I'm drinking a cup of guilt free hot chocolate with toffee. It's got all of 46 calories but you sure wouldn't know that by the taste. Yum.
5.0 / 90 Fasting 10:59:40
5.9 / 107 Post-Breakfast 13:32:10
6.6 / 119 Post-Lunch 16:08:01
4.2 / 76 Pre-Tea 18:27:58
6.1 / 109 Post-Tea 20:41:55
Yesterday the plan was to meet Rod down at Colonades - I was going to take a bus there as he would be where I needed to be so I figured we could save on petrol if I just met him there in the first place. Well that didn't happen. He finished classes early so came home to pick me up. I was still finishing the 'chores' I wanted to get done, and the doorbell rang. It turned out to be his brother, who'd just dropped his car off to get the breaks fixed. So we offered him a beer and had a nice visit then dropped him off at his house on our way.
Boreass (my vacuum pump I have to carry around with me) of course let everyone in line at Centrelink know of his existance by making rude noises. I had a much nicer person this time and they even told Rod how he could submit the forms for me. We've done that in the past but he got yelled at for it once so we haven't been game to try it again. Now we know how to do it without getting hassled. That's nice.
We shared a lunch in the food court, literally. It was a $7.99 meal with noodles and your choice of two different dishes with it. I picked lemongrass chicken and Rod's choice was the thai stir fry beef. We shared this together and it really was quite enough for the two of us. I then stopped at 'Just Cuts' and got my hair cut while Rod wondered around and picked up our weekly lottery tickets (1 lottery ticket for Saturday Night's draw and two crossword scratchies). My haircut didn't take very long at all - maybe 15 minutes. Then we went to Big W where I bought my self a new pair of slippers for this winter, and then Woolworths for our groceries.
Speaking of slippers... Pam, if you're reading this... When I was visiting you, you gave me a lovely pair of black slippers that it turns out are really two slippers from 2 different sets. I've looked at them and though they look like a pair, both have different manufacturers! The left slipper has a butterfly design on it, and the right side has a bow. So I reckon somewhere in your house is the OTHER pair. Should you find the other pair, please pass them on to Diane to put in the box to send me. I really really like these and have worn them out. And I accidently wore them to the Mall yesterday, but being cute and black, people probably just thought they were lovely shoes of similar design... I hope!! (Here's me walking around with tubing coming out of me and into a black box I'm carrying and I'm worried people might notice I'm walking around in black satin slippers... right).
While in Big W, my phone rang. It hardly ever does that! It was the Lymphodema clinic ringing to ask if I'd like to participate in another Tai Chi study they're doing. Just the other day, reading old mail, I was reminded that I'd asked DiabetesSA about the cost for their 10 week Tai Chi course that I'd like to take and looked up when it starts (the end of May) and thought by then I should be able to participate. The cost for the DiabetesSA course is $40, and the biggest problem is I'd have to take a bus into the city and then to Hilton. This is a fairly long distance from home - at least 45 minutes by car, longer by bus. So, taking part in the Lymphodema trial, it's closer to home, easier to take one bus to get there, there's no cost involved, and they pay for transportation costs (I think it's $2 per trip). How cool. And they have two trials set up. One starts in May, and the other starts in July. So if I'm unable to do the first one (which I would certainly HOPE I'd be able to do), I can do the second one. I do Tai Chi on my own, following the instructions from my last Tai Chi Lymphodema trial I was in, but it's good to have a course now and then to refresh how to do things and make sure you're moving correctly and haven't assumed a bad habit or something. No, I haven't done any Tai Chi since I developed the abscess, but I'm thinking I can start to gently do most of the routine without too much of a problem. Tai Chi is very gentle and I'm sure a little gentle stretching isn't a bad thing for healing. I shall have to talk to Marg about it though to make sure it's OK.
Also, I'm not sure if I mentioned, but I've made an appt with my GP for a fasting blood test, HBA1C and cholesterol as well as a pap smear. That's for next Monday morning.
So today I did have my dressing changed, and bless her, Marg, the wound specialist accidently tore my skin when taking off the tape. She didn't mean to, but she didn't realise just how fragile my skin is there. It's only a small cut, but OW. She felt so bad, and then Marion, the only other American I know here and a nurse in that section made comment that I had the patience of a saint. I thought she was nuts but she was referring to my overall entire experience with dealing with wound infections since having my first surgery. OK, on that count, she's probably right, but if you have a look at the very bottom of this entry you'll find a very apt quote from one of my personal heroes - Helen Keller on the topic.
Anyway, this time Marg did the measuring to see how far the pocket goes, and found that it's a circular tunnel that goes to my spine, and then curves back around and returns to the opening. We won't know until I've had at least 2wks therapy with the VAC, but if it doesn't appear to be making a difference, she said they may need to open the pocket so they're dealing with an open wound instead of a closed one. They would still treat it the same way - with the VAC system, but would be able to use the better black foam and it would heal better and faster. She also said "I know you don't want to hear this but..." and she was right. That's a worry. I mean where the current opening is, it's near my side, and I can sleep ok. If the back is opened up... well. Hmm. When the dressings were done on Friday, she went with what Awen (another nurse) told her about where the pockets go on the inside. Today she was doing it herself and found that it continues on, much to her disappointment. She also, like every nurse or doctor before her that's measured it has told me just how large an area it really is. She said it doesn't look like much on the outside, but inside, it's just massive. Sigh.
Our roast turned out very nice today, and right on time too this week - 6:30pm instead of 8pm.
I'm in the process of updating my glucose pages on my website so I can have some details to print out for my appointment on Monday. It's not finished yet, but hopefully I'll do some work on it tomorrow.
Anyway, I guess that's about it. This is two days worth more or less, so that's why it's so long.
Self-pity is our worst enemy and if we yield to it, we can never do anything wise in the world.
-Helen Keller
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