“My broken Belly Button”

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DAY 390


Today I was hoping to share something a little bit exciting with you, but that has not worked out as expected.

A beautiful start to the day with the daylight streaming in, Andy as usual up before me, but today I did not receive a cup of tea in bed, I awoke at 7.00 and stayed in bed, well it was cosy, until 7.15. But then I had to be up and in the shower, I left Andy sitting at the bottom the bed working on the blog, in the shower I used my new secret weapon, the non slip mat to ensure that I did not slip on the wet floor, it worked a treat, I left the shower unscathed.

As soon as I had showered, I grabbed the bread, butter, jam, cup, milk and tea bag (note I said bag not bags) and vanished from Andy’s sight into the camp kitchen to have my breakfast.

I could not be mean and sit in front of Andy and eat my breakfast and drink my morning tea, if you read yesterday’s blog you will know that Andy has to go for an ultrasound this morning on his stomach, because he has what is known as an Umbilical Hernia, so he had to fast, poor Andy how torturous to watch me drink a cup of tea.

Andy went for his shower as I looked at the map and checked out where we were going, it was just down the road, so we did not need to leave until 8.30, now if this was in Southampton were we live, we would have needed to have left the house much earlier for a 9.00 appointment, not just to do battle with the rush hour traffic but also to allow at least 20 minutes to find a parking space as parking is so bad at our local General Hospital.

So we just stroll to the Patrol and head out, the rush hour traffic is fairly heavy but moving within 5 minutes we are in a parking spot outside the Radiology Unit, we head in, check in and wait. Almost 9.00 to the minute Sandra appears asking for Andy, I am interested in what will be shown on the Ultrasound so I go to.

Andy has to endure the horrible cold stuff on his stomach, Andy comments that some people pay for this service in Amsertdam, whilst Sandra goes ahead and does the ultrasound, we can see very clearly what is happening in his stomach, Andy says it feels very unpleasant, but the image on the screen shows what looks like a volcano erupting and then this thing, that looks like a sausage just slips back into nowhere, it is really weird, but Andy will have to describe how it feels.

When asked to strain his stomach, the Hernia would appear and push his belly button out, he said is was a gross sensation as the is a very slight click when the Hernia passes through the muscle wall and is captured, The Ultra sound probe, was just the size to fit in his belly button hole and could push the Hernia back, which she did and he said is was a horrible feeling.


I told Sandra about the blog and said pictures would have been good, so she said, “let me do it again and I will put a disk in,” I agreed, in the meantime Andy is looking between us thinking “oh no!” So back on the bed he goes, in the disk goes and Sandra has several tries before being able to capture the correct image, “I hope you girls are having fun!” Andy said as Sandra and I discussed the shot. It was in the can, I had the CD and then off we went to pay $215.00 for the privilege (some of that will be refundable by Medicare), we were all done by 9.30 and impressed with the speed at which he could get an appointment for the ultrasound.

With that done we headed off to get Andy some breakfast, after making some phone calls we sat and read the papers for a while enjoying the lovely sunny morning, but then we had chores to do like go to Medicare and get the refund for what we have just spent sorted out.

We meet up with Josh at the Golden Arches for an early lunchtime coffee, but we have things to do, so after a good catch up we head off to the office for the specialist that Andy has been referred to. So we are doing quite well with everything until we get to the specialists office, explain that Andy needs an appointment, she asks how long we are likely to be in town, we say that would probably depend on how long we have to wait to see the specialist, “About 3 months” came the reply.

We both feel quite dismayed, then asked how long Andy would be likely to wait for an operation then, “about 12 months” came the response. This is not good news, especially as Andy is some considerable discomfort.

Still being very helpful she got Andy in to see the locum, so at least he can get seen sooner, we only have to wait until December 17th for that, then we may get a reasonable idea at what and when things will happen. Our first impression after yesterday was that things would happen quickly but obviously no better than England.

We go to the Post Office to post all our Christmas cards and I pop into Camera House as I want to see what cameras they had in, sadly none (digital SLR’s), they are waiting for new stock to arrive (replenished for Christmas), I am not going to buy a new camera just yet, just doing my homework really as I want to start comparing models to ensure that I get just the right one next time. I need the same range as I want to use all of the lens that I have with my current camera, I will give Andy my old one, as he is interested in improving his photography skills.

We head back to the campsite for a relaxing afternoon, our pitch is nice and shady so we sit outside and enjoy the fresh air.

There were a bunch of people in the camp kitchen, I won’t say what nationality they were, as it may offend the British, but anyway they were having fun and that is fine, but not long after they left the kitchen I decided to go and make a cup of tea, the place was a tip, half drunk bottles of lemonade, water etc. used glasses and cutlery all over the place, expecting someone else to clean up after them.

I finish yesterdays blog and then look at the CD we got this morning from Andy’s ultrasound, however upon loading it into the laptop, it says it is blank, I can see something has been burnt onto it so I know it is not blank, but how I am going to get the image off I don’t know. Sadly this is what we wanted to share with you today, but unless I can get the images off we will not be able to do so, sorry about that, we thought you may enjoy it.

An early tea was mentioned, it was 5.00 so we decided to do our evening meal on the barbecue, I had half a bottle of wine to finish up, so mine went down exceptionally well.

The washing up was done, Andy went to wash the Patrol, as it hasn’t had a wash for about 6 weeks and I downloaded some photographs and published the blog, while chatting to a couple of people in the camp kitchen.

We have a few Skype conversations with people, some only very brief, but still good to catch up, including Fay (remember we looked after Fays Labradoodle Nala last Christmas), they are off on holiday again, but this time for much longer and although they have someone looking after Nala for most of the time, there is one week that she will have to be in kennels and guess what? Nala is not happy about it, sadly for us it coincides with Andy’s specialist appointment so we cannot head over to Port Stephens to help out.

Time slips away easily at 10.00 we headed back to the trailer time to sleep, a lady was in the camp kitchen with her son, I think he was having a bedtime cocoa, we left them to it.

Before long the lights were out and we slipped into slumber land.

Oh, but I have not quite finished! The very best bit of the day, which is really good news and seems to have cheered everyone up, we had a chat with Helen this morning and we are heading back to Woodstock this weekend, so Christmas is saved and everyone is happy, especially Helen and us of course as it seems she will have a full house after all. Susan will be back this weekend too, so Helen mentioned something about putting something very bubbly on ice (and I am not talking about bubble bath), it all sounds very good to me.

So we will bid you a good night and pleasant dreams, until tomorrow bloggers.

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Photos

Summer Flowers
In the Australian Alps