2018-07-31

Oh dear I have man boobs.

A most unpretty sight but the wounds would have rendered them unnoticed if I hadn't mentioned them.

A 20 day heart plumbing adventure.

I had gone to the doctor simply to get the result of a test and in a slip of the tongue mentioned the extremely cold winter we've had brought my cold weather angina back. it seems in another loss of freedom they have to detain and test any complaints of chest pain. The Ingham hospital reckoned I'd h a heart attack recently and despite my protests Olivia insisted I get lugged away to Townsville to receive whatever treatment needed. Here the ambos are either tickling or preparing me for the ride.
I protested my health was fine but under much duress they eventually beat me down to agreeing to an angiogram, then oddly I felt a bit weaker and sat down, and thanks to the wires on me was able to watch the heart ticker number go down down down along with my eyesight, I just caught a glimpse of a flashing light as I slumped in a rather dead position in the chair, the next thing I saw the face of an angel (nurse Sarah) talking to me out of a cloud of grey, meanwhile my chest hurt from the other nurse Sarah jumping on my chest with stiletto heels. I had picked a great place to keel over and my resistance to procedures vapourised. I was incredibly calm from then on and this piccie was from the next day showing off my lifesaving machine.
 Angiogram done and on my wrist is a fantastic bit of pressure equipment to stop blood pouring out.
Result was no stent possible, which is likely a win but 4-5 blockages needed bypassing.
So I was now in wait mode but I was really cheered up by a visit by young Stephanie and family.

Olivia would love these mirrors at home, the pity for me was with my eyesight (which is worse since the op.) I couldn't see well enough for them to help with shaving.
This Tork lavatory paper they have is the best I've ever used, yet oddly many moan about it.
They supply a huffer to test and work your lungs, it worked fairly well before the operation but had become faulty after it with it barely rising, however it seems to be working a bit better now, a temporary fault possibly even related to my health.
The TV at the hospital is a technical nightmare and also $11 per night to watch a butchered picture is only stress inducing, but a blessing is that the hospital offers free wifi and I was able to get a very limited contact with the world via it, an absolute blessing and I must add that some of my limitations are likely linked to my budget tablet that I had merely used to play Sudoku on previously.
Close to operation time now and the few hairs I had on my body were clipped. In order to avoid more pain I even shaved off the few hairs that the hospital nurse had missed.
I think I'm waving to Olivia as they cart me away, an oxygen mask is used for everybody.
Olivia shot this as I was coming to the next morning, I was too drugged up to make any sense at this point.
Olivia spent too many hours in this waiting room and hadn't even noticed the cellphone charger. She was a nervous wreck waiting for doctors to arrive with sombre news but it wasn't TV and I'm still alive to annoy them after what she claims was a 6 hour operation.
Finally unwired the day before leaving and I can show off my new zipper thanks to this clear bandage. The lower bandage covers three drainage holes they had tubes in before removing them, the action of doing that was a squidgy feeling.
I also got lucky with bypass piping, they found three in my breast, Olivia now says I won't be able to make milk for any baby I might have, and they must have hooked a massive pipe out of my arm which I heard did a bit of double duty doing two of the blockages by backflow or something.
Anyway all done and back at home now, albeit in a reduced capacity for a while, although to be fair my capacity has been much reduced for some time anyway.

2018-07-04

Photography is difficult when your eyesight is hopeless.

I tested my walking on a trip to my parent's place, dunno whether it was a pass or fail, I was stronger than when I walked a week ago but still not up to scratch and can't really consider it a viable means of getting about. Balance issues still affect me, something's amiss.
I heard a helicopter and had just enough time to pull my camera out and wind up a bit of zoom, then point in what I thought was the right direction and hope for the best, happily I managed a result, maybe not a great one but I was shooting blind(ish). Must be whatever the Chinooks have evolved into as I thought they had pensioned Chinooks off years ago.
 Then I saw Skippy jump across the path and road in front of my so did the same routine, clever Skippy though had hidden himself (what am I saying? clever Skippies are invariably female) behind the guard rail, you'll see part of him in the right side of the shot. Come to think of it he must have been male as rather than take the easy approach of hopping around the armco it snuck under it.
Why post a crap piccie like this? it was a nice day so thus a pretty scene, and kangaroos are not that common in other countries.