Background
My "addendum" if you like, to my autobiography. It is said if we keep adding stuff to our life story it will never get finished.
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This ramble is a two-part story. Please read the Author Note first.
Now you have read the note, carry on...
Some time back, one of Louise's carers came up with the idea of hiring a special vehicle that the carer would drive and Louise would ride in back in her power chair. On that day Clair, the carer picked up the vehicle from the hire place and came to get Louise and take her out for the day. They drove an hour west of us up the Blue Mountains to Katoomba and an attraction called "Scenic World." This includes a scenic railway that runs down a cliff on an old coal mining track. Quite steep in places. They skipped that ride! Apart from anything else, no provision for a power chair on the ride. Other attractions included the Skyway that ran across to near the "Three Sisters" rock formation,1000feet above the Jamison Valley and back. The other ride was the "Cable Way" a later addition to the Skyworld group. It is like a chair lift but a larger capacity for more people on a cable that goes down the side of the mountain. I have not even been on that one, myself, yet!
In more recent times, Louise's brother offered to hire a similar vehicle to take Louise out. However, this time there was a catch. The plan was to go over to the Northern Beaches area of Sydney for some walking and a picnic lunch. Louise's brother had invited their folks along on the trip. I did not go with them that day.
I think Louise enjoyed the day out, however she would have preferred not having the extra company. I know her brother wanted to include their folks and help them get out more but they do get out far more than Louise does and being elderly and so on, held things up a bit that day.
I was off up to Kurrajong to check out what is now just a pathway following the route of the old railway line that, many years ago ran from Kurrajong to Richmond, North of where we live in St Clair. I am hoping, someday, to do the couple of kilometres walk with the historical society, along the trail of the old railway line that closed when I was only small in the 1950s. Several things have precluded my participation in that, but hopefully, next year!
Louise's brother visited one day as he quite often does to check on his big sister. He is to be commended for caring about her. Unlike the older brother who, for years, hardly ever darkened our doorstep. I am pleased to say that has improved now we cannot visit over the other side of Sydney for a number of reasons. Just one being her brother not keen to have her very heavy power chair on his "floating timber" floors. So her younger brother proposed taking her on another trip.
Louise was hesitant, because of all that happened on the last trip and her brother had to offer the opportunity a couple of times before he came around to asking just what was the reason she held back. He sensed he knew where she was coming from and when she explained she just wanted to go on a trip without their folks along, he was agreeable to that. It was only her brother and his wife and Louise who made the trip. An even more enjoyable time for her that day.
This time down south to visit her best friend nearly 100km south. There is no public transport suitable for the power chair to that location. The wheelchair taxi fares would have nearly put our house under a mortgage. Kidding...but you get the idea.
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Part 2.
Regular readers will remember all my Medical dramas and dietary goings-on.
In recent months and yes I mean MONTHS, firstly I had the flu. I had the paramedics come to check me out at the initial onset of the flu and they were keen to put me into hospital which I refused. This was of course during our COVID-19 that is still around in some parts of Australia. Part of their consultation was to insist I be tested for COVID. I had that done and was pronounced negative.
When I was "out-and-about", every time I coughed I would get that look from people around me. On the train, one day I coughed! A guy two seats in front, wearing a mask, moved further forward. Some time later, shock horror, I coughed again! The aforesaid guy got up and went downstairs.
For a long time "post-flu" I was still coughing. No infection indicated, same phlegm with infection not present. As most know, for some time I have been on a Coeliac (Gluten-Free) diet. This puts on weight, as does the Hydrocortisone I am on for Adrenaline Insufficiency. I recently also learned that I now have 2 "Auto-Immune" diseases. Coeliac as mentioned before and now the Adrenaline Insufficiency is slated as also an Auto-Immune Disease.
The extra weight was pushing up on my chest causing the coughing. This syndrome is called the "Pickwickian" syndrome. It is named after the chubby gentleman (I forget his name) from Charles Dickens's Pickwick Papers story.
Even more recently, there was a story on tv about a possible connection between this coughing and Thyroid problems. I had an ultrasound of my thyroid and thank God it came back clear. I am pleased to say the coughing has eased quite a bit, however, my absence in writing has been due to another Urinary Tract Infection. I understand this is connected to the Hydrocortisone Medication I have to take as above. I hope you are all still awake.
Some international readers might have heard of our mouse plague in the West of our state of New South Wales, here in Australia. Louise has ordered some big plastic boxes with lids ready to put goods in to protect us if the mice, as promised, move further East to our area, the outer western suburbs of Sydney. Stay tuned.
