Weekly Update 24 Feb - 29 Feb, Sun-Fri

Sun 24 Feb

Learners Permit Theory Test Practice Scores:

Give Way Test: 8 of 8 correct (8 required)
Multiple Choice: 38 out of 42 correct (32 required)

Breakfast: crumpet toast & blue cheese
Lunch: scrambled eggs, 2 crumpet toast
Tea: pizza

Finally was able to collect Fri, Sat and today's scratchies. Saturday won $3 on a $2 ticket. Had quiet day reading.

Steps: 7421

Mon 25 Feb

Learners Permit Theory Test Practice Scores:

Give Way Test: 8 of 8 correct (8 required)
Multiple Choice: 41 out of 42 correct (32 required)

Breakfast: crumpet toast w/ vegemite & cheese
Lunch: sausage roll w/ cottage cheese
Tea: sambal prawns, stirfry veggies, rice.

Another 11k+ step day. Today I finished the living room project (I had the windows open on Friday and didn't realise the wind was blowing dirt into the room). Took my walk late in the day after finishing vacuuming the entire lounge room from top to bottom, moving every bit of furniture, etc. Gee, I must be feeling better, even if it did take half the day and several rests.

I used the exercise bike for 5 minutes tonight after tea, which considering I had rice (which always sends my BGLs a bit high) seemed to be a success. I was planning to do some exercise with the Gym ball tonight too but the PDF file with exercises wouldn't print.

Steps: 11,072

Tue 26 Feb

Learners Permit Theory Test Practice Scores:

Give Way Test: 8 of 8 correct (8 required)
Multiple Choice: 42 out of 42 correct (32 required)

Breakfast: crumpet toast w/ PB
Lunch: leftover stirfry veggies, rice and cottage cheese
Tea: salad, meat balls, parmesan noodles

Notes: Appt with plastics at Flinders today (they are in 'charge' of the hole in my side). Someone scheduled me for the wrong clinic, but they saw me anyway. This was for a 3 or 4 month check up on my wound. Turns out someone put me in the wrong clinic day/time. I was in with skin cancer patients. But they saw me anyway and said it looks good, suggested packing it with a silver packing this week only because of the infection, and made comment about my lymphedema. I asked how much one affects the other (lymphedema, my wound). He said quite a bit, but they couldn't get me in any sooner to the lymphedema clinic. So that was my next stop as I knew I could just go in and ask if they had my referreral and see how far along I am on the waiting list. They are always really nice to me (it's also the BC clinic) and made me the earliest appt they could (May 16), and if there are any cancellations they'll call me.

There's a really good fruit/vet market that's between home and Flinders that was having a sale so I took my pull cart with me today and stopped there and picked up salad makings, got some meatballs at the butchers, and some Vietnamese cold rolls.

Got on bus to come home and it was packed. I miss-read the number and thought it was my bus that goes by my house and it wasn't. I should have switched at the interchange. So as usual when I get on the wrong bus, I took it all the way to Collonades and then got the right one and came home. Added a good 45 mins to my travel time today.

After breakfast and tea tonight I spent 5 minutes on the exercise bike. It seems to make a difference with my readings, so that's a good reward. Have been looking at any recen-tish diet changes and think I will go back to toast w/ peanut butter in the mornings as possibly the cheese and butter when I have the toasted cheese and vegemite half sandwich is way more fat than I need. Am also going to have less milk in my coffee and use coffee mate. Just looking for anything that would put 5 kilos on me in recent weeks. One day it wasn't there and the next it was, and I don't LIKE it. So will try to do better in the diet department and a bit more exercise. Next will be actually using the gym ball I sit on to do a few tummy related exercises.

Steps: 8816

Wed 27 Feb

Scratchy: $3 on $2 4534 steps

Learners Permit Theory Test Practice Scores:

Give Way Test: 8 of 8 correct (8 required)
Multiple Choice: out of 42 correct (32 required)

Breakfast: crumpet toast w/ PB
Lunch: curry tuna on toast, cottage cheese
Tea: burritos using low carb tortillas. Lots of meat & salad

Bike: 5 mins after lunch

Had Learning permit class today. Did pretty well. Have homework. Came home quite tired and managed to do a load of washing but then had to rest in the afternoon. Think the antibiotics are still trying to do their work and need me to step aside so they can do their job. Was expecting my chair to arrive today but it didn't. Hopefully tomorrow.

Steps: 7853

Thur 28 Feb

Learners Permit Theory Test Practice Scores:

Give Way Test: 8 of 8 correct (8 required)
Multiple Choice: 38 out of 42 correct (32 required)

Breakfast: crumpet toast w/ PB
Lunch: 2 low carb tortillas w/ cheese tomato & onions
Tea: KFC

Another busy but exhausting day. Went for walk early. When I came home, my new chair for my desk was here. Rod was very busy studying so I assembled it myself. (Am so pleased I can do things like that!) Had lunch, saw Rod off to school, then hopped on a bus to go to 'Old Reynella' as a new discount pharmacy is there and wanted to compare prices of vitamins and stuff with what I pay at an on-line pharmacy. Turns out for most things, they're cheaper, and I don't have to pay postage and wait for it to arrive. I was back on the next bus and home within under 45 mins. This was one of those little errands where having a license would have made things a lot faster, that's for sure.

Had to nap in afternoon. Didn't have much choice. My body said NAP! and so I had to follow instructions. Got some much needed work done in the late afternoon and this evening. I'm still way behind from being sick last week though.

My chair fits my desk nicely. My other chair was too high, and I can't use the gym ball all the time, my back just won't allow it. Nice thing is, the ball stows away under the desk, which is cool. So all in all, my $20 gym ball has been very expensive... $200 for a desk that's low enough for me to use while sitting on the ball (never mind it's exactly what I've been looking for over the past year), and now $40 for a student computer chair that also fits the desk. But at least my feet now actually reach the floor while I'm sitting at the desk. What an unusual experience for me!!

Steps: 8460

Fri 29 Feb

Learners Permit Theory Test Practice Scores:

Give Way Test: 8 of 8 correct (8 required)
Multiple Choice: 40 out of 42 correct (32 required)

Breakfast: crumpet toast w/ PB
Lunch: tuna on toast, cottage cheese, salad
Tea: fish & chips

Notes: Very subdued and tired today so have stayed home and rested. Did homework for Learners permit class. Started on USA disability paperwork.

Steps: 2644 so far

Thurs - Sat 21-23 Feb 2008

Thur 21 Feb

Scratchy: $4 on $3. 5504 steps

Breakfast: crumpet toast w/ vegemite & cheese
Lunch: noodle bar lunch dish
Tea: KFC

Notes: Quiet morning. Nurse came later than usual. She was able to get results from doctor. It's an infection caused by pseudomonas bacteria. I later picked up a prescription for a specific antibiotic while I was on my walk and have started it. Unfortunately it makes a me bit woozy, but if I need to chill out so it can do its job I don't mind. As long as it works.

Caught up on watching episodes of Neigbours (an Aussie soap) that I've been behind on watching.

Steps: 6945



Fri 22 Feb

Scratchy: I owe myself one

Breakfast: crumpet toast w/ vegemite & cheese
Lunch: sausage roll w/ cottage cheese
Tea: fish & chips from Jimmy's Deli

Notes: I could kick myself. Was a nice cool but windy day and I opened the windows up. My lounge room (and other areas) are coated in a fine red dirt. ARG! As we don't use the living room I've closed it off until I can fully vac everything from top to bottom. What really ticks me off is last week I vac'ed and dusted in there.

I made the very wrong assumption that as we'd had a morning of rain that the dirt would have been 'tamped' by the rain. Well, not in Australia.

Rod and I worked on the patio today. I got the cobwebs out of the way (these grow like snow accumulates in Michigan, I swear), and gave the furniture a good dusting off and he used the blower/vac to get the dirt and leaves out of the way. Looks great.

Steps: 10,382



Sat 23 Feb

Scratchy: still owe myself.

Learners Permit Theory Test Practice Scores:

Give Way Test: 7 of 8 correct (8 required)
Multiple Choice: 40 out of 42 correct (32 required)

Breakfast: crumpet toast w/ vegemite & cheese
Lunch: 2 eggs with bacon, 2 crumpet toasts,
Tea: stir-fry steak & veggies in oyster sauce

Notes: Ricky is 1 month old. Spent morning vacuuming after dirt got blown in yesterday. Have done the office, dining room, kitchen, hallway, entrance. Just as I reached the living room, the RDNS nurse came, so I put vac and cord in the room and closed the doors off to it. My plan was to get back to it after todays walk, but that didn't happen. The nurse came, we had lunch, and then I was just going to have a quick nap before my walk and I slept through the entire afternoon. Those new antibiotics really do quite a good job of getting me to rest while it does it's work. Bit annoying as my plans for the day are shot, but I was quite worn out at the time I lied down so I guess I must have needed it.

Steps: 3787 so far

The results are in ...

I've only got a minimum of time to write this before the new antibiotics kick in and make me drowsy.

The swab test showed that my infection is from a pseudomonas (pronounced "sudamonas") bacteria. From what I've gathered reading on-line sources, I wouldn't be surprised if it's also the source of my bronchitis. It loves wet environments and both my wound and respiratory system would be places it'd be quite happy to thrive in. I picked up a new prescription of antibiotics to deal with it (Ciprofloxacin or 'Cipro'), and look forward to feeling much better soon.

One of its side effects is kicking my butt (drowsiness), so it means I actually have to leave the computer and go veg while it does it's job. I take my next dose in about half an hour and going from my first dose this afternoon, I have about an hour before it tells me to take a hike and get out of its way. As long as it gets me better, I don't care.

Not much else to type about at the moment, but I know this update was an important one to do.

Wed 20 Feb Diary Entry

Scratchy: nada. 6318 steps

Learners Permit Theory Test Practice Scores:

Give Way Test: 8 of 8 correct (8 required)
Multiple Choice: 41 out of 42 correct (32 required)

Breakfast: leftover pizza slice
Lunch: cottage cheese and chicken curry noodles
Tea: schnitzel and chips.

I had Rod take some photos of my back mainly for comparison purposes. If you're a member of Flickr and have me in your contact list as a friend or family you can view the pics as they're set as private and available to friends and family only. The links are:

20 Feb dressing with red scar line and 20 Feb red scar line.

Today I was able to rearrange when the nurse came so I could still take the class studying for my Learners permit. The class was great. Kirstie and I nearly didn't get in as she was mis-informed on the phone and we were supposed to book in beforehand, but luckily the teacher accepted both of us and so we're in. Phew.

Jayne (my nurse) rang my doctors office to get the swab results but the lab is doing a test for staph and it wasn't done yet. The results will be in tomorrow morning. She was shocked at the amount of exudate - my dressing was totally saturated and it was only the fact I had a patchwork of opsite (a type of tape) that kept it from leaking out. Actually it was dribbling a bit but we couldn't find the source so I ended up going to the class this morning wearing a shirt I wasn't particularly fussed about getting wet in back if it leaked much. It got wet, but not too bad.

So the first thing the nurse did was change me from 3x a week to daily, including weekends so the exudate, which is burning my skin, won't sit on my skin too long. So I've gone from visits twice a week to 3x a week and now daily. She noted the red scar line, and how my back has had even more fluid filling it since Monday.

Today it's affected my breathing. I know I have bronchitis and so breathing deep isn't easy, but that's clearing up somewhat. However, I can't take a deep breath because the extra fluid build up is doing a real 'boa constrictor' thing on me. The tightness and reduced ability to move normally has affected my breathing, my shoulder and shoulder blade, my side, my back (mostly), my right hip and buttocks. And tonight I swear the top of my thigh is also starting to build up fluid. The other really annoying thing is that my stomach seems to be sticking out as far as when I was pregnant for Christopher, and it's rock hard. It's mostly the right side, but with my stomach, the left side just follows along with what the right is doing as if it didn't have a choice. Ever see the blue Meanies from the movie 'Yellow Submarine'? That's how I feel like I look.

I did go on my walk today. It wasn't a quick walk, but I got there and back ok. My back and hip aches no matter whether I'm walking, sitting or lying down. It's frustrating. I had nearly weaned myself off the pain medication too. Needless to say, I take them when I need them.

I'll know more tomorrow about the results of the swab and more than likely the antibiotics I'm on will be changed.

It's 9:47pm, but it feels like 2am to me. I don't think I'll be 'up' much longer tonight.

Steps: 8142

Crazy Eights (a meme).

Tagged by Kerri Marrone at Six Until Me... sort of. She tagged "Whoever would like to fill their day with a meme" and I accepted the challenge. Which I rarely do.

8 Things I’m Passionate About.
1. My husband
2. My kids and grandson.
3. Friends
4. Australia
5. A Good Cuppa (tea, coffee, cappuccino etc)
6. Cooking
7. Living Life to its fullest
8. Writing

8 Things I Want to Do Before I Die.
1. Spend LOTS of time with my family in the USA
2. See La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona.
3. Write several books.
4. Enjoy more sunsets at the beach.
5. Go on a cruise.
6. Drink wine in Paris.
7. Tell my story
8. Visit family in Denmark, see the sights in London

8 Things I Say Often.
1. "Ouch" / "Ow" (I'm accident prone and arthritic. They don't go well together.)
2. "Sh*t." (Generally while sitting at the computer for various reasons)
3. "It's Useless!" (when dealing with stuff that doesn't work
4. "Gawd I'm useless" (after noticing I've yet again spilled something on myself)
5. "I love you." :-)
6. "LOL" (typing in chat, not out loud)
7. "Want a cappuccino?"
8. "Good Night Honey"

8 Books I’ve Read Recently.'
(Define 'recently' ?)

1. Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas by Tom Robbins
2. The Final Storm by Wayne Thomas Batson
3. Rise of the Wyrm Lord by Wayne Thomas Batson
4. When the Gods Are Silent by Jane Lindskold
5. Power Lines by Anne Mccaffrey and Elizabeth Ann Scarborough
6. The Tower and the Hive by Anne McCaffrey
7. The Door Within by Wayne Thomas Batson
8. The Nanny Diaries by Emma McLaughlin, Nicola Kraus


8 Songs I Could Listen to Over and Over.

1. Send_Her_My_Love - Journey
2. Pseudo Silk Kimono / Kayleigh - Marillion
3. Wish you Were Here - Pink Floyd
4. Domino - Genesis
5. The Brazilian - Genesis
6. It will be a Good Day - Yes
7. Faithfully - Journey
8. Deacon Blues - Steely Dan

8 Things That Attract Me to My Best Friends.
1. They take me as I am, warts and all.
2. Laughter.
3. I feel bolstered by them.
4. CHOCOLATE.
5. Forgiving
6. We are family, and that means so much to me.
7. Surprises
8. HUGS


People I Think Should Do Crazy 8s.
1. Fira_Flame (DA)
2. Reborn (DA)
3. Drezliok (DA)
4. Nairine (DA)
5. Licker_T (DA)
6. Diane (ICQ)
7. Vicki (Email)
8. Anyone who'd like to do them. :-)

Sigh....

Rod was checking my bandage for me (looking for leaks so he could tape me up so I wouldn't get the dressing wet when I had a shower), and now I have red streaks on my scar lines. Cellulitis.

I have my first Learners permit class tomorrow morning, and the nurse is to come in the morning as well. I'd forgotten about the class when we decided to go to 3x a week visits. I'll have to ring her as early to her starting time as possible so she'll know to come in the afternoon. Meanwhile, I'm even stiffer than I was yesterday. I'm really not liking the way this is going. It's so deja vu.
.

Weekly Diary Entries 10-16 Feb

Sun 10 Feb

Scratchy: Nada. 2848

Learners Permit Theory Test Practice Scores:

Give Way Test: 7 of 8 correct (8 required)
Multiple Choice: 38 out of 42 correct (32 required)

Breakfast: crumpet toast w/ vegemite & cheese
Lunch: 2 crumpet toast, scrambled egg w/ ham & cheese
Tea: Pizza.

Spent afternoon working on a site for a client. Had a late afternoon snack that showed in my pre-tea reading. Oh my. Rod starts back on his school schedule tomorrow.

Steps: 5490

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Mon 11 Feb

Scratchy: $4 on $3 5153


Breakfast: crumpet toast w/ vegemite & cheese
Lunch: sausage roll w/ cottage cheese
Tea: KFC

Running fever all day. Feeling mostly OK though. Nurse came today, and dressing still greenish looking. Hole is now about half the size of a dime, but the green exudate is a worry. We don't want it to close while it's obviously got bacteria/infection. (sigh)

Had Rod drop me off at shopping centre on his way to the dentist. Did lots of window shopping, put in prescriptions, got hair cut, and met up with Rod at grocery store an hour and a half later. Had KFC for tea.

Steps: 5770

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Tue 12 Feb

Scratchy: N/A

Breakfast: cottage cheese
Lunch: crumpet toast w/ cheese, cottage cheese
Tea: pork and veggie stirfry

Extremely high reading this morning. Rod suggested maybe I had something to eat in my sleep overnight. Was really scary.

Rod had school this morning and was late because we had a flat tyre on the car, then he tried to get the bike going and it wouldn't start so he had to change the tyre.

Didn't take walk as was feeling off and didn't want to find myself stuck without a way home. Went to bed after 2nd reading this morning. Got up around 11 or so, reading better, but still high. Had lunch, readings better but definitely not normal. Was running a fever. Normal is 36.4c for me, and temps were in the 37.4 range. Day before was in the 38.1 range. Felt off all day. A bit more active in the afternoon. Videotaped a blue-tongued skink on the patio. Chatted with Chris and Terry online.

Hospital called about elective surgery. I'm at top of list again. She mentioned I had an appt in a couple of weeks with PTR team (they're the ones who were/are supervising my wound). This was news to me, so she gave me the date and time. 26 Feb 2pm.

Had chat with client today about his website. Unfortunately haven't got back to working on it at all today. Hopefully tomorrow is a better day.


Steps: 2900

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Wed 13 Feb

Scratchy: $4 on $3 2664 steps

Learners Permit Theory Test Practice Scores:

Give Way Test: 7 of 8 correct (8 required)
Multiple Choice: 40 out of 42 correct (32 required)

Breakfast: crumpet toast w/ vegemite & cheese
Lunch: sausage roll w/ cottage cheese
Tea: subway

PHEW. Busy day. Rods first full day back at TAFE so I had house to myself all day. I installed a set of speakers on his computer, and the back and seat massager on his chair, since it arrived in the mail today. I wouldn't touch his desk without cleaning it first, so that got done as well. Since it's only a day before Valentines, I put his card on his chair. The speakers were so he wouldn't have to go crawling under his desk to plug them in... he does a lot of this stuff for me, I thought it'd be a nice surprise to turn the tables. Then I did all the cleaning jobs I hate doing with other people around. Felt good, and he came home just before I finished and helped with the last bit (not knowing about his new massager... I had forbidden him from going in the office, telling him the floor needed to dry. As I'd tested the massager and found it hard to leave it (OMG, it felt SO good), I figured I'd make sure he'd done all the things he needed to and that he had his coffee and then he could sit and enjoy his massage while reading mail. The plan worked, but funnily enough he didn't notice the massager on his chair - it's black and blends in and fits it perfectly. The first thing he noticed was his desk was clean!

As I sit behind him, and he's using the massager, I can feel the vibrations in MY chair, so it's like a 2 for 1. We only paid $20 for it and it has 5 types of massage and you can set different areas where it works - plus has lumbar heat. It's a lot like those fancy recliner chairs that have built in massage, but this is a pad that goes over a chair. Much cheaper, and in this case, VERY well worth it.

My first two readings were high today. And I had the same breakfast as usual, plus I'd walked to the shops and back for my scratchy. But after that it improved as I really did stay quite busy from about 11:30am till at least 4:30. Tonight if I can stay awake, I'll be woking on client work. I was running a fever this morning, which is likely the cause of the high readings. Sure wish that would just quit it.

Steps: 12332 !!!!


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Thur 14 Feb

Scratchy: Nada. 3206 steps

Learners Permit Theory Test Practice Scores:

Give Way Test: 7 of 8 correct (8 required)
Multiple Choice: 41 out of 42 correct (32 required)

Breakfast: crumpet toast w/ vegemite & cheese
Lunch: sausage roll w/ cottage cheese
Tea: Chicken wings with savoury cheese scones (biscuits)

Notes: Bit slower day today but over all quite good. Nurse says hole is half what it was on Monday. She's going to ask a diabetes nurse about my recent extreme highs.

Steps: 7996

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Fri 15 Feb

Scratchy: N/A too hot.

Breakfast: none
Lunch: sausage roll w/ cottage cheese
Tea: fish & chips from fish shop

Notes: Sorry, can't remember much from today.

Steps: 3790

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Sat 16 Feb

Scratchy: $10 on $3 5849+

Breakfast: crumpet toast w/ vegemite & cheese
Lunch: 2 eggs with bacon, 2 crumpet toast
Tea: blade steak and chow mein noodles (as noodles not the crunchy type)

Notes: Another hot day. Went to Colonades to get walk in. After walking half the mall and back, discovered my pedometre was only on 436 steps!!

Got bamboo blinds for one of the patio windows. Will do the other blinds for the windows every few weeks. Looks great.

Put some photos online of Ricky and my desk.

Steps: 7714 + (meter not working for awhile)

Weekly Diary Entries 3-9 Feb

Sun 3 Feb

Scratchy: Nada. 3894 steps

Learners Permit Theory Test Practice Scores:

Give Way Test: 8 of 8 correct (8 required)
Multiple Choice: 37 out of 42 correct (32 required)

Breakfast: crumpet toast w/ PB
Lunch: 2 eggs, 1 crumpet toast, bacon
Tea: pizza

Notes: Slow to get going and be awake today.

Steps: 7268

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Mon 4 Feb

Scratchy: Nada. 6315

Learners Permit Theory Test Practice Scores:

Give Way Test: 6 of 8 correct (8 required)
Multiple Choice: 40 out of 42 correct (32 required)

Breakfast: crumpet toast w/ vegemite & cheese
Lunch: 1 egg, 1 sausage, 2 tortillas w/ cheese and onion
Tea: sauteed clam and prawns over noodles

Took a few books into Billy Baxter's to drop off and picked up a very nice writers companion reference book (all Bookcrossing). Looked at PVRs with Rod. Did my walk in the mall as was hot today. My legs were again tired, but I realised it's not my calves, it's my thighs complaining, probably because they are getting used differently when I sit on the gym ball

Steps: 7970

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Tue 5 Feb

Scratchy: $10 on $3 3406

Breakfast: crumpet toast w/ vegemite & cheese
Lunch: sausage roll w/ cottage cheese
Tea: schnizel parmasan w/ fries and carb option noodles. Err, should have had one or the other, not both.

Notes: Bought a Beyonwiz DP-P1 Dual HD Tuner PVR. Rod's having a field day with it.

Steps: 8165

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Wed 6 Feb

Scratchy: $4 on $3 4745

Learners Permit Theory Test Practice Scores:

Give Way Test: 8 of 8 correct (8 required)
Multiple Choice: 39 out of 42 correct (32 required)

Breakfast: crumpet toast w/ vegemite & cheese
Lunch: sausage roll w/ cottage cheese
Tea:

Doctors appt for both Rod and I this afternoon. Rod doing networking for the PVR. Working on website tonight.

Steps: 11411 !!

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Thur 7 Feb

Scratchy: nada 4797

Learners Permit Theory Test Practice Scores:

Give Way Test: 8 of 8 correct (8 required)
Multiple Choice: 37 out of 42 correct (32 required)

Breakfast: crumpet toast w/ vegemite & cheese
Lunch: sausage roll w/ cottage cheese
Tea: BBQ ribs and garlic bread

Worked most of day on a website for a client. Started new antibiotic. Nurse said my wound was very wet with exudite and greenish, so looks like I got prescription for antibiotics in the nick of time. I got them for my bronchitis though. Other than that, feeling quite well. Nasty boughts of random asthma here and there though.

Steps: 7940

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Fri 8 Feb

Scratchy: Nada. 4247

Learners Permit Theory Test Practice Scores:

Give Way Test: 8 of 8 correct (8 required)
Multiple Choice: 42 out of 42 correct (32 required)

Breakfast: crumpet toast w/ vegemite & cheese
Lunch: sausage roll w/ cottage cheese
Tea: Fish and Chips

Deflated my gym ball a bit so my bum makes an impression when I sit on it. Much more comfortable.

Steps: 6714

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Sat 9 Feb

Scratchy: Nada. 2491

Learners Permit Theory Test Practice Scores:

Give Way Test: 6 of 8 correct (8 required)
Multiple Choice: 40 out of 42 correct (32 required)

Breakfast: crumpet toast w/ vegemite & cheese
Lunch: 2 eggs, 2 crumpet toast, bacon
Tea: stirfry: minute steak w/ oyster & hoisin sauce

Quiet day. Walked to shops and had Rod meet me there so we could pick up a few things. As I was wearing a jumper (was cold when I started out) and the sun had come out, I came home with Rod. Tried having coffee today. I don't hate it any more and quite like it again. This was something that was affected when I had chemo. Maybe I'm getting back to the real me finally.

Steps: 7475

Weekly Diary Entries 22 Jan - 2 Feb

Sun 27 January

Scratchy: $4 on $3 7356

Breakfast: crumpet toast w/ vegemite & cheese
Lunch: 2 eggs, 2 crumpet toasts, bacon
Tea: Nandos chicken

Notes: Went to Glenelg in the afternoon and walked around. Had tea at Nandos (never tried before) and then had a short cappichino at Starbucks. Excellent. Took pics that are up on Flickr.


Steps: 7356

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Mon 28 January

Scratchy: I owe myself one. 3421

Breakfast: crumpet toast w/ vegemite & cheese
Lunch: sausage roll w/ cottage cheese
Tea: pizza

Steps: 3421

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Tue 29 January

Scratchy: nada 3400

Breakfast: crumpet toast w/ vegemite & cheese
Lunch: sausage roll and salmon spread
Tea: ham and veggie curry over low carb noodles

Did lots of wandering around shops today as was a pleasant day and I didn't feel in a rush.


Steps: 5591

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Wed 30 January

Scratchy: nada. 7536

Breakfast: crumpet toast w/ vegemite & cheese
Lunch: sausage roll and slice of cheese
Tea: schnitzel, chips and 4 small egg rolls

Notes: Got new desk! I love it! Will describe it later though as it's still not finished being built yet as of this morning (Thursday), but enough I can check mail with. Did LOTS of walking today.


Steps: 11,591 !!!

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Thur 31 January

Scratchy: $4 on $3 3949

Breakfast: crumpet toast w/ vegemite & cheese
Lunch: 1/2 bagel w/ lite cream cheese, slice colby cheese, kabana
Tea: satay chicken and veg stirfry, carb options noodles

Rod finished getting my desk together and we discovered it has a hidden slide for the mouse 'pad' - it slides out from the right or left side of the slide out keyboard table. This desk has two bookshelves across the centre, 3 drawers on the side, and 4 cubby hole type shelves. It also has a slide out additional desk area on the left hand side. It's a 'kids' model, but sturdy, not too kiddy looking, and the key things are that it's height is right for me (ie I'm short and for once the table where I type isn't too high), and it has all the bits I've wanted in a desk. I only went into Target to look for an insulated drink bottle since I'd lost mine at Glenelg on the weekend. Instead, I saw this desk and fell in love with it. Little did we know it was going to take Rod all evening plus some today to get it together. Lots of bits and pieces. Like about 3 kilos worth of screws alone.

So instead of playing with my new desk and getting used to it, because of the mess made in installing it, I spent the day vacuuming, wiping surfaces and other wise doing housework when I really wanted to come bang on the keys!!

The cubby holes and shelves are still mostly empty but no worries, they'll get filled up.

Steps: 8674

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Fri 1 February

Scratchy: nada. 7876

Breakfast: crumpet toast w/ vegemite & cheese
Lunch: 1/2 bagel w/ lite cream cheese and cottage cheese.
Tea: cheap meal at chinese food court at Central Market

Great day. Went to Breastroke meeting and showed off piccies of little Ricky (must get used to calling him that), took photos for the Breastroke website. Rod picked me up and we went to the Central Market where we had a $5 tea (split between the two of us!) and then had a lovely time shopping, having retail therapy and getting my walking in for the day. Updated my Random Experiments blog when I got home. Nice readings today too.

Steps: 8322

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Sat 2 February

Scratchy: nada 4548

Learners Permit Theory Test Practice Scores:

Give Way Test: 3 of 8 correct (8 required)
Multiple Choice: 36 out of 42 correct (32 required)

Breakfast: crumpet toast w/ vegemite & cheese
Lunch: Mexican schnitzel and salad
Tea: black bean steak stir-fry, carb options noodles

Out to lunch with the Lunch Group. Went to Bunnings to have daily walk.

As Kirstie, a daughter of my friend,s is enrolling in a course at Hackham community centre that's 5 weeks long to do the first things required to get a drivers learning permit, I asked if she'd mind if I attended too and she was fine with it. The course starts on the 20th Feb and means I'll be in class every Wednesday for 5 weeks. Total cost, including the required road rules theory test, is $50.

After that I'll have my learners permit and Rod can be my qualified supervising driver. It'll still be a couple of years or more before I get a full drivers license, but it's a good start. So today I bought 'The Drivers Handbook' which is also a required item for the course and it has all the items that are on the theory test covered. I'll be studying it and taking the online test at the RAA website on a regular basis to get familiar with the test questions and answers. It'll be interesting to see how I improve on the test over time. And the best thing about this is that I won't be doing it ALONE. Kirstie is 2yrs younger than my daughter and we get along quite well.

If you're interested in seeing what's in the book just to compare countries, a PDF version is here:
The Drivers Handbook PDF

The practice tests are available here: RAA practice tests


Heh. I just tried my luck on the RAA practice tests and got only 3 of 8 correct on the Give Way questions.
(Later ... turns out my browser wasn't showing the indicator lights on the cars. BIG help with that missing bit of info!)

Steps: 6315

Weekly Diary Entries 20-27 Jan

Sun 20 January

Scratchy: $4 on 3 steps ?? (forgot to wear pedometer)

Breakfast: 1/2 toasted wh meal bread, vegemite & cheese
Lunch: 1/2 bagel w/ lite cream cheese / scrambled eggs
Tea: pizza

Walked all the way to shops and back with no cramps in my legs. Very low key day.

Steps: 2060 (forgot pedometer until well after 5pm today)

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Mon 21 January
Scratchy: $7 on $5 2628 steps

Breakfast: 1/2 toasted wh meal bread, vegemite & cheese
Lunch: sausage roll w/ cottage cheese
Tea: Dinner out.

Reached a milestone with my wound. As the hole is getting quite small, today was the first day that the dressing was changed but no seasorb (packing) was put it. Took cans and bottles to recycling center. $43. Had a wonderful dinner out at the local chinese restaurant.

Steps: 7915

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Tue 22 January

Scratchy: Nada. 1986 (odd as seems should be higher)

Breakfast: crumpet toast w/ vegemite & cheese
Lunch: cottage cheese & leftovers from last nights dinner
Tea: hamburgers

We went to Bunnings to look for bamboo blinds for patio windows, but they were out of stock. Found some marked down fairy lights though and put them up over the archway on our patio. They look great. Went grocery shopping and then came home.

Steps: 9197

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Wed 23 January

Scratchy: n/a

Breakfast: crumpet toast w/ vegemite & cheese
Lunch: sausage roll w/ cottage cheese
Tea: lamb yiros meat & low carb tortillas

Too many tortillas for tea. Very emotionally charged day. Grandson could be born any minute now. Felt too emotionally on edge to go anywhere today such as taking my walk. Updated my BGL software so it sends Email to Sugarstats.com with the seconds stripped from the time. I really don't think this will solve the problem with mail not going into my account, but can't hurt to try.

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Thur 24 January

Another emotional day. Grandson born late morning (my time) - over there it was 4:04pm on the 23rd. Can't remember a thing about the day aside from waiting to hear about baby, and then being over the moon.

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Fri 25 January

Tea: fish and chips

Another spaced out day.

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Sat 26 January
Happy Australia Day

Tea: steak strips with tortillas

nope, can't remember a thing about the day. Think I worked on Breastroke website, namely on getting a slideshow going on it.


Steps: 1739

Blah!

So I saw the doctor yesterday afternoon and he did a swab, commenting that the exudate is green (a sign of infection). I'm back on antibiotics. I wasn't well enough to get across to him that if we did something about the high BGLs it might be better for the overall situation. I don't think he knows I can handle insulin on my own. A year ago in the hospital they had me on a sliding scale with insulin. As in, if my BGL was at certain levels that would decide how much insulin I'd receive. It's not like being on insulin permanently, it's just during the crisis. Anyway, I didn't even get the sliding scale insulin part of my question.

Afterwards, I came home and vegged for the rest of the day/night. It's HOT. Yesterday it got up to 35.9c/96.62f and today it's expected to reach 36c or higher. One good thing about today is a cool change is supposed to come through in the late afternoon. Anyway, running a fever when it's hot is just evil.

I'm surprised I'm at the computer at the moment. I don't know how long I'll manage to stay upright, but when I've reached my limit, I'll definitely retreat to the coolness of my bedroom.

Quick Update

The RDNS nurse decided I should be seen 3x a week again. There's no doubting the amount of fluid in my back, but she also found that the wound is exudating at a +++ level, and my skin is burned where it was on my skin over the weekend. I guess that's the burning sensation.

I have a 2pm doctors appointment, and she wrote out a note for him and asked if a swab would be beneficial. She was able to push on the fluid filled areas on my back and in some cases get a bit of fluid out from the wound. I'm really looking forward to it closing up, but not at the expense of having fluid stagnating in my back. (sigh).

Am running a fever this morning, and the expected outside temp is supposed to be 35c (about 95f).

I really don't know what to think

For the last week or so I've had a low grade fever and high glucose readings. Last Tuesday was the highest with two readings in the 20's. At the same time, very gradually the fluid in my back has increased to the point where this morning it feels as though the skin is going to burst. It hurts, itches and burns all at the same time. I will be making an appt to see the GP this morning (it's just after 7am at the moment - can't sleep), and the RDNS nurse is also scheduled for today. Being this is February and it was the end of last Feb that I had very similar symptoms - high glucose readings with low fever and slowly expanding fluid in my back, I really am trying not to think the very worst, but at the same time I have all sorts of contingency plans running through my head. I'd like to put it out of my mind, but because the pressure in my back is so intense, it's a bit hard to concentrate on anything else.

I just viewed some new pics and videos of my grandson - that really helped for a few minutes, but alas, I came to the end of the new files all too soon. And viewed them again twice. :-)

Anyway, just thought I'd get some of my thoughts on paper so they aren't rattling around in my head all day.

Baby and other pics on Flickr

I've been busy working on a client's website this week so haven't had a lot of time for other things, but yesterday and today I uploaded some pics to Flickr.


I love this photo of Ricky. He looks like such a sweetheart. A bit devilish at the same time.

The set with Ricky's pics can be found here




I also took a pic of my new desk to show my sister. Here it is in all it's glory...

The hole in my side is getting much smaller. I'm a little worried about my back having extra fluid in it but apparently it usually will resolve itself, which is good. Hope so!

I've had some rather amazingly high glucose readings lately. Not sure what to make of it, really. And I'm falling asleep as I type and half the words I'm typing are misspelled, so must be time to stop.

This has also been an experiment with a browser plug in that helps me to to post to the blog. We'll see!

Busy few days

I've been quite busy and active the last few days. Tuesday it was a lovely cool day so while out on my walk I stopped into several stores looking for a replacement for an insulated water bottle that I lost when we were at Glenelg on Sunday. Being that the new school year started on Monday, and there were lots of folks with kids there having their last summer fling, I really hope my cool water bottle went to a kid that needed one. Anyway, I didn't find a replacement water bottle, but when I went into Target I ended up walking right up to a computer desk they had put on display...

Last year, we bought a desk for me, but we both knew it wasn't quite what I wanted, but that it would do the job for the time being. Well, this was 'it'. The nearest one similar to this that we'd seen last year was out of our price range. It had a slide out keyboard, a neat pull out table on the left side, plenty of space for the monitor and other stuff, plus two book shelves above, and on the side, 3 drawers and 4 cubby holes for books or other stuff. And the price was at least half of what the one I looked at a year ago at Ikea cost.

Normally when I see this kind of thing, I tend to forget about it once I get home, but because the new gym ball I bought to sit on when at the computer made my desk a bit high for me, especially for typing, I didn't forget. And we needed extra bookcase space too. So I talked to Rod about it, and we planned to have a look at it together the next day. Meanwhile, since Rod's desk has a keyboard drawer, I tested typing on his keyboard while sitting on my ball. No worries! So then I measured the height from the floor to the top of the drawer so I could check on the desk at the store.

So on Wednesday, I had an appointment with a counsellor at 2, so we left home at 1pm and stopped in at Target. Turns out the desk was on sale, at $100 off it's normal price. And there was only one left. It weighed a ton -- well, 65 kilos. That's 143 pounds. Rod says that the screws alone were about 2 or 3 kilos. We were able to pay for it and then we would come back later in the day to pick it up out the back. We got to Colonnades (a shopping mall that also has other agencies and what not with it) for my appointment with about 15 minutes to spare, so I zapped around picking up a couple of things I had on my list to get beforehand. One of those things was a Bookcrossing book that had been dropped off at Billy Baxter's (a coffee shop) earlier in the week by another Bookcrosser. I had read the book a few times when I was a teen and wanted it so I could return it to my collection. (It's one I had to leave behind in Michigan when I moved to Australia). Luckily the book was still there, waiting for me. Yay! The book is 'Mister God, This is Anna' by Fynn. Excellent read, and I can't wait to re-read it from an adults perspective. And this time with a Pommy near by to explain those things mentioned that were too UK-specific for me to grasp back then (yeah and that was in the days before Google and the Internet too).

Later, I walked the length of the mall for my daily walk, and then met Rod and we did grocery shopping. We got home, and boy was I surprised to see the flat pack for the desk already in the office! Turns out, he'd gone to get it while I was in my appointment. Neat. So we unpacked groceries, had tea and then Rod started on the assembly. You know that phrase 'Some Assembly Required' ?? This one should have been 'Degree in reading assembly instructions required. Time to build: 20 hours'. LOL. He started it around 8pm and by 1am, had it in a mostly usable state, but didn't have the keyboard tray or drawers assembled. We called it a night and he put the rest of it together Thursday morning.

Unfortunately, I didn't get much of a chance to use the desk until today as during the assembly process there was a lot of styrofoam, which broke into small pieces and was in every crack and crevice of the room. It looked like a light dusting of snow had hit it. Naturally too, I had to clean the old desk (we're hoping one of our neighbours will want it), and clean the new one too. And since I had to have the vac out for the office, I ended up doing the rest of the house too.

Today I moved some of my favourite reference books onto the desk bookshelves, and let me tell you, it is SO NICE to have my reference books back in easy reach again. Then I tackled one of our bookcases that just seemed to need a good sorting out. Most of the cleaning was dealing with old software bits of papers and warranties long expired, etc. Got rid of a lot of unnecessary stuff.

This afternoon I printed some pics of little Ricky, my one and only brand new grandson so I could show him off at the Breastroke meeting this afternoon. In doing so, I also printed a lovely 5x7 of one of my favourite pics. Now I just need to find another 5x7 frame for it.

The Breastroke meeting was lovely and it was great catching up with everyone again. I took a few pics I could add to the website I'm working on for the group. I left early (I still can't go in the pool or spa until the hole in my side is completely healed), and Rod and I headed into the city.

We did the usual trip to the Central Market, starting with a cheap meal in the food court. We split a $5.00 heaped plate of various Chinese food and Rod had a beer while I had a diet coke which I added a shot of Rum to. One of the things I've learned is that spirits tend to lower my blood glucose levels and doing this once in awhile, like when green tea isn't available, seems to work quite well. That and having a drink before shopping really makes it much more fun. Our next stop was to the touristy shops so I could buy my new grandson an Aussie t-shirt. I found one his parents are going to laugh their heads off over, but I think he'll have to grow into it a bit. Still better too big than too small.

Next stop was the Asian grocery. This is a huge store that also services many of the Asian restaurants so not only do they have some of the neatest stuff but they also have large quantity items. On the list were raw prawns, as they have the very best prices anywhere and garlic. Last year, we bought a 5k restaurant size bucket of garlic and even though my family in the USA tell me that store bought minced garlic isn't strong enough for them, I think it must be a USA / Australian thing. Either that or the restaurant grade we get is just better. Anyway, it took a year to use, but it's near the end so it was time for a new one. I also sometimes use garlic granules and these are expensive at the regular shops. I bought a large bag of it that will last a LONG while for the same price I paid when I bought a 100g bottle of it at the regular grocery store. They also have plates, bowls, etc. in the same pattern as my favourite tea cup (see the photo on the side bar). Rod isn't particularly keen on the pattern but I quite like it, and have been buying bits of the set on each trip to the market. This time I bought two noodle bowls. One of our other finds there this time was frozen clam meat... at only $6.50 for a 500g bag. Guess what we're having for tea on Monday? :-) Neither one of us has had clam in AGES and AGES. Yum. Once we finished at the Asian grocery, we wandered up and down the aisles of the market (it's the largest market of it's type in the whole southern hemisphere). We found some off-cut Aussie Swiss cheese for a good price, and I picked up a few veggies. Off cuts in this instance are small bits of cheese that's left over from a big wheel of cheese after they've cut nice looking pieces to sell. Personally I don't care how weird a piece of cheese looks as long as it tastes good, and it helps that the price on these is a lot lower than than 'nicer' looking cuts.

We're now home, unpacked, and I'm typing to you. Exciting, hey?

We did have one weird experience though. Parking at the market is never an easy task and we managed to find a spot where someone in a big SUV was painfully trying to extract themselves. It was at a bit of a T junction and we would be able to practically drive straight into the spot. We had to wait about a minute, but no big deal. While we were waiting, on the 'road' to the left of us another SUV pulled up and turned their blinkers on - for the same spot. Well we were nearer to it and had been waiting for it as well as indicating our intentions, so we took the park. WELL... I was on my mobile with a client who'd just rung me, but all of a sudden there was a woman on Rod's side of the car with her hands on the window yelling at him for taking the car park! She said she'd been waiting for 10 minutes for it. Right... we saw her pull up after we were already sitting waiting for the spot to be vacated. Rod started rolling up the window and she actually HIT her hand against it! Meanwhile my poor client is going 'Hey Gaelyne... you there??'... being somewhat flabbergasted I told him someone had just hit our car (he probably thought it was a car accident) and I told him I'd ring him back once we got home. Rod got out of the car and the woman was still standing there giving him holy heck for driving straight into a spot that she would have had to spend at least 5 minutes manoeuvring to get into in the first place, and then probably another 10 to get out of later. I think what shocked me most is that 'road rage' tends to be presented on TV as something MEN have. Obviously they never met this woman. I was actually a bit worried about walking away from the car for awhile as I kind of worried she'd come back and slash the tires or something. Anyway, I just thought the whole thing was rather weird.

Tomorrow we have our monthly lunch with the Lunch Group (a bunch of us geeks and family go to various pubs for cheap counter meals and catch up with each other).

Obviously by my activity levels, I'm feeling much better. I haven't had a random fever in about a week, and because of the walking I've been doing as well as using the gym ball as my computer chair, I'm finding that I'm a whole lot more flexible than I had been for quite awhile. For example, I took some photos of the girls in the pool at Breastroke tonight and while talking with June, I squatted so we could each hear the other better. She said wow, that's something I can't do, and I answered with 'Wow, I didn't know I COULD do this!'. I'm sure a few weeks ago I couldn't have.

The hole in my side is still there, but shrinking a LOT. It should only be another few weeks and I'll be all done with nurses changing the dressing and be able to get in the pool and spa on Fridays with the other girls. I told them tonight that when I can go into the pool, I'm bringing a bottle of bubbly to celebrate with them!

Well, time for me to finish this and probably head to bed. Last night I called it a night early and could barely wake up to watch a bit of TV with Rod. I'd been going along all day being quite energetic and doing heaps of stuff and then suddenly around 11pm that was it - I was practically asleep before I even reached the bedroom. I am so pleased to finally have some energy though. It's been a long time coming. Catchya later.