Dad's Milestone 80th

If I waited another 10 days for this update, it would have been 2 months since the last one, and I can hardly believe so much time has passed in what has felt like such a short time. Anyway, better late than never, and I'd better get started, because I have a lot to share LOL!

A health update first of all. I mentioned Mum's oxygen concentrator in the last Blog update, but thought I'd show you what it looked like (below) . . . isn't she a beauty. Mum really couldn't be living at home without it, and my only criticism is that it produces heat as well as oxygen, which will be great in winter, but that aspect of it is very unappreciated in summer, I can tell you :(


So, after the hospitilisation mentioned in the last update, it seems Mum decided one miraculous recovery was not enough, and in order to keep us on our toes, she went and knocked on death's door once more. After a blood test revealed that her blood hemoglobin level was low, so she went in to hospital for a blood transfusion on the 23rd October. She had two bags of blood, and was going to stay in overnight, and come home the next day. That was until she had a heart attack about 1.00 the next morning.

Once again, Dad and I were called in, and once again she was in the room where family can "say goodbye", so we sat by her side, drifting in and out of sleep until a few hours later when she came to, wondered what on earth we were both doing sitting by her side at 3.30 in the morning, and wanted a drink of water.

Well, much to the suprise of all the doctors and hospital medical staff, she had survived again, though it was still another two weeks before she was strong enough to come home, which she did on the November 5th. The one major difference is that she needs oxygen for most of the time now, and can only go a couple of hours without it at the most. And now the portable oxygen bottle pretty well stays in the car for her when we need to go somewhere in it.

Now to Dad. Our concerns about his pain at the end of the last update resulted in his pain patch being increased yet again. And, because he is actually resting much more now due to eating upstairs with Mum (who has most of her meals in bed) he seems to be quite stable. He also has some fun things in his life at the moment too, which seem to be powerful motivators to hang around a while yet. The first of these is his Orrery. He saw the ad (play the video below so you know what I'm talking about) on TV and was very excited about it. He said something like "THAT would give me something to live for, wouldn't it!"


Naturally, after that response, it didn't take long for me to get the first edition (magazine and first few parts) from the the newsagent, and subscribe to the rest of them (about 52 in all) online. He studied that magazine, and began to doubt his ability to actually construct it, so Phil and I decided to give him something to practice on and got him an eary birthday present of a Meccano set, which used similar tools, similar components, and had similar instructions to follow. It was a good thing too, because at the time of writing this, he still has not received the free toolkit that came with the Orrery, nor enough parts to start on constructing it, but his first Meccano project (below) shows he certainly is getting the hang of it, and will have no trouble when its ready to start :)


The 13th of November was Dad's birthday, and despite him not being expected to make it when I moved up here in February, he did!!! Dad, Mum, and I had a quiet lunch on the day, because the rest of the day was spent in him speaking to the 30 to 40 family and friends that called him on the phone to wish him a happy birthday. Our real celebration (and a special treat) was held at Phil & Shelly's place on Saturday 15th. Coctails on the lawn at 5.30 . . .


. . . before a delicious B-B-Q dinner, and a little singing, candle flame blowing, and the cutting of an exquisite black forest birthday cake . . .


. . . followed by the special treat of Andre Rieu LIVE. Phil & Shellie had bought the rights to watch the Melbourne Andre Rieu concert as it happened on their Austar Satelite TV service . . .


. . . and Dad and Mum got the best seats in the house. They would have to be two of his biggest fans, and they had an absolutely wonderful time with Andre, despite it ending up a very late night for them :)


The next day two very dear friends of theirs, George and Lorna Jackson arrived, and Dad and Mum were able to share some of the concert, that we had recorded, with them


Whew . . . made it to the end, and now I'm up to date finally LOL! Hopefully, the next update will not be so long in coming :)