Tag: Medical Tests

Heatwaves and temperature crashes.

by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

The highest temperature recorded in the town’s history, was how the temperature of Port Augusta was described. The  “Official Temperature”was recorded as 48.9c but the temperature monitor in the center of the town recorded 52.6c. Here, my monitor recorded a temperature of 43c as did the monitor of a friend in another part of town, yet the “Official Temperature” only recorded 37c.

Well, Hi There, yáll.

Part of the local legend and conspiracy theory is that  in the early days of the town, the temperature of the area was “adjusted”  so as not to discourage people from coming here. It was advertised as having a “Mediterranean Climate” although off-hand I can’t think of many places in that area that experience temperatures of 40+C. Anyway, the higher temperatures meant  lower and sometimes, no wind. I  thought this was great and suitably attired,  I managed to get almost all of the leaves swept up. Didn’t bode well for my plants despite the  daily watering and monitoring. It’s also been a busy week in that I have had three medical appointment that were  unplanned. What I mean by that is that doctor called and said he wanted certain tests for Annabell and I  took her for these. And a call that he wanted to see her – that’s later on this morning.

Still and Calm

Last night it was suddenly quite mild and Benji and me visited the Wetlands  and had a good walk around the place. The thing I found surprising is that despite the coolness of the evening, there were not very many people about. I was, however, disappointed to discover that the Wetlands Kiosk was closed. I would have thought it would have remained open late, which would attract more people to the area in the mild evenings. There was not a breath of  wind in the air. The water of the ponds were still and calm – sort of like me, really – still and calm — Yeah in my dreams!

Today – Friday – the wind came back, the temperature fell to the low 20s and we had a few spots of rain – so few spots I think it was scared to show its face after being away for so long.  The heat, is some parts of the state and the country, only served to exacerbate the drought, pushing our farmers further into depression. Many of my plants did not survive and I did have concerns with my young Mulberry Tree, but it seems to come through ok – as far as I can tell.

Walk at 6:10am.

I was hoping to go through to the Port this week and then on to Quorn Hospital but all these doctor dates with Annabell kind of knocked that on the head. She is ok otherwise. She coped reasonably well with the high temperatures this last week and we are going to look at replacing the Air Conditioner in her room with a reverse cycle Air Conditioner. It will give her more control to regulate the temperature to what is comfortable for her. I took Benji out for a walk this morning and it was – as they say -“Fresh”. In fact it was so fresh that I was sorry I had put on only a light jacket – and yes, that’s how far the temperatures have fallen. Sort of giving us a breather before the heatwave forecast for next week. Today, and tomorrow  I have  fundraising days for the Royal Flying Doctor Service. This will take up much of the day. Fortunately it’s not a hot day – I think about 24c. We should be ok today and the team out tomorrow should have about the same,

Annabell, Funerals and Monday again

by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs
Annabell

If being away this time was full of frustrations being at home this week has been full of concern and anxiety. Annabell  is ill and on Monday I booked her into the doctor. He saw her, examined her and decided that she needed to go to hospital to have an infection attended to. She could barely walk. The infection is on both legs.. I got her up to hospital,  she went into A & E and I called the boys. Andrew drove down to the hospital. John was away but he called me  after a bit to find out how things were with his mum. The consulting doctor was a  Gentleman from the Sub-Continent and at times difficult to understand but he ordered a whole bank of tests so we were there for much of the night, but he would not admit her, gave her  a prescription for an anti-biotic and we were sent home. The late night chemist was still open so I was able to get her medication. I also stopped off for a take-away for dinner – a late dinner but we were both hungry. Tuesday I telephoned some people and said that Annabell not would be at the coffee evening or morning for this week.  After left to go to the Conference, the Session Clerk  called me to let me know that one of our parishioners had died so when I came back I not only had to look after Annabell, I  had a funeral Order of Service to organise. I have also been taking care of the housework and the cooking as well as everything else. But all is well and I  can manage. The funeral is today, not the best Order of Service I have done, but time was a factor – or rather, the lack of it.  Still,  by this afternoon things should start to settle down into routine. I will book Annabell into the doctor on Friday for a follow up and let him know what happened at the hospital. I will do that when I get back from the funeral. Annabell will not be going out. For the  time being I wont be doing much outside of the house, other than shopping,  until Annabell is well again. Benji is fine and he and I  go out for our walks in the evening. However, at the moment I make sure that Annabell is settled before we go out – and I take the phone with me and make sure the house phone is close to hand for her.

I did mean to say that the other week when  the ambulance arrived and she was taken to hospital, one of the neighbours came over and asked if there was anything she could do – which I thought was very kind of her. I have had  several telephone calls to ask how she is so that’s been nice. As it turned out I was able to book her into see Doctor this afternoon, so that’s good and at least will allow her a good rest starting tonight. The funeral went well, despite a few problems but everything worked out in the end.  Raymond had been a Lodge member, and  a dozen of his lodge brethren said prayers outside the church before the casket was put into the hearse. They then formed a  Guard of Honour at the church gates as we led the hearse and following party out into the street. It was quite interesting. Took Annabell to the doctor this afternoon and he was concerned that the hospital had not contacted him to inform him of her treatment, but was pleased with regards to the tests that were undertaken as well as the  EKG – which will happen in a few weeks.  He has put her on a course of antibiotics – flucloxacillin – and will see her again on Tuesday.

Poor Thing :o)

Well, there you be – it’s Monday again. On Saturday we had a double function at the church. I attended the first, which was  a lunch, but the second I did not and came home to see to Annabell. Once I was sure she was ok, I took Benji for a run out to the Wetlands. Sunday I left her sleeping and went to church. Normally we have coffee and cookies in the Hall after the service, however, I made my apologies and  after the service, I went over to the shop for bread and went home.  It was just the boys on Sunday evening,  so dinner was fine. The boys and I did the washing and tidy up afterwards. John’s car is in for repair, so although Andrew brought him over, I took him shopping and then home. So that’s ended our week and here we are at Monday again. Should be a quiet day and tomorrow we are back to the Doctor. It’s all go!!

 

 

Medical Tests and another Road Trip

by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

Australia’s National Highway 1 was created in 1955 and is the longest National Highway in the world. It circumnavigates Australia, linking all the mainland Capital Cities together. It is some  14,500 klms. long, the nearest being the Trans-Siberian Highway followed by the Trans-Canada Highway.  We are not part of the National Highway Grid. We join the Highway 60 klms Northeast of here and then travel along its route to Adelaide. I said once that I would like to drive the National Highway, going where I felt like going and stopping where we felt we had driven long enough for a day. Sadly that never happened and with the state of herself’s health, it probably never will.

The garden has not quite been abandoned and I still have to go out every few days to sweep up  6 million tons of leaves – well, ok, perhaps not quite that amount it just feel like it at times. There is no point in planting anything at this time because the ground is much too warm and besides, I think it’s much too hot to be spending hours out in the sun. All I am really doing is sweeping up and keeping up the watering as much as I can. I have already lost a number of plants, including the Hibiscus, despite watering and mulching.

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The girls at the Barbecue

The RFDS simulator was set up in the Reserve from 9am – 4pm and we were fairly busy. However, I had to leave about 1pm to take herself to the hospital for tests. Likewise with Friday, busy,  but I was with herself at the hospital – this time for a stress test – which was a failure. Not that she failed the stress test, but that she could not walk at even the slow speed that they wanted her to do on the treadmill. The test was abandoned. But we did go for chest x-rays. Saturday and I  spent all day in the Woolworth Carpark with the simulator and a barbecue. Both areas were very busy and it being a hot day, Woolworth were good to us providing cool drinks and chilled watermelon.

Today the unit is down at the foreshore but I believe that due to the extreme heat it was closed down fairly early. Tomorrow ( Monday) it goes back to Adelaide. Four days and we were very luck to have it out of Adelaide for one day,let alone four. It is fully equipped  and is a training unit for medical personnel  new to the RFDS.

The Main Highway

On Monday (Tomorrow) I take herself back to the doctor and  see what happens next. In essence, nothing much can happen until the Specialist gives his report, but we’ll see what transpires tomorrow.  On Friday morning I set off for Adelaide and will be away until late Saturday. I will have to keep an eye on the weather because I really don’t want to be driving 400 klms in a 43c heat. True the AC is pretty good, but that’s not really the point. It puts a fair strain on the engine. However, I will take an extra container of  Coolant and a container of water, and if it is hot – no long sections – frequent stops. Of course I generally have two stops anyway, The Tin Man and Port Wakefield. From Port Wakefield into Adelaide it’s four land motorway all the way. But that’s good Adelaide only spends money on roads that benefit Adelaide – country roads generally get ignored. Oh well, election in five weeks.