Author: edgar62

At 03;20 on Saturday morning I called out the emergency services. I was wakened by a strange noise and rushed into Annabell’s room to find her convulsing and fighting for breath.  The operator stayed on the line and  advised me to do CPR, which I started doing. She stayed on the line in until the emergence services arrived. I did break off to unlock the doors. When they arrived they took over and I left the room to look after Benji. They worked on Annabell for some time before getting her ready for transporting to the emergency rooms at the hospital. At the time it was a suspected stroke. Once they left I got a quick wash and went up to the hospital. In the meantime I called John and he met me at the A & E.. We knew that Andrew had Connor, so we left off calling him until about about 5AM.   By then he was awake, got Connor ready and met us Up at the ward.  Annabell was still down in the Emergency area and undergoing scans to find out  the  problem.

The doctors here called  Adelaide and  were in constant contact with the specialists there. It was determined through the various tests and scans that she did not have a stroke, however, she did have a seizure but they don’t know as yet what caused it. She was moved to a special Pressurised Room and we were with her for as good part of the morning. Connor was getting fractious, so Andrew went home.  He was going to see his former partner and see is she could look after Connor for the day, but she was already flat out and unable to do so. Because of the medications and the various tubes,  Annabell was in and out of  consciousness for much of the time and unable to speak clearly. However, she did know three words -” Okay / Don’t know.”  She did not know who I was nor John.

The Session Clerk (Helen) from the church came and we sat stayed for a while. Annabell didn’t know who she was either, but she let John sit beside her and hold her hand. John had only finished night-shift so he was starting to tire. I sent him home. Whilst John was away it was decided to move her from the pressurised room she was in to the High Dependance Unit. I telephoned John to tell him to let me know if and when he was coming back. He said he was just about to leave so I said I would meet him at the front entrance and after signing in and answering the questions I would take him up to the H.D.U. Helen left and John and I stayed until about 5:40pm and then went to have dinner at Andrew’s.  After playing with Connor for a bit and then dinner, it was now 7pm, so I  headed back to the hospital for the last hour.

There was quite a difference in her and she was a bit more coherent. Conversation was still a bit disjointed and confused. When it was time for me to leave the trauma nurse asked me to have a talk with her. We discussed the difference between 5:40pm when we left until now. I said that I found her almost coherent, but confused. Also I  still believe she really didn’t know who I was but I sensed that she knew I was someone she knew, so she gave me her hand to hold and we talked a little. She has a new word  “Odd” everything was “Odd”  The nurse said she wanted to know what I thought before  she wrote her report, that she  is able to hold a limited conversation but there is still a  fair bit of confusion and  lack of recognition.  I agreed with that assessment.

I arrived home at 9pm and began the process of clearing up. The rooms were a mess and everything that had to be moved to allow the passage  of the emergency people and the  wheeled stretcher,  had to be replaced. I also Went into Annabell’s room and tidied that up and remade her bed. After that I attended to Benji, made some coffee and sat down for a bit.

I was up at my usual 5:30 this morning (Sunday) and took Benji for his morning walk. I will take the service this morning and then head up to the hospital and hope and pray that a decent sleep overnight has helped her recovery.  It’s been a long post, so thank you for your patience. I’ll keep you informed on her progress, but  suspect it will be a long recovery.

Tuesday evening is Annabell’s Coffee evening with the ladies. I took her there and came back to do some work on my own. Just before 9pm. she telephoned and asked me to come and pick her up. At the far end of the street there seemed to be a lot of people, an Ambulance, a Police Car, a Fire Engine and a State Emergency Service (SES)Truck, so I had to slow down when passing. I collected Annabell and brought her home. All the emergency services were still there and from my slow passing I could see that there was a person in the stretcher .  All very interesting.  On Wednesday morning we found out the story, when one of the coffee ladies phoned Annabell.  There is this man called Greg. and on a Tuesday he meets up with his mates, play snooker  and have a chat. One of the  males is disabled and his wife collects him. It was a pretty wild night and the wife asked Greg, if he would like a lift home – they could get the bicycle into the SUV. He said no, he was fine and would ride home. He is a biker and goes everywhere on his bicycle.  Well he didn’t make it and came off the bike. Someone called an ambulance since Greg injured his back and could not move.  Now Greg is a very big and very heavy person and the

ambulance people could not lift him. By this time, the police showed up.  What to do??  Well, the police knew that the Fire Service had heavy lifting equipment, so they were called out. Now, if the fire truck goes out the SES goes with it.  Using the Fire Equipment they got Greg into the Ambulance and they were just leaving as we passed on the way home.  I understand from  Annabell’s source, that  poor Greg was highly embarrassed to say the least and the  crowd that I saw around the accident seemed to have had a good show.

On Wednesday afternoon I was unhappy with Annabell’s health and I questioned her several times to find out how she was. She assured me that she was ok. I had my doubts. I may not be a physician but I have a sense of smell. I asked her again how she was and she assured me she was ok, so I went out with Benji.  When I returned,  just about an hour later,  she was sitting in her chair, bag on her lap and shoes on and all she said, was “I need to go to the hospital”. I got Benji sorted out, got my  driving glasses and off we went. Yes, she has another infection and is being treated with antibiotics. It was nearly midnight before we got home so I did not go walking this  morning. However, I did go to the pharmacy when it opened and got her script filled.

Today, as you can probably imagine has been a day to relax. I left her sleeping and later, after breakfast,  I took her to the shopping centre. The remainder of the day has been fairly quiet. It has not rained at all today, but the wind, which started in the early morning and  now – at 10pm. is still going.  We had a call from Flinders this afternoon to let us know that the scripts have been faxed to our local pharmacy. I will get them dispensed here and take the units with us to Adelaide. Thus we should not have a repeat performance at the Hospital Pharmacy.

In a recent visit to the lighthouse with Benji I noticed that the council were doing some upgrade work to the base. I thought that was an interesting view. Probably not but it appealed to me.

The rain in Spain, falls mainly on the plain;

The rain in Australia falls anywhere it pleases

Here we are – the second week of November and it’s still raining. The first week saw my driveway under three inches of water, it’s a bit more now and the back garden is not much better. Between the thunderstorms and the constant rain I think my brain is waterlogged. Benji and I have not been out much and it’s now been three days since we had our last morning walk. As I said before, the real problem with this weather is that it can make a person feel homesick. Anyway, it’s been like this all night and by the look of things , it will go on most of today as well. To be honest I have never it rain as much as it has done these last few weeks-

at least not up here – the Lower Eyre Peninsula yes, but not up here. My main rainwater tank is overflowing and the 100 litre. bin I  put under the overflow pipe to catch the water for use in  the garden, is also overflowing.  I have not been down to the wetlands and  I should imagine that the ponds are at capacity but I have seen the water pit  and that is  overflowing.  If this weather keeps up  then something will have to be done  about the water pit. All  that has been done thus far is to dig a channel from the top of  the pit out to the bush so the water clears – well, some of it anyway.

Annabell has been unwell this last week and I have had her  at the hospital, the doctor and for  tests. We are still waiting on the results of the tests. We have also been for  our second Vaccination and we have our Vaccination Certificates. I should have been heading off to Adelaide for the quarterly conference.       This, however, has been   postponed until next month. The son of   the Moderator died suddenly (aged 26) and given the  circumstances it was decided to hold things over until December.  At the moment  there is no indication of the date in December, I hope it does not clash with Annabell’s visit to Flinders. If that happens,  there will be no conference because I am not

changing Annabell’s hospital date. Wow.. After raining all night and much of the morning it is 10:50  and the rain has stopped.  Perhaps she is having a “Breather”  before the next round.   It is now  11:39 and  “round 2”  begins .

As I suspected, the pit is overflowing. Benji and I went out for a quick drive to see what was happening around the place. After the pit I drove to the Wetlands and I must say that I saw the highest water level I have ever seen there. There is also flooding on the roads and one has to watch where one is driving  so that we don’t splash up and soak someone standing close.  It’s not illegal but it’s not very friendly either.

It is wet and it really is quite cold. The forecaster suggested that it is very much colder than it should be for this time of the month. When we were out in the car I saw that Benji was shivering a bit so I  got a blanket from the back seat and wrapped it around him. When we got back home I put on his jacket ( the one in the photograph) so he should be a tad warmer. Well, he is 11 YO now.

Email from Adelaide tells me that the Conference clashes with  Annabell’s visit to the Flinders Clinic, but it may be that it is on her “Rest Day” before we head for home, so, provided everything goes to plan I might just make the conference -which is ten minutes away from the Flinders Lodge an the Parade in Norwood.

Weather News – Severe thunderstorms hit South Australia …

18 hours ago · Lightning, giant hail and heavy rains have hit parts of South Australia, causing flash flooding and damage across the state, forcing the closure of a number of schools. A severe thunderstorm warning for the Adelaide region has been cancelled, but a severe weather warning for damaging winds remains in place for most of the state.

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This was the result of the thunderstorms that battered the state  all day Thursday and well into this morning (Friday) I  had a generally sleepless night during the gale force winds worrying about the two trees outside. As it happens they – thankfully – survived. I say thankfully because if they came down they would cause considerable damage. I am desperate to have them removed but I can’t find anyone willing to do this or that have the necessary equipment to do this. Early morning it was reported that  schools had damage to roofs and had to be closed and currently there are some 30,000 houses without power.

The hail storms were severe with some hail as big as gold balls, causing major damage. There is advantage in living in the arid lands – the weather gets ” grumpy” at times but is really nothing in comparison to what they get  down south. We don’t get the hail – which is something to be thankful for. Over in New South Wales and Victoria the storm front caused havoc with roofs collapsing under the weight of the water and the massive hailstones. The storm drains were unable to cope leaving the water no where to go but into houses and businesses. Over there they were talking 100,000 without power. Car repair people will be working for a long time to repair the damage caused to cars by the hailstones

Yesterday afternoon before the storms hit I removed everything I could from the back garden, including the removal of the canopy of the garden swing, which in  a good wind acts like a sail. I brought  Benji’s chair and stored it in the garage along with  all of the seat covers.  It is now 07:30 and as I look out of the window I can see that there is not even a breath of wind. A lot of damage across much of the state and I expect the clean-up will take some time. There was some wind when Benji and I went for our walk at 6am, but now – nothing.

Just shows you how the weather can make a liar out of people. Less than five minutes since I wrote the above sentence and it’s raining and a wee bit windy  LOL..  I have noticed that the rain is not falling down, well, yes, of course it is,  but it’s almost horizontal. If it gets any heavier I’ll have to go out and move things that I put under the carport for protection – I did!

The rain continued off and on for much of Friday but by the  mid afternoon it had cleared and Benji and I went for a drive then a  wander through the Ada Ryan Gardens. We didn’t stay too long since there was a  little bit of a wind – nothing much, but it was cold.  This  morning, no sunrise to speak of –  one minute it was quite light, next the sun was in the sky — no beating about the bush this morning.

Don’t think I ever mentioned that Thunder and Lightening doesn’t seem to bother Benji at all. I bought a Thunder Shirt for Chienna but it really didn’t help her all that much.  Thunder crashes and  Benji barely lifts his head. No idea what he would be like outside, but I’m not willing to find out  :o)