Possum Galore
A life ‘Down Under’!
Queensland Museum.
A little less thumb twiddling.
So....Tony Abbott survived the 'spill' vote though a third of his party voted against him."We will put it behind us.....Good government starts here." He said.Er......shouldn't it have started as soon as he was elected?In other news......I had a phone call from a Magella this morning from the Princess Alexandra Hospital (the P.A) who told me in her lilting Irish voice that I had an appointment with a Dr Fanning at 9.30 am next Monday.Phew! So quick!........and such a relief to finally move slightly out of limbo.......and breathe!
Queensland waits....
So.......you may be surprised to learn that even over a week after last Saturday's State election we are still waiting to find out who has won!There are still some counts going on. I cannot get my head around this coming from the UK where pretty much, even though the polling stations do not shut until 10.00 pm at night, all the votes have been counted by breakfast time at the latest.I know Australia is big compared to the UK but it doesn't have as many people.....and yet here we are over a week later waiting for the voting in some areas still to be confirmed. Granted the counting is more complicated when you have to take into consideration people's second, third, fourth etc preferred choices....but it still seems very slow to me.As it stands the Labour Party have 42 seats, the Liberals 39......either needs 45 seats to form a Government. There are three independent candidates one of whom has come out on the side of Labour, but apart from all this 5 seats are still in doubt.Ferny Grove may need to hold a by-election since one of the candidates last week was declared bankrupt and therefore ineligible as a candidate. Lockyer, where Pauline Hanson was standing, somehow is still not decided.....(yikes, she is still in with a chance though it appears the Liberals are ahead there). Mt Ommaney and Whitsunday are still being counted, but the Liberals appear to be ahead and counting is still going on in Maryborough, but here Labour are ahead.We do have a new leader of the State Liberal Party, Lawrence Springborg, who has taken over the leadership from former Premier Campbell Newman since his defeat. Mr Springborn's seat is The Southern Downs which is the area around Stanthorpe where Frogknot is. His appointment was only decided yesterday. Annastacia Palaszczuk is still confident she will form a Government.....let's just hope her friend Elaine is not in it as Minister for Blue Care and Buffalo Wresting!As for Federal politics, the Prime Minister Tony Abbott has been under pressure and is facing a vote of confidence, originally slated for Tuesday but brought forward to tomorrow by Tony himself. I am not sure I agree with the frequency of and the way Australia seems to change leaders like football clubs change managers  but in Tony's case, his gaining office was and is a huge mistake.Life here seems to be one long thumb twiddle at the moment.
The Wang Conclusion.
So......I was back to see Dr Wang this morning.Bored Stacey was idly doodling on a pad behind the counter."Hi" she said and checked me in without asking my name. The waiting room was fairly empty. It was good. I didn't want to wait long.I didn't pay attention to 'TonicTV'.....my mind was elsewhere.When the guy in front of me finally came out, my heart started racing knowing I would be next......What was Dr Wang going to say?"Nicholas?"Here we go!.......and breathe.I followed him into his room."How are you?""Fine.......I have tried not to panic like you said but as the days have gone by I can't help but be a bit worried about it.""Don't worry," he said, ".....but there is something there."It wasn't a shock. I peered at the computer screen......"There is a cystic mass seen in the left base of the lung field  posteriorly with surrounding spicules. Small specks of calcification also seen within this lesion. The nature of this cystic lesion is indeterminate. It could represent a cystic neoplasm (either primary or secondary).(This didn't sound good. Eeek!) The other consideration would be a benign cystic lesion as I cannot see any significant enhancement within this lesion. (I liked this bit better!) Cystic neoplasm will need to be ruled out. (I'm with you on this one!) Respiratory physician assessment is recommended. (O.K) Further assessment to consider would also be a PET study to assess if there is any activity within this lesion.(This is probably referring to the kittens!) Ultimately, a biopsy may need to be considered to confirm a diagnosis which should be done in a tertiary setting.(Again...Eeek!) No other major abnormality within the thorax. (Good news!)"He showed me where it was on the scans I had brought with me. It didn't look ominous.....just a white blob."Do you want to go private or public?""Er, I don't think I can afford private.""It will be between $200 and $300 for the initial consultation."'Yep, and then what after that?' I thought."I'll refer you publicly and you can think about it. I will mark it urgent."'Yikes! Don't say that!' I thought that doesn't help in keeping my kittens calm."You should hear in about 4 weeks. The Princess Alexandra or the QE II?"It was a no brainer..... I didn't want to go back to the QE II......"The PA please."He printed out the report and his referral letter and wrote 'URGENT!' on it and underlined it."Some patients might deteriorate rapidly and in that case we would send them to Emergency."I wondered if he could hear my kittens mewling at that!"Don't worry," he said."Well, I feel fine," I said.He escorted me out to Bored Stacey....."Come back if you haven't heard anything in 2 weeks. Stacey can you fax this to the PA and then give this copy to the patient?""Thank you, Dr Wang," I said.Stacey put the report and referral letter in the fax machine and went back to fiddling with some envelopes. She didn't speak.'Fly my pretty!' I thought as the fax machine slowly swallowed the papers and then spat them out.When it was done Stacey stapled the papers together and wrote 'Faxed 5/02/15' on them and handed them to me."See you," she said.Reading the full report of my first kidney CT scan, when I got home.....there is some good news."Both kidneys are normal in size and outline. Bladder appears normal with no obvious wall thickening."It does however say that there appears to be three small stones in my gallbladder and some evidence of Diverticulitis.The report from the most recent CT scan also has some good news. There are no abnormal lymph nodes in my chest cavity."Central mediastinal vessels all enhance normally. No sliding hiatus hernia is seen. (Good news! I thought I had one.)  No pericardial effusion (Fluid build up....good!) A large cardiophrenic fat pad is noted. (How very dare they!) There is no pleural effusion seen. (No fluid on my lungs....good!) Limited view of the epigastric region does show fatty liver and uncomplicated gallstones. (Hurrumph!)""What do you fancy for tea? Something we had in the UK that we haven't had for awhile?" asked Will. He was being upbeat."What, as kind of my last meal?" I laughed."Stop it!" he said but he couldn't help smiling."Chinese?" I said."We can have Chinese if you want."I thought of my large cardiophrenic fat pad grunting 'FEED ME!' I decided against it."Curry and naan bread?"It probably wasn't any better but we haven't had it for ages and I fancied it. The kittens did too.We heard voices upstairs......Blue Care had come 20 minutes early for respite......It sounded like Peta........but it wasn't......it was Elaine!"Ahm a bit early but it dun't matter." She was already horizontal in the lounger next to Dulcie.If anything looked more like a cardiophrenic fat pad....she was it.So now.....if I ever refer to my insides as 'Elaine and the kittens', you'll know what I'm talking about.(I'm fine! Don't worry!..............but we always do don't we?)