Background
Wanda did not mind me going ahead and consuming my Sicilian bro's wife's offering before she arrived with her frozen goodies. Ch 50 (Word)
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Well folks, it was a good week this particular week. (Joking!) I wiped out both side view mirrors on our car. First one was on one of the uprights of the carport at home. The second messed-up one was from wrapping the back of the driver's side mirror around the ticket machine on exiting the West Car Park at the hospital. I asked folks to pray I could get replacements from the wreckers as the Dealers don't have new ones anymore, the car being 16 years "young." I have wondered for years how long it would take to wipe out both side view mirrors. After all, the vendor of our house and her daughter only had small vehicles and our carport is not all that wide! We should have been pulling the side view mirrors in before driving through, for years; ho-hum. Just in case you are wondering...one mirror was ok with no nice dress/ backing, the other was repaired with magic tape. I just hope I get them fixed before I get a defect* notice.
I did find a wrecker to check out and just needed a handy helper to go with me to get the parts off a wreck or two in Blacktown NSW Australia. I had the tools just not strong enough if any hard de-bolting was required. As a follow-up, a mate from Winston Hills came to help. Success! Managed to find the same model car wreck with the intact mirror I needed. No hard work, neither.
I had hoped I could get some guys to re-spray the new (er um replacement) side views to go with whatever is left of the original lovely metallic blue paint job on the car. Fortunately, we were able with the help of our dear back door neighbour AGAIN to get the original cover back on the driver's side mirror, thank God.
Louise was progressing in Rehab at Nepean Hospital.
They did an MRI after I left, back then, and it was quite painful for her, due to the angles they must have put her right arm and shoulder at. She needed painkillers after the MRI. We were hoping we could get some results from that soon and know where we were going from there. They had her in her wonderful supportive, special boots and standing the other day.
We found out later from the MRI she had then, that two muscles were torn. So the choice was surgery and losing the use of her right side for 2 months.
OR: Continual physio for 6 Months. We elected the second option but we needed the Lord to provide the funding for same either through Medicare or some other source. As it turned out later she got the physio in another place you will read about down the road.
Last night in her ward was a pretty traumatic time. The emergency alarm went off as one of the patients for various reasons caused quite a bit of discomfort to the other patients including Louise. The lights were on in the ward most of the night and Louise and the other 2 ladies did not get much sleep. The patient was moved elsewhere and replaced by a new lady.
I had been coping with assistance from Wanda at church and my Mum-in-law. I had to stop leaving the aircon on at home. I think sometimes I turned it off but for some reason, it was still on! Not good for the power bill! We were not at liberty to say too much, back then but there seemed to be a “Light at the end of the tunnel” for Louise and as my old mate, Jonathan Graindler said…
"Hopefully it is not a train."
I have been bombarded with suggestions, re treatment for Louise Moore. We had the option of surgery or physiotherapy. Many contacted me and said that surgery was the best way to go. Guess what we all forgot including me?
Fortunately, Dr. Josh at Rehab had his finger on the obvious direction. What is that you ask? The Orthopaedic was also pushing surgery. BUT ONE BIG THING WE ALL FORGOT IS: Louise has Cerebral Palsy and is very dependent on her arms...BECAUSE HER LEGS DON'T WORK!
Thanks to everyone for your lovely cards and prayers for Louise. She also appreciated all the visitors. Some of you were trying to call Louise and unfortunately missing her due to all the activity between physiotherapy, Rehab and other procedures. As to the above MRI, she got messed around with the times yesterday. Her eldest brother and his wife visited yesterday. (the picture is in the previous Chapter)They came a long way, so it was good they had a reasonable visit with Louise. Her mum and dad had been visiting every second day, except for one particular day they were unable to come. As for me, I was visiting every day. Some days I left early as she had someone else visiting and it gave me a break. I was missing church, as I knew Louise was also missing the lovely new friends she had made in recent days at church, too.
I was missing her like crazy even though I had seen her almost every day since she had been admitted to hospital. Tuesdays had become my "day off" for physiotherapy or doctor's visit and the helper coming to fold washing for me and do little cleaning jobs each week.
The staff were great and pretty well at beck and call as necessary most of the time. For the very first time, I would not get to visit my darling due to too much on for a particular day. I had Physiotherapy that morning then had to try and have some lunch then get back home for our cleaning lady that was also helping me fold up washing, in the afternoon.
We were getting assessed at home so they could set us up better for her. We hoped, eventually, to be getting a permanent "Lift" beside her bed so I could, or a carer could get her into the sling and lift/transfer to either the power chair or the commode chair for shower or toilet.
The latest on this was it may be later than sooner for the installation of the permanent hoist. In the mean time, we were to use a portable one. She will still be at the hospital for another couple of weeks.
Here we were, again. Saturday number 7, I have lost track of dates…sometime in June, possibly, at Nepean Hospital with my precious sweetheart. A total of 6 weeks. I got lucky with parking again that morning, yay! I had recently, once again, acquired Messaging ability on my Mobile phone which I had missed since Facebook discontinued the old Messaging format. Thanks to an old church friend now married and moved elsewhere.
Thanks everyone for your thoughts and prayers. They would not let Louise come home until they knew she could manage and have the right support she needed. We had been praying we could raise the funds we need for the new vehicle that even if she is not driving it initially, we can still drive the Power chair up into it and have our own suitable transport. Initially, we were looking at Wheelchair Taxi's when Louise wanted to go out anywhere but then that is limited due to difficulty with the right shoulder anyway, re toilet and so on, anywhere else but here at home, with a hoist, as above.
We still believe God can heal if it is His will, and we still need your prayers. We were not sure how much longer she would be at Nepean Hospital. They still had to come and assess this house to see what measures have to be taken for her to cope with her living here and to what extent. I was pleased that the original attempts to get her out of the bed (ie the "account Doctors" and Admin) seemed to have passed, but I guess they can only do so much.
We were beginning to think an opposite corner of Louise’s room at the hospital has some kind of evil spirit in there. Every person that has occupied that space has been a real problem for the other patients. We were told by the nurses that corner was reserved for special patients who needed to be "watched" on a regular basis.
One of the ladies whom we had now become friends with, asked to be moved elsewhere as the latest woman ground her teeth during her sleep, keeping the hearing patients awake all night. Louise was glad she was deaf and can't hear the woman during the night, who is also weird. We miss her new friend who moved rooms due to the aforesaid new patient. We called in to visit Sandy, her name, and details were exchanged, so it looked good for a future friendship post hospital. As an extra later comment...The original noisy, strange woman followed Louise up to Springwood, later...but, in the end, she was moved to an outer ward, away from everyone. Sigh!
Nice getting an SMS from our back door neighbour checking on Louise and me. She offered me some Pumpkin Soup, enough, as it turned out for three of us including Louise as she had had some lousy pumpkin soup from the hospital another day. I confirmed with the staff I could use the microwave for Louise's Pumpkin soup on the weekend, We actually got to share it with our long time friend Greg whom we have known for more than 30 years and wanted to visit to see how Louise was going. He came armed with bread rolls buttered and some cake for afters. Yay! I know Louise enjoyed Karen's Pumpkin soup with the added enjoyment of sharing it with our friend. Her parents arriving later were most disappointed to miss out on the gathering and being the centre of attention. We enjoyed the special time with our old work mate.
I was waiting for my Endocrinology appointment across the road from Nepean Hospital, then I would return to Louise, afterwards.
Louise had a bonus on another day, visitor-wise. Me as always, except as I said for the one single. But she also had a visit and a bbq prepared off-site by her younger brother Sam and her big brother Pat who also attended the "sibling-and-husband-only" lunch in the garden behind NTG 1 (the rehab ward) at Nepean Hospital, followed by the re-adjusted "weekly" visit from her folks, then later Jane Watson, Candy Gosper and her Mum, Wanda.
I need to back track, slightly here.
Louise's parents were visiting up till recent times, every other day. She was getting quite stressed from the "too regular" visits. On speaking to our local doctor I suggested it was a "Nervous Dyspepsia" feeling she was experiencing, each time they were expected to visit. I know many reading this must wonder at my wife's feelings about her parents' constant visits. It would have been nice in normal circumstances where there is a wonderful relationship between the daughter and her folks. But this was not so! To summarize, there was too much of an element of "control," especially from her mother. It is too detailed to spend time here explaining why this was the case.
We consulted a Social Worker in the hospital about the matter. In short, she suggested Louise make the point with her folks that weekly visits were preferred. Her dad was far more supportive of her wishes. Besides; being a retired accountant, he would also prefer the saving of fuel for their car, reducing the visit frequency as they lived 30 miles, or 54kms East of the hospital. Hence the now weekly, rather than “every-other-day” visits. Don't worry, Mum-in-law tried her hardest to get around the new arrangement, several times.
