Dr Hew and the Flu Jab.

So........I rang Marie at 9.00 am this morning at Dr Hew's Surgery......Oh, the difference!I admit that if I were a Doctor's Receptionist in Bangkok I would be nowhere near as good as the Thai Receptionist Dr Hew employs for two days a week......so 'hats off' to her for that, but Marie is so efficient......like an Audi car....'vorsprung doktor technik'.I asked if Dr Hew could come out to see Dulcie as we have not had a very good weekend. She went off to speak to him and came back to say that he couldn't as he had another appointment but that he would ring later.He did, about 10.00. I explained about Dulcie's pain and her continuing constipation. He recommended prune juice or pear juice. (I knew about the effect of prunes but was surprised about the pears!) He was going to write out a request for a 'cat scan' which we could collect. I asked him about her getting her flu jab but he said that it was best to deal with her pain before giving her that. He rang off without saying he would be coming another day and I felt a bit let down.Shelley, Dulcie's granddaughter arrived with her son Phoenix....

Could he be any cuter?

Shelley is getting married in a few weeks and we are all going up to the Sunshine Coast for the weekend as it is a 'beach wedding.'

Just before lunch the phone rang and it was Marie. The patient Dr Hew was due to see had ended up in hospital so he was coming to see Dulcie after all.

She had been fine all morning and enjoyed her visitors.

"Make sure you moan a bit when he is here," I said.

He arrived just before 1.00 pm.

"How is your pain, Dulcie?"

"Oh, not too bad Dr Hew."

"But is has been bad hasn't it," I butted in.

She looked hard at me but said nothing.

"And have you been coughing, any shortness of breath?" Asked Dr Hew.

"No, Dr Hew," she said.

"Well, you did have a cough in the last few weeks but it has been a lot better recently hasn't it? But, apart from getting short of breath when moving you have not really been coughing have you?"

Another hard look.

"And she hasn't been to the toilet since last week Dr Hew" I continued.

"And I have been eating my veggies," it was her turn to butt in.

"Yes, we have been trying hard to give her lots of fibre," I said.

"And fluids?" He asked.

"Yes," I said.

"I always have a glass of water beside me," she said.

She was looking too well and wouldn't she just when Dr Hew had come all the way over from Eight Mile Plains.

"But it is the pain that is the biggest concern," I said. "She is fine when she is sitting still like she is now but when she moves it is agony. In fact, it has been so bad that at times you have said that you can't stand it, haven't you?"

She looked hard at me and said "I'm not telling you anything again."

"I'm only being honest because I am trying to help you," I said. "The thing is, Dr Hew, she is scared you are going to send her to hospital."

"Oh, there is no need for that......as yet." He added. I heard the '....as yet' but thankfully Dulcie didn't.

He had brought the CT scan request form over for us and....

"I've got your flu jab too," he said flourishing a large needle that would have made Will faint.

(They have only just been rolled out here today as well so it is good that she has had it so early.)

He gave us a prescription for more Movicol and said to get in touch if we needed more Endone and away he went leaving her to her banana sandwich.

Getting rid of 'Elaine'!.......3

So........The scales this morning declared '89' kgs!.........I don't believe them. They are as unreliable as Tony Abbott. Hmmm, perhaps that is being a little too harsh on them.I am happy, however,  that I appear to have lost the weight that 'Elaine' collected on our road trip to Canberra and that I am back on track.I have been trying to walk for over an hour a day. On Friday I walked around the city for three hours and yesterday walked for two hours passing 'Trim St'.....but that hardly describes me as yet. I reckon if I shaved my stubble off I would lose another 500g!

Getting drugs for Dulcie!

"Hello, Dr Hew's Surgery." It was the Thai Receptionist."Hello, my name is Nick Allen and I am the Carer for Dulcie Rodgers. I spoke to Dr Hew yesterday about him possibly coming out to see Dulcie today and him prescribing some painkillers for Dulcie."Are you a patient?""No.""He only come to see patients.""No, I am the Carer for Dulcie Rodgers. She is the patient. Is it possible to speak to Dr Hew?""No, he is very busy.""Could you ask him to ring us as soon as he can? Tell him Nick rang. We want to ask him about Endone.""Is that another patient?""No, it is a medication.""Oh, well he will not be able to ring until lunchtime.""Well, if you could ask him to ring as soon as possible as Mrs Rodgers is in terrible pain."In the meantime I had to go into the city to finally pick up my camera. (The camera that Trace and Jen got me for my birthday last year but which broke earlier in the year and which I had taken back to be mended but which they couldn't mend and recently emailed to say that they were giving me a new one and that it was ready to be collected.)I went to the shop that I took the camera to in Fortitude Valley but the woman there looked perplexed."Hmmm, we have had no camera sent here.""Well, I have had an email about it."I read her the email."Your new camera is ready for collection at our Queen Street shop."DOH! I was at the wrong shop!I eventually found the right shop and collected my new camera. They even gave me a free soft case for it."Well done!" said the camera shop man as if they had never replaced a camera before.Back at Celtis St Dr Hew had rung and the prescription for Dulcie's Endone was waiting. I said I would pick it up on my way home.I called at the Surgery on my way home.There was another woman already at standing at the desk talking to the Thai Receptionist.The Thai Receptionist looked at me."Oh, hello," she smiled as if I was a long lost friend, "I'll be with you in a moment."The other woman continued talking."I have not been here for awhile but Dr Hew asked if you could check the folder with my X Rays to see if I have left a disc in there, I can't find it at home.""Sorry, what is it you want?""Do you have a folder or a file with information about me where my X rays may be because there might be a disc in with them."The Thai Receptionist peered at her computer screen intently for awhile and then leaned even closer to it in case that would help her find what she was looking for......but it didn't."I'm sorry I don't understand. What do you want?""A disc," said the lady calmly, that might be in with my X-Rays.""A disc?""Yes, a disc, a CD."The Thai Receptionist opened a cupboard door and looked in."No nothing here. No disc.""Well it might be with my file. Is there a file with my name on where my X-Rays might be?""I don't know.""Well, Dr Hew just asked me to ask you to see if it was with my X-Rays.""No disc here," said the Thai Receptionist, spreading her arms to encompass her work area."Well no, it wouldn't just be lying about on the desk, " said the woman."No, it is not on the desk, just a prescription here. No disc.""Well, never mind.""I only work two day. Ring on Monday and speak to Marie. Maybe Marie know about the disc."The woman left.The Thai Receptionist looked at me."I'll take that prescription that you have there," I said, then thought that sounded a bit menacing so added "I have come to collect it for Dulcie Rodgers.""Ah, yes! I gave Dr Hew your message." She was very pleased.......it seemed as if it was the first thing she had done right all day!

A little crack.

So......from the report that Terry sent to Dr Hew it seemed to indicate that Dulcie may have a compressed fracture in the rib area which is the cause of her pain.This is due to her weak bones and he called it Osteo-something but it was not 'Osteoporosis'. The fracture could have been caused when getting out of her chair, sitting down or even sneezing.We are hoping he will come tomorrow and give her some strong painkillers. It is agony when she moves but she is fine when sitting still or lying in bed. She did not sleep well last night she said and I asked if it was because of the pain but she said it wasn't, it was just that she couldn't sleep.

'A Little Chaos.'

So........some days never turn out as you expect them to.It was a lovely sunny morning when I woke Dulcie up. I had to raise her because Rhiona was due for respite and Dulcie needed her breakfast and medication before we left.Will and I walked around Forest Lake for just over an hour much to 'Elaine's' chagrin and we got back just before lunch. Dulcie had been teaching Rhiona how to play euchre. She said she did 'OK.'Rhiona said that Dulcie had complained of pains in her chest while we were away.While we were away on out road trip Dulcie developed a pain in her back and was put on painkillers with codeine in them. The tablets helped the pain but have blocked her up.She was not keen for us to ring Dr Hew in fear of being sent to hospital but we rang anyway.He could see us at 2.50 pm.It was all a bit of an ordeal to get to the doctors with Dulcie wincing in pain, but we parked as near to the entrance as we could and Dr Hew, being as good as he is, bumped her up the queue, so she did not have long to wait. A poor African lady who was there waiting before us ended up having to wait longer as Dulcie was called in before her.Will went in with her to make sure Dr Hew got the real story and it was a good job because Dulcie was not very forthcoming with her symptoms.I stayed in the waiting room. There was a magazine for the 'Over 50's' on the table.......right up my street.It was all fancy holidays, gourmet meals and walking clubs but the last 10 pages were all advertisements for Funeral Directors.....I put it down in disgust.Just as we suspected Dr Hew reckoned she was bunged up, said 'no more codeine', just her normal medication and ordered an X-Ray.As we were passing Terry's salubrious establishment on the way home I nipped into see appointment availability. They could fit us in at 4.00 pm. We had 25 minutes to kill so went to the new Zarraffa's coffee shop next door.Dulcie insisted on paying for the drinks and gave Will the money...."and get us something to eat" she said. Will went in to get the drinks and Dulcie rested her head on her arms on the table."This is no life," she said, "I'm just good for nothing.""Give over," I said, "You're paying for our drinks aren't you?....That's good for something.""It's very cloudy," she said. It was....and it had been so lovely this morning.Two enormous ladies squeezed out of their cars."If I was that big I would do something about it!"'Elaine' blew a loud raspberry!"Look at that!" Dulcie went on, rather too loudly."Ssshhh," I said, trying to save our lives from a crushing death.We had to drink up quickly and eat the cake Will had bought. Dulcie wolfed hers down. Will and I shared one piece before we headed back to Terry's.The tiny waiting room was full and there was no seat for me until an old chap was handed his X-Ray films and he tottered off.Terry appeared. He had obviously made an extra special effort to add extra sleaze to his look. He called "James?"......and a big fella with practically a 'van full' of his own 'Elaines' staggered off after him. Only Dulcie, Will and I were left in the waiting room.I read the "About Terry" poster again.Did you know he likes to write and sing his own compositions (Piano and voice)? Imagine 'An Evening of Music and Song with Terry'.......No don't. I quickly stopped imagining it......it was quite awful.Terry's voice boomed out, "Right Chris, Take a long slow breath in, and push it out and hold.........Breathe away."Dulcie raised her eyebrows at me."Ok Chris, I mean James, let's try that again."The door opened and a delivery man came in. The girl at Reception looked up from her internet shopping."Great, could you just pop it down there?"He did and went out but left the sliding door open. I got up and shut it again and returned to my seat.The delivery man came back with two bigger boxes. He had to put them down to open it again. I looked at the magazines on the table quickly.The magazines were tatty and years old....one informed me that Lord Lucan had gone missing......They had obviously been handled by Terry and many other grubby hands. There was a sticker on the front of each;'Dear Customer, Please do not remove these magazines from the waiting room. Please leave them for other customers to enjoy.' The big fella staggered back in and sat next to me.....his hips overflowed his seat and met mine."Mrs Rodgers?"Will and Dulcie followed Terry.The big fella and I sat together in silence with touching hips. I tried not to move but desperately wanted to.Terry was back, with a piece of paper."This is for James, I'll be back with his films in a minute," he said to the Receptionist girl, who was now on Facebook."Who am I now?"..........The big fella had a sense of humour....... "I'll be anybody you want me to be."I laughed nervously and our hips jiggled together."Here you go Jim," said Terry handing the big fella his X-Rays and our hips parted. It was not sweet sorrow. It was relief."Did you find that Peter Hall, or How, or Hew or whatever it is?" Terry asked the receptionist girl. She nodded not taking her eyes off Youtube.We finally made it home. Dulcie had certainly had her exercise for today. Terry said it looked like she was bunged up too and recommended to keep giving the laxatives.It's Tuesday. We were going out to the cinema tonight to see 'A Little Chaos' with Kate Winslet and Alan Rickman. We have decided to stay at home in case Dulcie needs us.Kate was a  bit upset about it but Alan just sneered.