kjp

This post is a mish-mash of old bits that I wrote up (draft - not posted) on Wednesday night, Thursday and Friday I think. Plus stuff from today.

OK, stuff from today first, while it's fresh in my mind:

A palliative care nurse came and installed a syringe driver into dad. The whole point of it is to deliver a given medication over a particular amount of time (24 hours in this case) in small even doses. There's just a small bit of plastic under the skin, which is attached to a tube, attached to the machine at the other end; which is told to deliver the drugs given in 24 hours. The picture on the external link of the wikipedia page is pretty much identical to dad's. It was good to get some info from the nurse in regards to a few of the things that we can expect to happen.

Anyhow, one of the reasons of doing this is that it is getting very difficult for him to swallow pills. Just doesn't have the energy to do so. This is not really surprising. The amount of food he's been eating (not for a lack of trying, just hasn't had the appetite) has been decreasing gradually for several months (or more?), despite, in the earlier stages (i.e.: before he decided to stop active treatment) having protein shakes to put on weight, etc. The other reason that when he's not sleeping, he's barely conscious (if at all). If you don't have the energy to swallow, and are not taking any food or drink on; then you can't live for long... A few days, not a week, apparently. But who knows about this. He's lasted this long - exceeding most expectations.

Other things today: woken early, dad coughing (lots); walk in the morning with mum; walk with Ms X and Cranky Pants and Steady (the last two are not really "mozwill", but they're cute, anyhow). Pal care nurse in early afternoon. Visit to the pharmacy after a catnap after that. A jog in the late afternoon with Pants and Steady, yummy dinner, then stuff in the evening. Ohh, I was watching bits of Suddenly 30 (something gives me the impression that it's a chick flick... hmmmm...) - shame shame shame - and doing bits of today's Canberra Times 5 star Sudoku (writing in the possibilities is a no-no). Posting a thing for mum to their website (written from her handwritten notes). Anyhow. It's 9:55 pm now; I'll sort out the rest of the post after helping roll** dad and give medication.

** One thing that I didn't realise before this last part of this saga was that if you're in bed for a long time, then you need to be rolled to change the pressure points. This avoids getting bedsores, which can be a big problem if you have no muscle tissue / fat, etc. Anyhow.

Ohh, when I was posting that entry on my parents blog, I couldn't get the blogspot to upload the two photos correctly. It'd just stall after uploading the images. Will try again tomorrow. Ohh, I've been told by Ms X that the job I did on my beard was patchy. Ohh well. And Ms X's elder sister agrees. Ohh dear. I was using a dodgy portable mirror outside - to avoid cleaning up a whole bunch of hairs. But on the upside I was also told that Ian Thorpe had a similar beard... I'm such a trend setter.... ha!

OK, now for the older stuff. I was going to post under a title of "Musical Beds, Sore Leg, Ten Eggs" because of the ridiculous rhyme...

From Thursday (in reference to Wednesday):
I was down in J's room again last night. He slept pretty well, which was good. Other than the times I woke him for medicine he was up just once for coughing (as far as I know, anyway).

Orienteering yesterday evening was good. It was around Mt Farrer, reasonably high on the slopes of it. It's pretty iffy, I reckon, to be outside when there's a storm coming; being near the top of a mountain; and being on a part of the mountain that is bare (ie: just grassland / rocks) �" no trees around. I got a bit wet, but that was ok. I had descended off the steeper slopes by that point. The map had been reworked (at least partially, I assume), as a result of the bushfires. Which got me thinking back to early 2003. A different world for me. Didn’t know anyone up in Brisbane, etc… I found Canberra 2003 Bushfire Map, which shows the amount of trashed land in the ACT pretty well. For those that don’t know, at the time I lived (and am staying at the moment), in the South-Western part of Belconnen.

Now, from later from the week just past (not sure when):
The ‘Musical Beds’ part just refers to the fact that we’ve been swapping beds regularly: someone has to sleep in the same room as dad, to keep an ear out, help him onto the commode, deliver medication etc (although this isn’t so much a problem as of tonight �" Sunday �" as there’s now no need for a 2am medication). I probably was the one doing most of the lifting getting him from the bed to the commode… I noticed towards the latter half of the week just gone that his stability and strength had diminished more (i.e.: I was pretty much taking almost all of his weight).

Sometime (maybe go again tomorrow?) W and I went down to the church for a bit of a practice �" of songs to play before the celebration of dad’s life. These were a mix of some of my clarinet and piano music, and some songs from the hymn book. Last week (or the week before?? �" it all goes so quickly), I was doing a bit of practice �" playing those same songs �" for Dad. He wanted to listen to what would be played at his service… What a crazy world.

The 10 eggs refers to mum’s really nice zucchini slice, which I’ll try and get the recipe for, along with a nice risotto (I didn’t realise that it wasn’t impossible to make), and some other “steak”. Yummy.

And now for some other stuff:
We watched the Shawshank Redemption later in the week. Was the second time I’d seen it. The first time was on the side of a truck on the Mt Gambier �" Adelaide ride of 1995. It’s a pretty good film �" I thought it was very good. All about hope.

I’m thinking of learning some Spanish. Quite possibly at IML (same place as I did my Mandarin). The purpose would be for a future trip to South America. (Although this would be 2007 at the earliest). I’m thinking of Peru, Bolivia, and maybe Chile or Argentina. Ie: high county on the Pacific coast side �" ie: territory colonised by the Spanish many moons ago. But, I may go to Brazil as well �" for some reason I want to swim in the Atlantic ocean. No particular reason, other than I’ve done Pacific many times, Indian some times, but not yet Atlantic.

For some reason, after I read that book on world oil supplies (geological basis) and the surrounding politics, etc, I want to read Pride and Prejudice (Austen). I just had the thought the other day, so why not eh? Although it might be a while before I get to it.

Also, another crazy thought was (when settled back to Brisbane) to go and see some dancing, like professional stuff. Maybe, or maybe not. I think that this idea was inspired after seeing Dancing with the Stars, and by wanting to see something on the professional side (not knocking the contestants). But I’m not a fan of ballet. So maybe this will do (yes, I know, it's acting, not dance).

The other weekend, (or maybe the one before it?), Ms X and I went to a garage sale up the road. Got a book all about concepts / schemas, etc �" and how people learn information �" creating categories, generalisations, etc. It’s ok and vaguely interesting, but I’m not sure how much more time I’ll spend reading it. At 50 cents, I’m not too worried about not getting to the end.

Now, how old is Bert Newton really?

Useless trivia (really, I mean it) - especially for all the non-Canberrans reading this - it's a public holiday here tomorrow. Canberra Day. Woop.

Hopefully when I get back to Brisbane (and get a free morning on a weekend), the water will still be warm enough for a decent swim.