2014 NON-TRAVELS… PART 1

After our thoroughly enjoyable long trip last year, we had been looking forward to a repeat in 2014. But not to be.

The year turned out to be one of dealing with health issues that kept us anchored at home. Just for some variety, this year the bulk of the problems were mine, although John did have  “re-bore” surgery. Can I feel male readers flinching? I will not go into further detail here, except to say it solved the problem that plagued him during last year’s travels. There were also some more lung issues and his breathing capacity was measured at just 66%.

The sore on my leg, that started at Forrest Beach, last year, turned into a nasty leg ulcer that no amount of varied medical expertise seemed able to heal. One solution – by a plastic surgeon – created a second ulcer, worse than the first. Pain from the ulcers led to having to wear morphine patches. Repeated infections led to repeated anti-biotic courses. All this medication  in turn led to an immune system melt-down. Medication for that sent the blood pressure sky high. Eventually I finished up on a pain relief medication I’d not heard of before – a nasty called Lyrica. It dealt with the leg pain and enabled me to sleep but had some drastic side effects, like blurred vision. I really felt that I was on a downward spiral, suddenly.

With visits to assorted medical people happening two or three times a week, and instructions to keep leg elevated, travel was out of the question.

In January friends V and F came to stay for a really enjoyable week. They travelled by bus and train from Griffith – F did not want to drive anywhere near Melbourne and we failed to convince him that they could reach us with minimal exposure to metropolitan traffic. We collected them from, and delivered them back to Southern Cross Station. Fortunately for us – and F’s nerves – they arrived and left on Sundays, so none of us had to brave weekday traffic and hunting for parking places. We did do some driving about with them – mostly to different parts of the Yarra Valley. They enjoyed our pool, as the month was exceedingly hot. Swimming was something else I couldn’t do, due to the leg.

February saw bushfires in assorted parts of the state, but the Dandenongs were spared again.

One of the rare pieces of good news for the year was that son acquired a lovely new girlfriend – if that’s an appropriate term for someone turning 40 this year. She was an old school classmate, which made her a former student of mine, too! A further twist was that she and son had exactly the same birthday. It was delightful to see the both of them so happy with each other.

I occupied my forced sedentary time with quilting, completing my first quilt, started some years ago, made completely by hand. The action of doing the actual quilting caused a fluid build up in the wrist, which had to be treated by injection. I resolved that, although  really enjoying the hand sewing together of the various quilt pieces, the actual quilting of any future ones would be by machine – or someone else. The quilt went to grand daughter and I started thinking about and planning the next one.