OK - so maybe its a bit early for Christmas carols, but this one certainly encapsulates my last 48 hours or so...
Dad and I arrived in Canberra on Sunday at around 2pm - not before stopping at Lake George to take some pics....
Ah! But for some reason I can't upload the pics just yet - maybe I have used too much of my wireless broadband credit? It only seems to upload at 50kbps at a time - is that too slow for you techies out there???
Sunday afternoon was all about catching up with Denise, unpacking and finding a home for everything (and it all fits!!!) and picking up some groceries.
About 7pm (because it was still so humid) I put on some spray deodorant and the cough that had been calm for about 24 hours (in the wake of my tonsilitis/laryngitis/whatever that I developed in hospital) was massively aggravated - it took a good 45 minutes to subside.
About 9pm as Denise and I drove down to Dickson to pick up some groceries, a nice cool breeze started to blow... and the cough returned - not with a vengeance - but just lingering...
Yesterday I met my new nannying family and we all got along really well. I will be starting with them on Monday and will work Mon-Wed 8am - 4pm.
My little 5 year old, who starts school this year, even went away and played on an art program on the computer - brought the picture back and gave it to me. It was a picture of myself, her little sister and herself and she signed all of our names to it - not bad for a pre-reader!
I then went into Gungahlin for a little lunch and a wander around the shops - just to familiarise myself a little - if I do any shopping - it will probably be either in Civic or Gunghalin...
I then expertly managed to miss my bus to Palmerston for my dr's appointment - although not long after I realised that I had missed my bus, another older man came along and complained that the buses had been running early all week - who to blame? Oh well.
So I ended up coming home and remaking the appointment for Friday.
I then had to report in to Centrelink and to my great delight was told by Centrelink that I would only be loosing $20 per fortnight out of my pension with this new nannying job (I had budgeted for up to $200!)
And THEN after talking to the ATO about what I needed to do in relation to reporting and tax - I found out that I DID NOT have to do income/expenses statements OR BAS statements - I just needed to reserve $x per week in a locked account once I was earning over the tax-free threshold and then do my tax return at the end of the year as per normal. If I DO need to pay tax - then the savings accruing in my locked account will completely cover the bill!
And I thought it was going to be SO much more complicated than that and SO much more work for me!
And then I got a chance to spend a few hours with an old beau Timothy. I really wanted to catch up with him as he only lives a few suburbs over from me and I didn't want to just randomly run into him one day at Woolworths in Dickson (where he also shops) and have that horrible awkwardness between us...
We spent hours talking and decided that while both of us were fully committed to being single (no chance of a "relationship" there - our history was too dodgy to even consider that!) we certainly wanted to be friends - I am SO relieved! I hate animosity between anyone... It will be nice to have another friend around that I can chat with...
As we sat talking - about 9pm again - outside Lyneham shops in their little atrium there, the breeze began to blow again and my cough started to aggravate again. I realised at this point that this must be the return of my "cold-weather" asthma that I was diagnosed with in the winter of my first year at uni at ANU - it was odd though - that was in the dead of winter - why was it playing up now?
As I walked to the bus stop and then home, my chest warmed up and the cough stopped - but once I arrived home and sat down again to chat to Denise it started up again.
I decided to have a warm shower, a hot drink, to rug up in warmer pyjamas and go to bed.
Once I was settled in bed and checking my email for the end of the day I made a MASSIVE mistake!
I read an HILARIOUS email from Bel!
I laughed so hard that my cough got so bad that I was hardly breathing!
About 20 minutes later when the cough subsided a little but was still quite persistent I used one of Denise's ventolin puffers (I myself had not needed one for nearly 12 months and therefore did not have one in date...). 10 minutes later, the cough was worsening, so I used the puffer again.
After another 20 minutes the cough was worsening so we called the ambulance and at 2am I was taken up to Calvary in Bruce...
It was interesting being back at Calvary - it was the first hospital I was taken to after my first OD on New Years Eve 1996 in the wake of the abortion and the last time I had been there was with Leah in 2002 with chicken pox! Memories abounded!
Eventually I was seen my the doctor at about 4am. The cough had subsided after being given a saline nebuliser in the ambulance to break up the gunk on my chest and in my sinuses - nothing to write home about - but it certainly made it a little easier to breathe. But whenever I moved (to the toilet etc) or spoke - the cough was right there...
The dr was a lovely African man who gave me a spacer, ventolin, atrovent, panadeine (paracetemol for my throat and codeine as a cough suppressant) and some anti-nausea "magic" wafer - which worked wonders.
He looked at my throat and agreed that the tonsils needed to come out but that it was not urgent as they were not completely blocking my airway, so suggested that I get myself into see an ENT soon.
As for why the cough? Its not so much a "cold-weather" cough but any form of cold "dry" breeze may set it off. Particularly if we continue to have the weather Canberra has had for the past week or so - REALLY hot days, and quite cool nights... I also have to be wary of the pollen count here in Canberra as it is definitely higher than in Nowra.
So I was done by 5am and taxied back home...
I slept soundly until about 2:30am today - HAPPY AUSTRALIA DAY.
So yes - All is CALM and All is BRIGHT - even with my latest little hiccup!
Love you all
Fi
The Drought: Broken!
11 years ago
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2 comments:
Hope the cold takes a hike. They've been rampant of late. I lost my voice COMPLETELY about two weeks ago, eergh!!
Thanks mummy bear...
It was never really a cold. Stress attacks my voice first (must have something to do with the fact that I am a trained singer...) In hospital, my tonsils became so enlarged that they ended up almost completely blocking my airway and I was unable to swallow - there was even blood coming up...
That slowly subsided and progressed to laryngitis before I was discharged.
Then after coming back to Canberra, the asthma was stirred up and the tonsils still hadn't reduced enough to not be an issue when it came to my upper respiratory system.
Off to the dr about it on Monday hopefully - the last appt I had was all about a MH plan - and will be asking for a referral to an ENT so that they can be taken out.
Its a long story really - they took my adenoids out as a kid as they were blocking my sinus passage - but the left the tonsils because there was a theory at the time that taking tonsils was unnecessary and risky surgery.
What the medical profession didn't realise at the time was that they were creating a generation of children who would NEED to have their tonsils removed as adults and in actual fact, tonsillectomies in adults are FAR MORE risky that in children - higher rates of complications/bleeding etc!
Whenever I turn up at a dr's surgery with a sore throat, inevitably the dr will look down my throat and comment "My you have such large tonsils!" YES I KNOW - but are they infected???
I was blessed with large tonsils and I have had enough of them - hopefully when they remove them my breathing will become better at night too!
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