Just a few lines

Dicton du jour:

Je t'en saurais gré si tu m'offrais une tartine beurrée

I'd be most grateful if you offered me buttered bread.

Hi all. Back again. Not much has been happening in own lives that is of great note. However, a few things are going in in our families.

Firstly, Michael and Julie (bro & sis in law) are back in Melbourne for good. Michael's a chiropractor and is currently trying to work out what path to take regarding work. I'm sure he'll land on his feet--he always does. Some nice news for them--Julie's pregnant somewhere between 4-5 months I think, so we wish them well.

Mon frère et ma belle-sœur toute neuve sont de retour en Australie pour de bon. Julie est enceinte de cinq mois. Tout va bien. Tant mieux.

Talking about babies, Anna finally had croissant number two. Miles Anthony. All is well. He was full term and arrived hungry. I believe he gained 200 grams in the first week which is a lot. His brother Eddie was totally different, but evidently being full-term helps the baby to suckle almost immediately.

We saw them yesterday. They all look good and he Eddie declared that he loved his brother, which is surely a good thing. Miles has a good set of lungs, that's for sure! (Better than mine!!)

Anna, fille à Ross et Kathryn a accouché voilà un mois. Tout va bien mais ça gueule la nuit!!!! Il bouffe bien et a pris du poids.

Another bit of news--Rhonda, Ross's sister got engaged to Dave the other day. Do you think she called Ross? No!!! Why would you do such an old fashioned thing?? How did he find out? She plastered the news on bloody Face Book and Anna told Ross. Unreal! What's the world coming to?

Yes, I'm a Luddite.....well clearly not totally as I'm writing this on an iPad. But I do think that computers have taken over people's lives. You go out for a meal (well I don't anymore, but I used to) and people sit there with their mobile phones receiving messages and the like all throughout the evening. Whatever happened to social intercourse? Bring back the (phone) answering machine!!! God forbid if we're not available 24 hours a day.

Anyway, I've got that out of my system. No one agrees with me anyway....yes I'm an old fart and proud of it!

Autre nouvelle...Rhonda sœur à Ross s'est fiancée avec Dave. Pensez-vous qu'elle a appelé Ross pour lui dire la nouvelle?? Non, pourquoi agir de manière si ancienne. Comment a-t-il su? Elle l'a annoncé sur Facebook et Anna le lui a dit. Malheureux, quel monde!

Oui, je suis vieux jeu, et j'en suis fier!! Enfin, pas tout à fait comme je me sers de l'ordinateur pour vous mettre au courant. Mais les ordis dominent nos vies. Allez dans un restaurant et vous verrez. Les gens ne sont pas capables de bouffer et de parler sans être accrochés au portable. Ramenons le répondeur automatique (téléphone)!!  Enfin, personne n'est d'accord avec moi....oui je sais....je suis un vieux con.

Week commencing Monday 22 June:

Okay, that was last week. This week more excitement.

Monday 22 June. Went to Sandy's place while Ross was at dentist.

Had a lovely time with Sandy and her sister Rina and their kids.

Drive home late afternoon. Feel mild discomfort in stomach but thought nothing of it.

Arrive home and pain started to really increase. Was in great pain, lay down in bed. Eventually said please call ambulance. 

Ambo arrives...pain 8-9/10. Administers morphine, beautiful  (but not for bowels). 

Off to Angliss hospital. Stay overnight have Catscan. Find two stones in left kidney. 

One small and one large, said to be 9mm.

Angliss can't do operation....and so they send me to Epworth Eastern, Box Hill.

Next day after discussion, decision is made to move me to the Austin who know and specialise in respiratory disorders and MND.

Arrive at Austin...very nice ambos once again.

One small stone and the other around 12 mm not 9!

Brother Peter and sis in law Julie visited yesterday. Was lovely to see them. Julie brought a present, a baby koala bear. Never had one of those. Beautiful....as they said in The Castle, that'll go straight into the billiard room.

Since then, huge discussion about options. Main issues around general anaesthetic. Surgeon considers that intervention may be more perilous than the problem itself.

In brief:

Stone in ureter probably been there for some years (estimated 5)

Therefore attack last Monday was a freak event.

Right kidney fine and perfectly adequate

Left kidney not inflamed

Stone could not be removed without general anaesthetic. Pain killers which don't relax muscles (diaphragm) were discussed, but surgeon says they would not be adequate. Lung function probably too poor to take GA.

Eventually, it is decided to continue with pain relief at home. Surgeon feels that it is likely that pain will abate. Right kidney fine and will do for the duration. I was told that kidney stones produce a pain similar to child birth. If that's the case, I'm staggered the world's so overpopulated.

So we're off shortly....it's Friday 26. Looking forward to being home. Have recorded episodes of Master Chef to catch up on.

Dear friends and family, I realise that you may be alarmed about this message and I do appreciate your concerns. Please remember though, that the point behind the blog is to avoid the need to repeat our stories ad nauseum. We're happy to hear from you but if you ring, please do not expect a blow by blow description of all the details. There's really nothing more to add. Ross can't go over it constantly and I certainly don't have the energy.

I'm here, still alive and that'll do!

Saturday morning.

Slept last night having taken paracetamol ONLY. it's now late morning and I'm not in pain.

Salut mes amis. J'ai passé une semaine affreuse. Je n'ai pas envie de rentrer dans les détails car cela demanderait un niveau de français trop élevé. En bref, lundi soir l'ambulance est venu me chercher pour m'emmener a l'hôpital. J'avais des douleurs extrêmes autours du ventre.

Ils m'ont donné de la morphine et ils ont pris des radios. Des calculs rénaux dans le rein de gauche. 

L'un des calculs était petit, mais l'autre est énorme, aux alentours de 12mm. 

Après quelques jours de discussion, la décision a été prise de tout laisser comme le rein de droite est tout à fait normal. Le chirurgien pense que la douleur s'atténuera, comme le calcul serait sûrement là depuis quelques années. Mes poumons sont probablement trop faibles pour tolérer l'anesthésie générale. 

Je suis de retour à la maison et hier soir je n'ai pris que du paracétamol, mais j'ai des calmants beaucoup plus forts si besoin est.