On the way to recovery

Firstly I wanted to say thanks so much for all the well wishes here, on facebook, twitter and instagram. I didn’t realize I had quite so many online and real life friends. You guys are the best. It was so lovely to read your messages while in hospital and in pain.

On Tuesday we were forecast to have 43C/ 114F and lots of bushfires. The skies sure did look weird first thing in the morning.

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Morning Light by libbywithnall

 

Luckily we made it safely up to the hospital in Sydney. It did end up being stinking hot so it was a pretty good day to be inside. IMG_0176.jpg

The surgery to repair my hiatus hernia went well and by evening I was in a hospital room and feeling pretty good considering.

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Unfortunately the pain kicked in later on but after being given more pain meds (I wasn’t on drip pain meds due to them making me nauseous last time) I managed to get a bit of sleep.

On Wednesday morning I recieved a very exciting breakfast. I had the tea (black) and half of the jelly.

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My wound wasn’t sore at all but I had some gas pain in my chest and back. It wasn’t too bad a day. I did some watching of YouTube and had a nap or two and chatted to my room mates. Even though I’d requested a private room I ended up sharing with 3 other ladies but we all got along well so it was fine (last time I shared with rather elderly ladies).

Lunch was clear soup and custard. Dinner, the same but with ice cream. I was most excited to be able to have milk in my tea :-).

 

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After my dinner I had some visitors. Kevin bought both the girls to visit me which was lovely. Christy was cold so ended up wearing my jacket and sitting in bed with me.

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After they left I tried to keep myself awake by watching some videos but I was tired I didn’t last much beyond 8.30pm.

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Luckily my pain levels had continued to drop, though I did have a major headache in the evening, and again this morning. I managed to get a pretty decent nights sleeps and even progressed from sleeping almost upright to sleeping almost flat. I was happy to see my doctor this morning and get confirmation that I could head home. Can’t say I’ll miss the place very much :-).

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So I’m back home now and have spent the afternoon on the couch. I’m sure a few more days of rest will be needed before I can start getting back into my normal routine and I have 2 weeks on a pureed/mushy diet to look forward to.

Hope everyone has been having a better week than me, and that no-one (in Australia) has been badly affected by the fires. At least I should be able to catch up on everyone’s blogs now.

Christmas celebrations.

The internet is fixed but now i-photo is mucking up on my main computer – where I have already downloaded photos from Christmas Eve. We had a quiet one this year – which I was very grateful for – and just had Nan, Pop, Granny and our best friends, the Powells over for a catch up and some pizza.

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It was also a pretty low key Christmas Day. Not surprising after our big trip. It was also the first year we didn’t have a visit from Santa, though he did deliver a few outfits for hippo – like this Eeyore costume.

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The girls knew most of their presents already but we did manage to get a few surprises – like this artwork for Amy titled Soul Mates.

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There were lots of toys and treats for the reindeers pups.

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We had our traditional breakfast of French Toast.

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Then later had lunch at Nan & Pop’s, where we were joined by my Aunt, Uncle and Cousins.

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I must be photo-ed out after the trip as I took hardly any photos over Christmas.

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But I did manage to get ONE family photo (though we’re missing the pups).

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We had our usual hot lunch (veggie roast for me)…

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with Christmas pudding and custard for desert.

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I really didn’t need much after our trip but I’m very happy with what I did receive.

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Boxing Day is now jammie day in our house. Can’t believe I started the day in Winter ones, but it was rather chilly overnight.

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Nan & Pop came over at lunchtime. There was a game of blokus.

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Leftovers for lunch.

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We then watched the movie Brave and lazed about on the lounge… a bit like these two did earlier in the day.

 

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Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. What did you get up to? Was it busy or relaxed?

It’s party time

Last night we hosted our 7th Annual Halloween Party. As always it was fun to get dressed up. You can’t see my makeup very well behind the glasses but it was so heavy and dark I kept scaring myself when I saw my reflection.

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The stars of the show….

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Our guests were down in number this year (and Nan & Pop were away) but it was still a great night and I think everyone enjoyed themselves.

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In addition to good company there was good food, though we had an adventure getting dinner cooked/reheated in a timely fashion.

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Amy made these cute cupcakes (which actually have an orange icing)…

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oreo spiders….

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and Halloween truffles….

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The kids all took off to do their own thing – some played, some (the teens) chatted,  and some swam, which meant us adults were left in relative peace.

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Towards the end of the evening there was apple bobbing for the kids.

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And I have to give a special thanks to Kevin and Leanne who were such a help getting all the food organised. I’m sure I would have had a meltdown without them. Oh, in case you were wondering…. Kevin is getting the very last piece of cheese out of the dish!!!

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So tell me did you host or attend a Halloween Party this year?