No matter what the problem, she could always put it right........

Good Evening Bloggers,

Just a little update as I've just arrived home from Newcastle and it's 12.07am.

Mum is doing better this week. This afternoon, she was moved in an Acute Nursing Unit, which is a step on the way to a general ward from the Intensive Care Unit, via an overnight visit in the High Dependency Unit. She is still very, very unwell, but is attempting to administer her own pain medication, and manage breathing through the trachy tube without assistance until she becomes too tired to cope any longer, and her O2 levels drop, so the nurses help her out with a bit of oxygen. She has been attempting to talk, but with little success, as co-ordinating her breathing and speech via the trachy is tricky at the best of times. The repeated efforts just wear her out.

Her puffiness has started to subside, and her weight loss is becoming apparent, but her poor old belly is still very swollen and painful. I'm still not sure how she feels about all her "attatchments", but Mum seems to have resigned her self to remaining with us for the time being. I think that she's just too tired to do any thing else.

Anyhoo, I'm off to bed. Work in the morning. After tomorrow, I have just 5 days left in the Daycentre, before 2 weeks leave prior to starting my traineeship.

Where did all the time go?????????

Goodnight, everyone xoxoxoxoxoxxoxoxoxo

3am, it's me again....

Not quite; it's 1am.

The boys and I have just arrived home from a weekend in Newcastle and Sydney.

Big news of the weekend;

MUM/NAN HAS FINALLY DECIDED TO BE AWAKE!!!!!

She is very sick, exhausts herself just breathing, and is rather uncomfortable. She has assistance from the breathing machine, and has an oozing abdominal wound that is confounding the medical profession somewhat, but she's still here.

And she's a bit cranky, from Dad's reports, now that she's beginning to realise just how sick she has been, together with the amount of intervention that's been provided to prevent her from getting sicker and shuffling off her mortal koil.

But that's ok, because we knew she would be.

And where there's anger, there's life.

So thanks to all and everyone who's been looking out for her.

I'm showering and off to bed.

It's work for me in the morning.

Goodnight zzzzzzzzzzz

Sugar.... oh honey honey (for no reason other than it is in my aching head)

• Nan has a working brain;
• Methinks that she is making up for a lifetime of insomnia
• migraines suck; didn't work today and won't tomorrow either.
  
• I have 52 brick piers in what was my backyard, which will overflowing with timber tomorrow......
• Beloved & I are negotiating with the bank to advance us some of 'our' money tomorrow so that we can order things such as flooring and stoves, baths and the such like.......
• Must find some time to spend with Mum as well as browsing, negotiating, buying nanna-supplies.....
• Too much in my head..... can't even think of all the things except that there is much more than this to do...... At least my Beloved will be with me.
  
• Must go to bed as well......
• Oh nearly forgot... must go to cottage at some point (hopefully). It might be a flying visit...
  

Love to all. xoxoxoxoxoxo

And here is the news........

No extensive platitudes, just a straight-up update of the Blogmuggle life.

• The docs have decided that Beloved does not have whooping cough, but a virus that is being treated with antibiotics anyway..... (does anyone else other than me see a flaw in this????). If his cough persists, then they will do a blood test to check for whooping cough in a month..... surely, if it is whooping cough, then a simple blood test done NOW will confirm this. Why wait a month? He is feeling better, but is rather flat and tires very easily. He intends to go back to work on Thursday as we need money in a hurry because

• Scorpaboy has been chosen to represent Australia in the Oceanic Mototrials Challenge against New Zealand in Queensland at Easter......... Go my boy!

• Sizzled-but-not-fried Farmer Terry is on the mend with a few cardiac issues, but considers a few burned patches and loss of his big toe to be a fair trade-off for his continued existence.

• The building work has really started on the addition. Today 52 holes were dug and filled in preparation for the construction of piers....... I have waited such a long time for this to happen, and now I am just not ready. I haven't decided upon my kitchen layout, and none of the other PC's have been chosen either........ not to mention the paintwork and such that needs to be done before windows are installed, bathroom vanities created out of old sideboards, and the such like....... pedal faster, Muggle, pedal faster..... you've had plenty of time to sort all this out.......

• GG finally has had her braces removed today, after almost 3 and a half years.... I can't wait to see her winning smile ;0)

• Mum. I've left the best until last. Not that there is any good news. It's just that that she's the best. On Friday night, Mum had 40cm of failing bowel removed and a colostomy bag installed, which may or may not be temporary. She will not be happy about this. It really doesn't matter; her bowel would have perforated and she would be enduring a slow and awful demise. Mum and I discussed a lot lot of scenarios prior to her operation; this was not one of them, but still....... I really want things to go the way that she would want them to. But I think that we crossed a line on Friday night that we didn't even realise was there.

She still remains in an unconscious state. Why?? No-one knows. Her sedation is minimal, and she should be a lot more responsive than she is. And I use the word "responsive" in a very guarded manner. She is still breathing on her own, but with the tubes in place to help her when she needs it.
Tomorrow, she will have a Tracheostomy so that the tubes can be removed from her throat. Her movements consist mainly of sideways head movements, so the tubes are causing some trauma to her throat, so in an attempt to preserve her airway in the view that she will wake up, the trachi-tube will provide easier access, preserve her airway, and allow potential communication when she is conscious. It is also felt that she may be less-stressed with no tubes in and around her. She is, however, still fed via a naso-gastric tube.
I threw a bit of a spanner in the works this afternoon when I requested that a brain scan was done before another "life-saving" hole was inserted into mum. Over a week ago, it was mentioned in passing that maybe a brain scan might be a good idea, but it didn't happen. I just don't think that Mum should be subjected to anything else if it won't help her. And ultimately, if her brain function has been impaired, then it is Mum's wish that no grand gestures or procedures are done to preserve her in a state that is less than the condition that she was able to maintain before she went into hospital. She was very aware of the fact that she would be in for a rough time before she became better, but was very clear in her desire to be able to maintain her independence and full life. In fact, she was looking forward to being able to do more than she was able to do before. So, I asked my brother to relay my request (it was very hard for him) and he was told that they were thinking that they might do one anyway.......
So, Mum has a busy day tomorrow..... Scan in the morning, and a Tracheostomy in the afternoon. What more could a girl ask for? .......

Enough for tonight. I have been at war with a migraine that is being kept at bay by 'Codapane', and it is time for bed.

After I hang out another load of washing, that is.

Goodnight all. And please don't forget to give generously to anyone that is donating locks and/or colouring their hair in an attempt to fun raise for "The World's Greatest Shave" this week!

Byeeee xoxoxoxoxoxoxo

If I lay here, if I just lay here........

Would you lie with me and just forget the world??????????

I'd love to, especially if it was with mum.

I spent a few hours with mum last night. Alternating with my Dad, brother, and GG. And there really is no change, except that, after 5 days of being fed "Jevity" via her naso-gastric tube, she has decided to empty her bowels for the first time. And a good jobbie it was too......... evidently, from the looks on the nurses' faces, and the aroma that greeted us upon entering the ICU. *snort*
The doctors say it's just waiting, waiting, waiting. And that she may have started to climb out of the hole. Hmmmmmm...... really???????

It's Mum's sister's birthday today; Happy Birthday, Helen!. (never miss the opportunity to insert a song, I reckon...) Helen would have been 69 or 70 today ( I think... I'm not good with these things). I must remember to ring her daughter, Ally, and husband tonight. Len has been struggling of late. He's very upset about mum. I think that they will do it tough today.........

Maybe she will come home after they finish celebrating today, hey?????? It must be some party, with all those women. It used to be a very noisy kitchen table at my Nan's when I was little.

Good news for Terry, the electrified-but-not-fried farmer. He was allowed to go home last night. But I think he will be on a go-slow for a wee while. And life in their household may change a bit, I think. More play and less work, perhaps.

It's a bit like that for Beloved this week, except that there's no play involved, just no work. You see, he messaged me at work lunchtime yesterday to pick him up from the doctors. A surprise not to be taken lightly..... So off I went, expecting to drop him into the A & E department at the hospital, then go back to work while they worked their magic; I assumed he'd had a bit of an accident at work.

BUT

No....... he'd had a coughing fit while driving his crane along the highway, nearly ran into a bridge, and had to be picked up and taken into the docs while his crane was retrieved. WHAT THE????
Oh, and the doctors think that he may have Whooping Cough.............

So I didn't go back to work, and I had to be cleared before I could. Fortunately, I had been vaccinated in 2006, so all's fine. But it meant that they were 1 short for the afternoon run...... And I will have to go in early today to make-up the time.

So Beloved is home for a least a week, and he really isn't well. We should find out for sure on Monday if he really does have Whooping Cough. And if he has, then everyone that he has been in contact with in the last 2 weeks will have to be vaccinated............

I'd better get off to work. See you later. xoxoxoxoxo

Yep, I if I could just lay here and just forget the world...........

This post has no title, just words, but no tune...

Morning Bloggers ;0)


I'd like to be able to tell you that Nan is on the improve, but I can't. She's has some hidden agenda that the medicos can't work out. Her temp is high (not white hot, but a concern none-the-less), and her blood pressure is extremely high, so her sedation was re-introduced. Then it sags, and is too low, so the nurses turn it off again. Nan is breathing on her own, but she just doesn't wake up, so the breathing tube has to stay in place so that her chest can be suctioned so that she doesn't develop pneumonia or some other dreadful lurgy. If she would just wake up so that she can cough on her own, then the tube could be removed. But she just doesn't seem to want to. She was responsive to our voices until about day 2 post-op, but has since retreated into some other "nicer place" where we can't reach her. She doesn't like having stitches or op-site removed though..... so she is responsive to painful stimuli. To me, this is good.

And then last night her blood her haemoglobin and potassium have dropped rather low, so they infused 2 units of blood into her. She has a naso-gastric tube in place as well as all the usual fluids running through her central line.

I wonder what today will bring.......

I have to work the rest of the week, but I will go back down for a quick visit on Thursday night.

I have to add at this point, that the staff in the ICU at the John Hunter Hospital have been absolutely amazing. Patient, caring, concerned and professional. Wonderful people. I hope that I can be as good a nurse as I have witnessed.


Anchell's right... life can be a tough relentless at times. One of my life-long friends called me yesterday with the news that her lovely hubby was electrocuted while moving pipes around their farm. Luckily, the pipe never actually came in contact with the high voltage wires, but arced between the two, so he didn't received the full 11000 volts....... He has been lucky; burns to his right hand, and possible loss of his toe where the charge left his body. It's not everyday you have an exploding toe, is it????????? He's in Tamworth Base Hospital ICU under observation to make sure that his heart rhythms are ok, and they'll then have to address the issue of his toe.........

So, that's all for now.

See you later, and thanks for reading.

xoxoxoxoox, Muggle.

Life is a highway.......... I wanna ride it all night long......

Or so it would seem at the moment.

Friday morning, after the boys went to school and Beloved walked in through the door and went to bed, I added a trip into Muswellbrook to take in the money for photos that the boys left behind and purchase some food for the pets before heading down to the John Hunter Hospital to see Mum. There had been no real change, except that they sedated her a bit more over the day after adjusting and fiddling with her pain meds after removing her epidural. The boys arrived on the 8.30pm train for the weekend. I struggled with the decision over whether or not to travel to Brisbane while my father just struggled with the vision of his motionless wife. It has distressed him enormously to see no physical indication of life from mum except for the waving pictures on the monitors. He hasn't really spoken to her, which is no surprise really; they never really have been all that conversational during their married life. He just watches her and the monitor....... all day. Unless I take him for a walk, or suggest that I need something to eat. Then He'll do it because I want to. And he'll whatever I eat.... so I've been eating the things that he likes. I fell sooo sluggish and blimpy at the moment. And he agonises over every non-essential blip on the monitor.......

Saturday, after consultation with staff, I decided that Mum's conditional was stable, and that she wasn't really going to alter much if I went away for 36hrs or so. It was with a heavy heart that I arrived in Brisbane on Saturday evening. And with an even heavier heart that I waved goodbye to my beautiful friend, Angela, after she had escorted me through the city and onto the M5 to Ipswich. Tears were streaming down my face. Angela is one of the most gracious and beautiful souls that I have known. Her life is extraordinarily difficult, but she just continues on with a dignity and serenity that she doesn't even realise that she possesses.

The drive home was uneventful. Petrol and a pee-break at Tenterfield ( with a coke zero and a wagon-wheel thrown in... I already feel gross and disgusting, so why not?), another toilet stop at Uralla, and then Garlic Pepper Chicken strips from Red Rooster in Tamworth for tea. I picked up the boys, who had caught the train home, in Muswellbrook, and hit the door at home at 8.35pm. I had left Kenmore at 11.30am. So now I can add another thing to my list of firsts; I have driven all the way home from Queensland on my own!

So now I have watched "Jekyll and Hyde", washed school and work clothes, and I am in the process of cooking some tea for the boys for tomorrow night as well as talked on the phone to Beloved, my Brother and my Dad. Beloved is tired, and the two latter men are weary and more than a little down.

And blogged. Because it feels good to do so. And becasue (xxxxx, Lisa) you care.

So tomorrow, after the boys board the bus, and (hopefully) Beloved arrives home, I will drive the hire-car back to Mayfield, and spend a few hours with Mum and Dad at the hospital. Her blood pressure is still all over the place, so they can't remove any of her support equipment yet. And yet, if they lessen her sedation, she reacts to it all, and tries to pull her tubes. So as a middle ground, so to speak, she now has restraints on her hands........
Then I'll shop and cook a few meals to refrigerate for Dad before going back to the hospital, and will probably head home about 8 or 9 pm. If I need it, I can probably get Tuesday and Wednesday off work, but I have to run the Centre on Thursday and Friday as Sue and Charlie will be in Barraba on a course. We'll see.

I'd love to go to bed about now, but my stomach is protesting about all the crap that I have forced into it over the last 5 days....... And in response to the small amount of pressure......

I think I'll go play scrabble. I just wish that it wasn't so late..........

See you later, and thanks for tall the good wishes. I'm not sure why my own comment posted 3 times, but at least I ended with more comments, hey!