In July, I had two dear friends of mine from Victoria come up for a holiday out of the cold . . . Beryl and Allen, and in order to catch up, they invited Mum & I to have lunch with them. We all (Mum included) had a delightful time over an absolutely delicious lunch at the Lake Barrine Tea Rooms, and even though I simply forgot to get a pic of the four of us at the time (hopefully, I won't forget next time), I did find someone else's pic of Lake Barrine on the net (LOL!), and so at least you can get a bit of an idea of how beautiful a place it is :)
The next thing I wanted to share was a "male bonding day", enjoyed by the four Ackland males in Far North Queensland. I had to take the Lancer for a decent run and get a few things in Cairns as well, and so on Tuesday 11th of August, I was joined by Harley (yeah - wagging school), Phil (on a day off), & Simon (just going with the flow), and we even caught a movie while we were down there. Naturally, for such a high testosterone group we had to watch a high action shoot-em-up as part of our secret male business, and G.I. Joe was the best one showing at the time. Not much of a plot, but a lot of fun :) Shellie took this pic before we left.
OK, now onto the health report. Mums heart has been gradually getting more fragile as time has unfolded since her birthday update where she was battling with a touch of the flu. It's meant that things she used to be able to do relatively easily, like go to the toilet, began to leave her breathless, with her arms feeling like lead. Even eating had this effect some times, and the symptoms often also included pain and a tightness accross her chest.
Anyway, on Sunday 23rd August, I got up in the morning to find her quite distressed after a pretty bad night (of what has been revealed as small attacks of angina), and immediately called the doctor who got me to take her straight to hospital. It wasn't an emergency sort of admission - more of a decision to put her in so they could fine tune the heart medication she was already on, because it didn't seem to be doing what it was supposed to do. That seemed to go OK, her heart medication was increased from one to one and a half tablets a day, and she was out the following Thursday (27th) feeling much better.
However, things didn't really end there, and after a week or so at home, I had to call the doctor for Mum again on the morning of Wednesday 9th September after she experienced another bad night. This seemed a little more serious, and the doctor got the ambulance to take her this time, and she is still in there as I write this update. She is now on two heart tablets a day, and the initial plan was for her to come home yesterday, but that didn't eventuate, as despite this increase in medication, she is still having angina attacks at night after even the slightest exertion (like having a pee).
There are positives and negatives here . . . the positives is that, due to the extra rest she is forced to take in hospital, a couple of budding ulcers on her toes have healed, and the second is that apart from the angine attacks, she is not in any major pain at all. It's pretty bizarre when I visit her, because she seems so well, and bright, and peaceful, and happy, and she is not putting on an act either. She is eating well, and chats with the other patients, and its hard to understand why she is in hospital at all.
The negatives . . . well, her heart needs to get stronger, but to do that she needs to do a bit of exercise, but if she does that, it seems to bring on an angina attack, so I just don't know where we go from there . . . other than making the most of what time she has left here in 3D, and endeavouring to ensure it includes as much joy as possible. So . . . as usual . . . any love and positive energy sent her way is very much appreciated :)
