shoulder news week 3.

The week that was:

MONDAY

So back to fracture clinic.

Added an orthopaedic resident to my orthopaedic team.

Turns out my orthopaedic registrar showed my xrays & scan to three orthopaedic surgeons and was outvoted 3-1 in the 'put a royal doulton plate in fiona's shoulder' poll.

Off work for a further 4 weeks.

WEDNESDAY

visited work for return-to-work meeting.

we have a plan for mid september.

it seems so far away.

otherwise it was walk, painkillers, sleep,

fiona's fracture continued

week 2 update.

the good

• have stopped taking the really strong painkillers
• am coping with normal panadol
• have been walking the 50 metres to the letterbox (& back) most days
• don't have to have an operation to insert a plate in arm
• work sent me a huge basket of chocolate to aid in healing
• my sister & my mum are waiting on me hand and foot

the not so good

• still living in my sister's armchair
• arm still bruised & swollen
• missed 7 shows (so far)
• can't do much

the bad

• can't move back to my flat because the layout of the door locks means i couldn't get out in an emergency (i miss my stuff)
• can't dress myself
• very limited in what i can do one handed
• feeling a bit sore and sorry for myself

fiona vs tree - week 1 update

my days have settled into a somewhat predictable routine thanks to last week's "altercation with tree".

wake up
take painkillers
sleep
wake up
take painkillers
sleep
wake up etc etc etc.

i was supposed to fly to sydney today (with my sister) for four days of theatre, markets, coffee festival, & Helpmann Awards.

Didn't happen.

my sister in law went instead of me and mum came down to melbourne to babysit. (which meant lots of home cooked meals)

arm is bruised from shoulder to elbow (looks like i'm wearing a large black armband.)

pain is manageable if i don't move.

otherwise owwww.

my brother & my 2 youngest nephews (aged 5 & 4) drove to pakenham to collect mum & bring her back to melb. my brother took the opportunity to deliver a paternal lecture to the boys on why vandalism is wrong and the law of unintended consequences.

master 4 however missed the moral of the story and announced to me that he was going to kick the vandal. And proudly showed me the shoes he was going to use for the kicking.

sounds like a plan to me.

Vale auntie Nan

Auntie Nan passed away this morning. She was 98 years old.

She was actually my great aunt, my dad's aunt, my grandfather's sister.

Auntie Nan was born Annie Charlotte Malcolm in Portland in 1913.

Latterly she lived in Glen Iris where she kept an eye on the ashburton staff for me.

After her husband george laidlaw died auntie nan decided she wasn't going to sit around & mope, she joined legacy widows, kept up her crafting and wrking for the monash hospital ladies auxilary. ( and many other charities as well)

Going to dinner at auntie nan's also became something of an experience. She was a good cook and would use our visits as an excuse to cook a roast & veges for us. One evening she served us roast beef with 13 (yes 13) veges. I, for one, didn't know there were 13 types of veges! Technically 12 i suppose as one was tomato & that's a fruit...

Anyway until about 3 years ago aunti nan lived in glen iris.

Every thursday morning she would walk the kilometre to ashburton library and return her library books. She would then meet some of her cronies for morning tea at the ashy shops before heading back to ashburton library to borrow her next lot of books.

I would often receive a phone call from her on thursday nights as she told me about the nice boy or girl (staff member) who'd helped her at the library, or filled me in in ashy library gossip. Or ask me if that nice person still worked at ashy cos she hadn't seen her for a while. I used to almost hope to be sent to AB on a thursday so that i could be sure of a decent lunch or dinner.

She was proud of the malcolm family & it's history. She used to love going back to penshurst & digby (and portland) each year to revisit her childhood and family haunts.

She had no desire to reach 100 (or get a telegram from the Queen) rather she wanted lo live a happy & fulfilled life.

When she moved into a nursing home in rosebud she took up watercolour painting because the nursing home ran watercolour classes.

Such was her enthusiasm for life.

She is survived by her three sons, clyde, tony & robin, & heaps of grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

We'll miss you auntie nan.

A week in the life...

So on saturday i came off second best in an altercation with a tree.

I had a bit of a run up but still could't move it.

The tree broke not only my fall but also the surgical neck of my right humerus.

This meant a ride in an ambulance and 4 hours lying in the emergency dept trying to avoid sick people.

So i am now living in an armchair in my sister's loungeroom while i keep the arm as still as possible (movement = pain)

The art of the brick.

Took littlest nephews (Huck aged 5, & Jughead just turned 4) to the Lego exhibition at Fed Square.

Both boys love lego& love going on adventures with aunty tapsister.

I picked them up from their home and watched them devour 2 slices of nutella toast, a pineapple ring, and a glass of milk (Jughead), and a ham and cheese sandwich, pineapple ring, glass of milk (Huck) before we headed to the tram. On the way we ran into Gus and emily's mum and told her about our plan. We also looked for snakes (especially cobras) in the long grass near elsternwick station.

We caught the tram to Fed Square and headed for the Lego exhibition. The boys loved the big T-rex made of lego, and the model of puffing billy, and the skulls.

The boys had brought money from their money boxes so that they could buy some lego in the shop. Huck bought a lego torch and Jughead bought some ninjago.

The we headed across to the acmi lounge for babycino's, popcorn, & the snacks that mummy had packed for the boys.

Then to the playground at Birrarung Marr where they worked off their morning tea on the slides.

Next up the merry-go-round next to the sky wheel.

By then it was lunch time (according to the boys) & we ate hotdogs, from the cart near fed square, while watching the boats on the Yarra River.

By now the boys were ready to go home but first they needed ice cream to round off their meals.

A fun train journey home, a play with the new lego, some afternoon tea before a very tired aunty tapsister headed back into the city for a tweet up and the boys looked forward to their dinner...

30 things i did in june (as well as blog)

In no particular order

• Went to adelaide
• saw panda bears at adelaide zoo
• got stranded in adelaide
• went to hahndorf
• went to haighs chocolate factory in adelaide
• ate too much chocolate
• ate too much fudge
• saw daniel boys at adelaide cabaret festival
• saw gala concert at adelaide cabaret festival
• walked the red carpet after olivia newton-john & david campbell
• found bracegirdles chocolate in glenelg
• shopped til i dropped for work stuff (fun work stuff may i say)
• broke a tooth
• discovered fruchocs
• discovered cocolate, cikolatte, chocolate bean, swiss glory, blackebys, while in adelaide
• went to the charm shop in adelaide
• vowed never to fly tiger airways again
• spent way too much time at adelaide airport
• voted tiger airways worst customer service as worst ever
• ran the press gauntlet at adelaide airport -they were waiting for 'roo' to get back from hall of fame induction
• did 2 booktalks
• hosted an author talk
• got given an iphone 3gs
• had a(nother) career fail
• saw a careers counsellor
• enrolled in further study (probably)
• completed year 1 of alia pd scheme
• killed off my enemies in a short story (extremely violently & with great pleasure)
• spent time with my family (6th anniversary of my dad's death)
• persuaded work to take part in #blogjune