Month: April 2023

The  few hours I spent out at Wild Dog Hill with the group was really very interesting. Some of the more “senior” members have very high-quality cameras and some of the long-distance close-up photographs of the native birds were really very good. These are the ones that generally get posted on-line. Still I don’t do too badly with my D7000 Nikon. I have achieved a number of “6” in points  from the Adelaide Judges and once I even managed to get a “7”  :o) So, I am quite happy.  Given the domestic situation, I do not get out with my camera as much as I would like. If Annabell is not too bad and I can leave her for a little while, I will take Benji to the Wetlands /Ada Ryan Gardens and the Foreshore and if Annabell is really having a good day I might, from time to time, get out to the lighthouse or even  Douglas Point and the Shingle Ridge. I remember, once upon a time, when I used to go there quite regularly!   Benji is well enough although I came to the conclusion that a two mile hike is starting to get a bit much for him – he is almost 11. The last couple of days I have used a combination of the stroller and walking. I put him in the stroller and we set out on our walk. The last stage of the walk takes us past our house, so instead of going on I cross over and into the driveway, get him out of the stroller and into his harness and we complete the last part of the route walking together, and he’s quite happy with that. He’s still eating well. He likes one brand of Dog Biscuits and I couldn’t get that brand anywhere in the Shopping Centre, so I spent ages wandering around town until I finally got the brand that he likes — I Know – spot the loony!

Alas, it could be that Wild Dog Hill is the last outing for a while. The nurse finished the injections on Annabell on  Tuesday afternoon last week and we began the antibiotic  medication  on the Wednesday. Everything  seemed to be going well and the swelling was going down. However late yesterday (Sunday) afternoon I noticed that the swelling rather than going down, was starting to build up again, so, it looks like another trip to the doctor and then, possibly, the hospital.  You know the odd thing was that we sat talking yesterday and I looked at my diary for this coming week and it contained only two entries the ANZAC Dawn Service on Tuesday and a Funeral on Friday afternoon.

I attended the Dawn Service at the Memorial Gates this morning. There was a fairly large turnout, but I didn’t see anyone I knew – but then, I wasn’t looking. The Mayor gave an address as did a Lt. Commander from the Royal Australian Navy. The Prayers were offered by someone called “Pastor Josh” and I have not the faintest idea where he comes from. I’d never heard of him before.  I had thought of going back up later in the morning with the camera and take photographs of the March, but then it would mean leaving Annabell on her own not knowing where I was since she was still sleeping.  Given the fact that she is on anti-seizure medication it should be ok to leave her for short periods, but being the overly anxious person that I am, I’d rather not do that.

Once she is awake and up, I will take the Benji over to Westlands and give him a bath.  The “Pet’s Dominion” store has an area for Self- bathing the dog. It’s a good area and only costs $10, which is

next to nothing, really. What I like about it is the fact that it uses warm water whereas the  bath at the vet uses cold water. Talking about Vets, I’ll book an appointment for him later on this week. Nothing wrong – just for a quick check-up.

The nurse arrived at 09:20 yesterday morning. I had a talk to her and we decided that since Annabell

was still asleep, we would leave her sleeping and nurse would come back later – around 12:30 This she did and the last injection was administered. Once that was done the  Port was removed and the area cleaned up and bandaged. Doctor this afternoon to follow up and that “should” be us.  Yes, well,  I’ve said that before!

She is still sleeping but I will give her another half hour then I will waken her. I will leave her for ten minutes then give her the traditional Glasgow morning call  “yupyet?” which should – if all is well – be answered in the correct manner “mup”.  Now that the call has been made and the correct answer given, I can safely divest myself of all the communication equipment that I carry around with me each morning. If I stay here at the computer ,or sit and read then it’s not a problem, but if I decide to go outside to do some work, I have the house phone in one pocket, my  mobile phone in  a breast pocket and the  doorbell in another pocket all so that I can attend to things and answer them as necessary without Annabell being disturbed. Doesn’t always work, but the thought is good  :o)

I ordered a new telephoto lens for my Nikon. I have ordered  things on line from Adelaide and sometimes it’s the best part of a week before they  acknowledge the order and another week (or more) before it arrives.  The lens I ordered is coming from Sydney NSW.. I ordered it Monday and on Tuesday morning I get an email telling me that it has been, posted, all the information about tracking, and thank you for the order. Adelaide to Whyalla – 300miles / Sydney to Whyalla 1000 miles. I have been thinking about a Nikon Z Camera but right at the moment I have more important things that need attention other than a new camera for me.  So, I will have to be content with my two Nikons for the present.

Did the follow-up as requested and  we are on antibiotics for a week.  Another tablet – great. Must make sure I don’t shake her or she will rattle. But, joking aside, I hope this will clear things up for her. Today was not her best of days and we have those kinds of days from time to time,  –  it calls for a touch of TLC and then get moving again.

The photography group are doing a “wander” in the outback this coming Saturday. I said I would try to get with them, but as usual it depends on how Annabell is. I may go but only for a limited time, which is better than not going at all and besides, my camera is not really getting a lot of use these days.

Well, as you can see by the photographs, we went to Wild Dog Hill and had a picnic.  It was a good afternoon out, although I would have preferred to have Benji with me. Yes, I climbed the hill – I should not have done that – not with the knee I have, so it was painful, but I considered the pain worth the view. Actually, the   journey back down was more painful than the going up. Still, that’s it done. If all is well I should be  able to attend the next meeting but the meeting after I will be in Adelaide with Annabell.

The rain lasted all of last night and into the morning  but it had stopped in time for me to take Benji out for our walk. Annabell was fairly well today so I went through to Port Augusta. My son (John) called me during the week and asked  if I would take him to Port Augusta.  Of course I made sure that Annabell was ok with that since I would be away for several hours. Fortunately  John was able to do what he wanted fairly quickly so we decided to  go for coffee at the Arid Lands Botanic Gardens. It was good to see that the  place was really quite busy.  We left home about 8: 45 am and I was back home by 11:50, so it wasn’t too bad. I made her lunch everything was fine. I would liked to have taken Benji with us but that would have meant no Arid Lands because like all other parks and conservation areas in South Australia – dogs are banned

Fairly quiet afternoon and I did some work outside but mostly I stayed around making sure that she

was ok.   She slept for a bit and I got on with getting things ready for dinner and it was well after dinner when the nurse came to give Annabell the injections.  Actually it was after 7 pm. Same time again tomorrow then back to afternoon visits for the last three injections. We were going to suggest to John that he not come for dinner on Sunday, but since the nurse won’t be here until about 7pm (ish) we decided that it would be ok. I may  cook a little bit earlier than usual.

As it happened John was here, we had dinner, sat and chatted for a bit, cleared up and he was away before the nurse arrived at 8 pm. We only had the overnight rain and some rain in the morning and that was it. The forecast for the next few days is  low 20c and overcast. Still a bit cold in the mornings, but dry, which means a fairly good walk. I have changed the route a little bit but still keeping the same 2 miles distance.

Today the nurse arrived fairly early, and I spoke to her about the arrangements for tomorrow and Annabell’s hospital appointment.  The nurse was greatly amused because she was going to ask us to have the injection done at the hospital tomorrow because of the shortage of nursing staff, so we both wanted the same thing – the injection at the hospital.  Wednesday, is the last injection, so that should be ok to be done here at home. However, what it meant is we were at the hospital for the injection and then up to the first floor for the physiotherapy class. In all, we would be over two hours at the hospital.

The Session Clerk called me today and was quite upset because  she was about to do something that she had put off doing for as long as she could, which was to request of me that I return the Church Keys and anything else I had that belonged to the church. I suggested rather than do that I would  open the church after the hospital tomorrow and place the keys on the table beside the organ along with anything else that I have that may belong to the church. That will save her the unpleasant task of coming to the house to ask for them. I  felt it was the least I could do. It’s also sad for me because as long as I had the keys I felt still connected, in a small way, to the church. That feeling will end tomorrow afternoon and perhaps that’s a good thing.

Annabell had another seizure and was taken to hospital. She remained in  HDU for a day or so then was removed to a ward for a further four days. She was released yesterday (17th) Am going to try and have a quiet next few days and then a peaceful weekend before we head off to Adelaide.   There is still no determination of the cause of the seizures.  The Specialist she has been seeing is not at all convinced with the Idiopathic Epilepsy suggestion and maintains that for some doctors the term is an ” off the cuff” description for something with a yet unknown cause.  FMC need a blood test before we head down there, so we are going to get that done sometime today.  Flinders Medical Centre (FMC) are sending the forms directly to the  Whyalla Hospital.

The way things are going it is getting more and more difficult for her to walk and walking, even with the walker, tires her out.  There was a sale on so I bought something I honestly believe I will need in the not too distant future. Yes, I bought a wheelchair and right at this moment it is not even been unpacked. It is still packed, in its box and in the garage. Next time Annabell goes into the garage will be the first time – so it’s quite safe where it is. This afternoon we went over to the SA Pathology for the blood test and it was a painful walk -not just  for her but for me.  Even with the walker she struggled to make a reasonably short from the car to the SA Pathology Clinic

Benji was concerned. Every time I come home from the hospital, he looks for her. He misses his mummy. Anyway, yesterday when we both came home, he was overjoyed, and the tail was going fit to raise a storm. I had to be very careful since he was running around her, and I had to watch where she was walking. Anyway, I think he was pleased to see her home.  He won’t be too impressed next week when we are away from Tuesday to Sunday. Anyway, John James will be here to look after him.

At the hospital, one of the nurses asked Annabell how the dog was? Annabell was surprised, but the nurse had a big grin and told her that she sees me and the dog out walking most mornings. There you go – these days you don’t know who your neighbours are.

Monday was a public holiday, Tuesday and Wednesday were both hospital days. Tuesday was physiotherapy (Annabell, not me)  and Wednesday was to discuss the things we would like done to the house to make life easier for her – i.e. a ramp rather than a front step– however,  that was cancelled and we were not informed, so we ended up at the hospital for no reason. We just came back home via the doctor’s clinic to make an appointment for her.

She still gets very tired and sleeps a lot. When we came back from the hospital on Tuesday morning, she sat in her recliner and fell asleep. I covered her with a blanket and left her sleeping until  almost 5:30. Interesting that the doctor who runs the physiotherapy program is called Annabelle. Up until Wednesday the weather has been pretty good but then we had several rain storms and more are predicted for the remainder of this week. First real rain we have had for a while. I have still managed to get out with Benji in the morning and we still complete our 2 mile walk. A Cyclone, Category 4 is predicted for the top end of Western Australia. It wont cause any damage here but we should get some of the rain bands passing on through the state

The thing about this area – and I think I might have mentioned this before –  that  the land is reclaimed land from the Australian Bush, not all that good in growing things  -with the exception of weeds – really great in growing weeds. Many people who had houses built in this area really did  the necessary thing – like grow flowers and such like. That includes me. The soil is not so good and the cost of water is expensive. My last water bill was $178.03. Most houses here have removed lawns and replaced them with  garden stones and even then – the weeds still get through. It’s getting harder to walk Benji in the area because of the weeds,

turning him into a three feet dog. For those who don’t understand – means he stops every three feet to have a sniff and a pee,  and it’s not just a quick sniff either- every leaf, every blade, every stem.

I have been following the series “Lego Masters” on TV recently.  It’s all very well to build a Lego kit from a commercial box following the plans but this is free-hand with no plans and no pre-set designs – all from the imagination of the builder- and to a set period of time. Really interesting because I don’t have that kind of creative mind. Andrew (But not John) is  a Lego fan. I mean, we all  played with Lego when the boys were young, but then other interests happened, and the Lego was  pushed to one side. Andrew and Connor are interested in Star Wars, so already they have much Sci.Fi Lego. Andrew has a room set aside for Lego – his things on the top shelve, the things by Connor on lower levels.

I am not entirely certain, but I think I may have found the secret to life – well the life of this page anyway. and I seem to be able to insert  photographs without too much trouble. I think I may have found the link to my real site. I am adding this page to favourites so I hope that I can access it again if I have to leave the room and the laptop closes down..

I don’t want to take the chance of  this page vanishing so I  don’t want to go outside of the page to see what I have posted – which is a way of saying that if I have already told you this information, I am sorry. I am concerned about touching anything in case it all vanishes again.

We  had  documents from the Hospital, which outlined Annabell’s recent medical history and provided the information for the dates  for the Royal Adelaide Hospital and the Flinders Medical Centre and they have  done a very good job of managing the two visits, although it does mean that we will be in  Adelaide for most of a week in May. I will book us into the  Cancer Council Greenhill Lodge for the time. I am pleased about the arrangements since I was not very keen in having to make two trips to Adelaide within a short space of time. I also notice in the documents that we have a “Free Day” between the two hospitals, which I am very pleased about. I want a new mobile (Cell) phone and I had considered getting one on line, however, I can hang out for another few weeks and wait until we are in Adelaide. The  place I will buy the phone from is the place – or at least the business – that I would have bought from on line. I am not an Apple person and have stayed (mostly) with Samsung. However, Samsung phones are  just getting too expensive with all the bells and whistles – that I neither want nor need.  I am not all that happy with the Samsung I presently have. I charged it last night and  it’s only  10am and it’s down to 38%  I have been looking back at “yesterday” and  considering a Nokia.

Annabell, according to the medical documents, has been listed as a New Epilepsy Diagnosis and I am not trying to be flippant  by suggesting that it’s just another thing to add to the list and we will deal with it as we do for everything else. It’s also interesting that Monika already suggested that this was the case when she first read  the post – so there you are Monika  you were right on the ball!!

Annabell herself, is not too bad. She tires easily and she does sleep a lot so the free days will be good for her recovery, particularly after Flinders. When we started all of this the trips to and from Adelaide were good and we had some interesting chats, which helped to pass the time.  Sadly that doesn’t happen, and she sleeps for most of the journey. We hardly clear Gepps Cross before she is sleeping – and all the way to Port Wakefield. Sometimes I can be pretty mean. She wakes up a little and asks where we are and I tell her ” Just outside Port Augusta” when we are  really outside Whyalla.  Then I wake her up ten minutes later and tell her we are nearly home and I get a response ” Oh, that was quick” I know, I know, I’m just rotten…

If I can keep this page alive I  will have some better photograph and not just revamped ones from other posts. I just was concerned that I would  have problems if I tried to be clever.