respiratory syncytial virus

i returned from our cruise and days later was desperately ill in hospital with RSV.  i have never been so ill and i would not wish it on my worst enemy.  pnuemonia, bronchitis, sinusitis, low blood pressure, violent shaking, chills and fevers, migraines and my taste buds left the building.  i hardly ate for a week and a half but the appetite has returned and i'm eating normally now.  my son and daughter have been marvelous, cooking for me, helping me shower (daughter), shopping etc etc.  i am very lucky to have them.  two stays in hospital and the nurse visited me at home for a couple of days to administer the iv antibiotics and do my obs.  well, although i'm over the worst of it the recovery is extra slow.  Maz said that's because i'm old, which may actually have something to do with it.  i'm feeling heaps better but am still weak and wobbly.  to add to this we are experiencing a major heat wave and i am not good in the heat.  i am praying for rain as much of australia is going through dreadful drought at the moment and that along with fires in a lot of the country is making things difficult all over.  my daughter helped me send out some cards, shop for supplies for Christmas and buy a few presents for the kids so our Christmas will be low key but we won't starve.

cruising

I took my granddaughter on a cruise returning Sunday last.  My friend was supposed to go with me but she had an operation.  Then my son was going to take her place but my daughter in law went through a nasty health issue, which turned out to be ok, thank goodness.  So, I decided to take my granddaughter.    We had a lovely time except for the disappointment of not visiting kangaroo island to see where her grandfather, my late husband, was born and grew up. This was due to the weather conditions offshore.  She’d missed out on a trip to KI with her study group recently because of family issues so, of course, she was looking forward to it.  I was looking forward to looking around the places he’d told me about so many times and seeing the post office that my in laws had for many years.  But we went to bunnings and bought some timber etc etc.  Nothing to do but get over it. We had a 43 degree day the day before and very strong winds were forecast.   After sitting in port (Adelaide) all day and again next day we finally set sail for Port Lincoln.  The weather had turned cool and we had a lovely time looking around the city.  We returned to ship and set sail for Phillip Island.  We had to go over by tender which was much easier than I envisioned.  There were free shuttle busses to get us around.  We returned to the ship and later that night we set sail for Melbourne where we were to disembark.  It was so rough on board that night I thought I’d fall out of bed but didn’t and my granddaughter slept through it without a complaint.  We got transfers to the airport and flew home to Adelaide. It was lovely to see my granddaughter enjoy herself and relax.

greek chicken lemon and rice soup

Maz is greek and puts lemon on lots of things.  we even joke about lemon on toast.  yuk.  i love lemon, it gives chicken a flavour boost amongst other things.  today she made a comfort food her mum used to make.  click here for the recipe.  well, it was unusual that's for sure.  i'm not sure that i loved it but it was quite nice.  very lemony :)  she also made an eggless sultana cake which was delish.  i just had some with my coffee.  Maz loves cooking.  she's had major surgery on her foot/leg and is slowly recovering.  of course she's doing far too much walking around on it.  i saw the scar today.  it's huge, and, she needs a letter from the hospital at the airport because of all the metal in it now.  eight weeks non weight bearing but someone isn't good at listening to the doctor.  say no more

Margaret news

Margaret's time ran out at the nursing home so her daughter in America said she can return home.  Margaret has no one at home to care for her and except for Brian, her friend, she has to cope on her own.  her dementia is so advanced now that she is not capable of caring for herself.  Brian brought her home and she fell over on her way into the house.  i've been going down there some mornings to make her tea and toast. the other day i'd been out all day looking after Maz, that's another story, and went down there to see if she was ok.  i heard her but she sounded far away, she was calling out but i couldn't hear what she was saying.  i went to go around the back and she had moved a massive block of wood from in front of the gate.  she said she's been locked out and was laying on the ground for ages.  i took her inside and made her a cuppa and put her back to bed.  when i went down there that night she had no idea what had happened.  her daughter is coming in a week or so.  i hope she does and Margaret is looked after.  she would have been better off in the nursing home, at least she would have been safe in there.