We are at the end of May already!

This past couple of weeks has been quite quiet in terms of activity and happenings. I have been catching up with friends and battling to do things at home with a splint on my arm. I visited the Hand Therapist who was impressed with the range of movement I have in my wrist. That's a testament to my dedication for doing my exercises.  I thought he might say that I can take the splint off - but that was not to be.  It must stay on for 6 weeks. That means another two and a half weeks.  I see him again in 2 weeks when he will refer me for an xray, which has to be taken at 6 weeks.

In the meantime the pain in my left leg has come back.  It started gradually two weeks ago with a few little twinges shooting from my hip to my knee. It has increased over the time and I am now back on some of the pain killers that I thought I had farewelled for good.

I have an appointment with the oncologist in a couple of weeks and will grill him about why the pain has returned, what can be done about it and what I can expect in the future.

I plan to fly out of Australia on 1st July and be away for ten weeks. I do hope that this won't put paid to those plans.

The last week in May is when Australians are encouraged to attend the world's biggest morning tea. I was a guest of the Cancer Council at their Tea by the Sea last Thursday morning.  I was very privileged to be picked up and driven by Dean, owner of  Paragon Executive Car Service. He also drove me home and then offered to drive me to all my appointments that day.  Wow! What an offer for a girl who can't drive because of a broken arm.  I had 3 medical appointments that day and Dean very graciously took me to all of them. We finally parted company at 4.30pm after a long day. Needless to say, we are now good buddies. The Tea by the Sea event raised over $10,000 for the Cancer Council.

Girls at the Bubbles Ball

On Saturday night I went to another fund raising event. The Bubbles Ball is held each year to raise funds for those supporting breast cancer patients. It's for women only who are asked to dress in something they have purchased from an Opportunity Shop. There were lots of hilarious outfits, great entertainment by all-female casts, a silent auction as well as the opportunity to make donations through other means. I was very daring and had a henna tattoo painted onto my right hand. It will last for about 2 weeks, so people have been asking me about it when I've been out and about this week. This event also raised over $10,000.

I'm writing this on Thursday 31 May @11.16am

Two Weeks with the Beautiful Isabel and her Family

This photo was taken on Mothers' Day.  She was on her best behaviour.  We went to a restaurant at Broadbeach for lunch and she slept the whole time - even while her Mum and I ducked into a gorgeous shop before we got in the car to come home.

The two weeks with Isabel and her family included:

• lots of cuddles
• lots of washing
• lots of time spent just gooing over her
• lots of time spent with her brother, Oscar
• lots of great time spent with her Mum and Dad - Debs and Tim
• the time spent with Oscar included story time, of course, and both of us riding bikes and scooters. Unfortunately those outdoor activities were cut short on Monday 7th, when I came a cropper off my scooter, took a lot of skin off, bruised many body parts - that are still hurting - and broke my left arm.

What followed? - emergency department at a local hospital, Xrays, CT scans, surgery, plaster casts then a more modern plastic cast, 2 nights in hospital, visit from surgeon and hand therapist who issued instructions about exercises, referral to Wollongong hand therapist and instructions for another xray in 6 weeks.

That brought on decisions that had to be made about all sorts of things - doctors' visits had to be changed, I had to elicit the help of my friend, Ros, to gather scanned documents that would help excuse me from jury duty I was supposed to commence today. I was excused.

Well, now I couldn't drive the Hopemobile home, so it stayed at Tim's and I flew home this morning. Still working out how and when I can get it back to the Gong.  If, as you are reading this, you think you might like to fly to the Gold Coast and then have a leisurely campervan trip back the the Gong, then let me know.

This has all been typed with one hand, so now I need a rest.

It's 6.16pm on Tuesday 15 May 2012

A week's gone already

So, the appointments mentioned in the previous post happened and the outcomes were the same.  All going well. Keep doing what you're doing!

And the mammogram, well.......  the operator was friendly :-)

Saturday was very busy. I conducted two weddings which both went very well. All parties were pleased. The weather was fabulous which certainly contributed to the success of the events as they were both outdoors - no need to resort to Plan B.

And Sunday was spent very quietly at home resting after a busy Saturday.

On Monday (yesterday), Carole and Ros and I travelled to Sydney for an overnight stay at the Sydney Harbour YHA which is right at the foot of the southern pylon of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. In the afternoon we went to the Indepent Theatre in North Sydney to see the Bald Archys exhibition. Artists submit a comical piece on canvas of a high profile person in our community. There were many of our Prime Minister, Opposition Leader, Rupert Murdoch, Ita Buttrose and lots of other Australian characters. We laughed out loud at some and really couldn't figure out the point of others.

In the evening we attended a panel discussion at City Recital Hall, Angel Place on the topic

Poverty amid Plenty: Exploring ideas for a more equitable and sustainable world - as part of the

City Talks 2012 program.

The MC for the event, Adam Spencer, played an excellent role, very professional and well prepared and presented the panel members with challenging and stimulating questions in their area of expertise. The speakers presented a range of ideas and opinions and outlined some of the current programs being conducted globally - in the case of General Electric - and by the city of Sydney in an attempt to address the issue at a local level. 

One panel member, Rachel Botsman, social innovator and author of the influential book "Mine is Yours: How Collaborative Consumption is Changing the Way We Live" proposed one of the simplest and most easily embraced concepts - rather than trying to keep up with the Joneses, we get to know the Joneses and explore the possibility of sharing resources with the Joneses and others.

It created a great topic of conversation for us over our delicious pizzas at the Australian Heritage Hotel afterwards.

Our stay at the YHA was excellent and I recommend it for anyone wanting to stay right in the city of Sydney.

This morning we saw the Salon des Refusees - some of the portraits that were not chosen to be hung in the Archiblad Portrait Prize. Then inspected the new section of the Museum of Contempory Art, lunching there on the rooftop before catching an afternoon train home.

It's now 7.04pm on Tuesday 1 May - and I am packing my bag to fly to the Gold Coast tomorrow to spend some time with Tim and Debs and baby Isabel. The Hopemobile is still there, so I'll drive it home when I return.