but she got the OK to go on Tuesday, despite still not being able to go without it. Naturally, I jumped up and down about this, because all we had at home was a small emergency bottle, which simply was not good enough, so her doctor set into motion the process of acquiring an oxygen concentrator, a machine that produces oxygen on tap 24/7 if needed, but it meant that she would have to stay in hospital until it arrived from Cairns.

This was a bit disappointing for her, as it was HARLEY'S 14TH BIRTHDAY (another good news story) that very day. Thankfully, she was given three hours leave from the hospital and was able to join in the family gathering we held to celebrate Harley's birthday. Here he is with one of his pressies :)


Well, Pete had to drop Barb off at the Cairns airport the next day so she could fly back to Melbourne for work commitments, but miraculously, he was able to pick up the concentrator while down there, which meant Mum could come home that day as well, without any concern about her running out of oxygen again (another good news story).

Friday arrived, and after resting for most of the time in her first few days home from hospital, Mum felt well enough to go out and enjoy the beautiful day we were going to have, so we (Dad, Mum, Pete, Simon, and I) all went for morning tea at Gallows Chocolate and Cheese factory coffee shop, and we had a lovely time (see - lots of good news stories LOL!).


Oh yeah . . . I had a day off in there too :) Having Peter staying here with us to help out while he was up meant I could go and visit some friends, Krishna and Myrilla Skye, that I had been wanting to visit ever since I met them and heard about their spiritual retreat/centre, Skye Pheonix, and the wonderful octagonal house they had built there outside Ravenshoe. Pete took over the task of preparing the midday meal and I enjoyed a relaxing break with my friends (and yet another good news story :) )

Some not so good news was that the day before Peter left to fly back to Melbourne (which he did on Wednesday 24th) Dad's pain got to the point where his current level of patch was no longer doing the job and he was unable to get out of bed, even with Pete and I there to help. He pretty well screamed in agony with even the slightest movement. The doctor was called, he was given a shot of morphine, and the ambulance took him to hospital. The good news part of this story is that I brought him home in the evening of the 25th in pretty good shape. Total rest (the type you are forced to have in hospital) does wonders for Dad. It's a pity he seems unable to rest like that at home.

The final good news story for this update is that some friends of Dad & Mums, Ian and Helen Stephens, with two of their children, Peter and Alex (and Alex's friend, Andrew) called in out of the blue on Friday afternoon, and Mum and Dad enjoyed catching up with them all very much. I even managed to organise a pic before they left.


My final entry for this update . . . as of the time of writing this (afternoon of Saturday 27th), Dad has been in a lot of pain again today, and has left a message for the doctor to call back. While he waits for the return call, he has taken a dose of liquid morphine and gone to bed.

So . . . till next time . . . blessed be always, and In Lak'ech to you, and everyone and everything in your world . . .

Health Report

I have found the last few weeks to be quite tiring, but as it's been over a month since my last update (can hardly believe it!), I figure one is well overdue, and so I am forcing myself to get it done before I go to bed tonight. Dad's hospital admission (C/- the last update) only lasted two days, and included an increase in the strength of his pain patch, and a blood transfusion, which seemed to do the trick and get him well enough to come home.

It was not long after this that Mum began experiencing phantom pain in her right (amputated) leg, which was strange, because she has not had any since the amputation. Anyway, she quickly became very distressed with it, and was prescribed a new drug which, although it brought great relief, came with some fairly serious side effects that revealed themselves a few days later. Add to that the fact that she decided, without mentioning it to us, that she would stop taking some of her other daily medications because in her eyes she was taking too many, and she was in trouble.

Fluid on the lungs, needing oxygen, and into hospital on Tuesday 2nd September. She seemed quite stable in there with oxygen 24/7, and some more drugs to remove the fluid from her lungs, but we got a call 4.00 a.m. in the morning of Friday the 5th to say she had taken a turn for the worse. When we arrived, she was in a very serious condition, and they moved her into a private ward so family had an opportunity to say goodbyes. Phil, Shelly, & Harley came in as well, and, as any breath may have been her last, it was quite an emotional time. There were tears flowing freely by pretty well everyone at different times as we all took the opportunity to say the things we wanted to say to her while she was still here to hear them.


Well, she survived that day . . . and the next . . . and gradually, little by little her strength has increased, and now, almost two weeks later, the colour has returned to her face, her appetite has returned, along with her ability to hold a utensil and feed herself, and it looks like she will get well enough to make it home some time in the not too distant future.

I don't know what the future holds, but do trust that things always turn out exactly as they are meant to, so despite feeling tired C/- spending lots of time at the hospital with Mum, as well as looking Dad, and everything at home, I am also experiencing peace with how this masterpiece is unfolding, and from the bottom of my heart, I thank all those who have sent/are sending their love our way during this time. It is soooooo appreciated :)