So officially, I am a jobless bum and have  been since the end of May.  My story starts a couple of years ago, when my Dad had a heart attack and was flown to Brisbane by the Royal Flying Doctors.  Dad ended up needing 5 heart bypass grafts and was in the Wesley Hospital for quite a while.  In the months and check ups following the surgery, a specialist found some weird things on Dad’s lungs.  It turned out to be Asbestosis.

While Glen and I went to New Zealand for his sister’s 40th (and ended up being a surprise wedding), Dad went into hospital again.  When we got back, Dad called me to give me the bad news.  The asbestosis has developed into Mesothelioma.

Here is Wikipedia’s explanation: Mesothelioma, more precisely malignant mesothelioma, is a rare form of cancer that develops from the protective lining that covers many of the body’s internal organs, the mesothelium. It is usually caused by exposure to asbestos.

Of course, this was quite upsetting and I wanted to see Dad while he was still “good”.  So after much umming and ahhing, I’m now unemployed and I’m at my parents home at the moment spending time with the old man.

I have to say that Dad is tired a lot of the time and his pain varies at certain times of the day.  I don’t think that he has actually been pain free any of the time I’ve been here.

His next specialist appointment is on Thursday week and we should be getting a better idea of a timeline of how long we’ve got Dad for.   Apparently, no one has lived past the 12 month mark after being diagnosed with Mesothelioma.  Bummer

I’ve got to say that I’m finding it extremely difficult being back at home after the Cape Trip.  I just don’t want to be here and have to go to work.  I’m struggling to see the point of going to work and coming home when there is so much out there to see and do and experience.  I think I’d rather be on the road getting odd jobs and paying my way around Australia.   We could rent out our house and that could pay the mortgage or we could sell our house and get another that we wouldn’t have a mortgage on…  See all these ideas and Glen’s not so keen.

I have to say that there were a LOT of people at Rover Park.  The Campground near the amenities block was absolutely packed.  We camped in Campground 2, which is behind the main campground.  There was only two other groups in our campground.  In our group, we had quite a mish mash of cars and people.  There was us (Mav); a Challenger;  a Wrangler; a Range Rover;  a Discovery and; a Cherokee.

The Cherokee died on the way into the Park.  The transmition blew up and they called RACQ to get towed.  Seeing we were in NSW, they had to wait for NRMA to come get them.  The Wrangler broke on the way out of the park.  It drove home in front wheel drive.  The Range Rover had major issues on the way home.  I’m not sure of exact details, but I think it had to limp the whole way home.  The guy who owns the Challenger rolled his ankle on Sunday night and it blew up the size of a house.  He got taken to the hospital at Tenterfield and ended up getting 2 weeks off work!

On Tuesday morning, I woke up and said to Glen, my eye feels funny.  He took one look and told me that it’s blown up again.  Last year, in August as my Doc tells me, my left eye decided to have some fun and swell.  I didn’t know what it was from and my doctor at the time told me just to have an anti-histamine.  We didn’t look into it, because the anti-histamine did the trick and it hadn’t happened again or before then.

So on Tuesday, I just took an anti-histamine and went to work.  It did kinda go down but not enough.  I called the doctor’s and made an appointment.  While waiting at reception, my face started to puff up.  So did my lips, left arm, left hand and my left side…. Weird… I just took off my watch and waited for the doctor…  When I got to see the doctor – She gave me a stern talking to… Off I went to get an injection to stop the swelling and she put me on steriods too.  Apparently, I was in the midst of a pretty serious allergic reaction.

Seeing Glen and I are doing a Cape York trip in just over 2 weeks, I have to get an EpiPen.  I got told that the Allergy Specialist has signed off on my Pen; but I’ve got to go and have testing to see what I’m allergic to… Should be fun…

It’s called Osolean from Mannatech. I joined Mannatech so that I could get the product cheaper.

Some people would be a bit nervous giving out the following measurements, but here we go.

Measurements – 24/02/09
Left Leg: 56cm
Right Leg: 59.5cm
Hips: 102cm
Waist: 80cm
Left Arm: 26.5cm
Right Arm: 27cm

Measurements 01/03/09
Left Leg: 56cm
Right Leg: 58cm
Hips: 101.5cm
Waist: 79.5cm
Left Arm: 26.5cm
Right Arm: 27cm

Measurements 07/03/09
Left Leg: 54.5cm
Right Leg: 55.5cm
Hips: 101cm
Waist: 78.5
Left Arm: 26.5cm
Right Arm: 27cm

Measurements 16/03/09
Left Leg: 54.5cm
Right Leg: 55cm
Hips: 101cm
Waist: 78cm
Left Arm: 26cm
Right Arm: 26

Okay, now there’s a bit of a jump in taking measurements, I’ve had so much on of late, my head is spinning. I’ll admit that I’ve been lucky if I can have the shake before breakfast, so I haven’t been doing the plan to the ‘T’.

Measurements 13/04/09
Left Leg: 54.4cm
Right Leg: 55cm
Hips: 100cm
Waist: 77.5cm
Left Arm: 25.5cm
Right Arm: 27cm

I’m pretty happy with the gradual cm loss.  I haven’t really lost any “weight”.  My Personal Trainer said weight is a figure of mind.  I just don’t want to look like someone that weighs 60 kilos.  Well that’s my figure.  If I hit 60 kilos, I think I’ll peak out.

During the Christmas & New Year time off work, I did some cleaning and found the cd that had the pics of my boudoir shoot and thought I still hadn’t put up my favourite photo… So here it is…

Lush Boudoir was set up for ladies to have professional photos to make them feel special (and sexy!). I’m not one of those girls that gets worried about how I appear. So I didn’t mind having to get my “bits” out for the photos. I thought that the pics would be a great anniversary present for Glen too.

Ainslie (the photographer) is one of those top chics that you just click with. Her studio is at her house, and you just feel really comfortable. She had funky music on and you just get into the groove.

I am waiting for the copies of the photos to get to me (and I will put up my favourite)- but in the mean time check out the website. Those of you that know me will be able to recognise me. Let me know what you think!

He went in for surgery on Saturday morning. Glen’s Dad had bypass surgery about 5-6 years ago, so I had already gone through what happens and what to expect.

During the Op, Dr Mau decided that Dad actually needed 5 grafts. Apparently there was only one artery keeping Dad alive.

I think the worst part was seeing Dad in the ICU. I can’t say at any point I thought we’d lose Dad. He’s such a tough old boot, I think he’d get through anything. My only thought was, I want Dad to see me get married & have kids (whenever both of these are going to happen – for everyone that knows me – NOT YET PPL!!)

Anyway, Dad was in the Wesley for a week after surgery. I cannot speak highly enough of Dr Mau & Dr Rafter. They did a fantastic job with Dad. Dr Mau has really made an impression with my Dad. Dad is not a small man (he weighed 94 kilos before the surgery) and Dr Mau sat him up on his bed with one hand. I can’t believe how strong he is!!

In Dad’s room, he shared with four other males. Wayne who was in the opposite bed turned out to be a great room mate. I think they both talked a lot about the surgery (Wayne was going in for bypass the week after Dad). If Dad was out getting tests done etc when I turned up, I would sit with Wayne and talk.

It’s been 7 weeks since the op now. Dad came back down last week for his check up. He has been given approval to drive again. I think he’s really happy about that. Normally, bypass patients have to wait 12 weeks to get the ok to drive.

So Dad has a zipper front & back now… LOL…

He’s having more tests tomorrow, so we’ll know what other procedures will be done then.  They were talking about stents while I was at the hospital visiting him.  Life is such a rollercoaster…

We left early on Friday morning. I woke up at 4:30am because I was extremely excited. Glen was still comatose so I drove up. On the way up, there was heaps of roadworks (GRRRRR!!) and there was one that had a sign stating to expect to be delayed for 15 minutes! We ended up getting to Bundy at about 10 ish and we were starving. It felt like lunchtime to us, but nothing was open. The only place that we could get food from was KFC. We had to wait for them to get the fryers on. Only in Bundy.

Because the people that we were going to be visiting had to work on Friday, we cruised around and had our KFC in a park and drove past our old places. We went to where Glen would be staying (Mick & Shaz’s) and set up. We ended up having a nanna nap cause we were still tired.

I went around to my sisters in the arvo for a visit but they were going out for dinner, so I went back to Mick & Shaz’s for the night. On Saturday, us girls headed out for our usual shopping trip – I bought up big again at the Op Shop – and we got Busy Bee chips for lunch… mmm yummo…

On Saturday night, it was my sister-in-law’s 40th birthday party. I got her a little crystal bowl & my sister’s family got the big matching bowl. It was really good to go. I caught up with quite a few family members from my Brother-In-Law’s family. We were going to go out after the party, but my sister’s going out outfit was still on the line, so we couldn’t go.

On Sunday, Mum came down to see Glen and I. So we had Lunner (its like Brunch only between Lunch and Dinner). I have definitely had my share of BBQ’s over the weekend. Glen and I decided that we are going to buy a house in Bundy as soon as we can.

Monday, we left early to get home. There was an accident on the Gateway and they totally closed the motorway. It took us about 7 hours to get home. It normally takes us about 4 – 4.5 hours… When we were unpacking the car, I bumped my leg on the back bumper and it really hurt. I looked down. My left side of my body looks like its from a cooked lobster!

Thank god for Aloe Vera. I have been putting it in the fridge so it’s nice and cool on my sunburn.

We went and bought tickets, which I thought was a bit of a rip off seeing that there were heaps of rides that weren’t running. As soon as we went through the gates, there was a toilet stop and then straight to a cafe. The food was fantastic. I ate all of it! That’s pretty rare cause I’m not that big of an eater. The chic who took our orders, obviously didn’t get Dad’s main order but got the side of chips that he wanted. It must’ve had something to do with the blaring music they had playing.

After that, Dad & I went for a wander, while Mum & Katarna went shopping in all the stores. We wanted to see the Police Academy Stunt Show (which was great) at 1:30pm. The lady at the Cafe said to line up early as the seats go fast. So we got there about 12:30pm as the doors opened at 1pm. Mum & Katarna weren’t there. I went searching. They walked straight past me down the main drag. I had to make my way through all the people to get to them.

Once I had caught up, we went and lined up for the show. The pre-show entertainment was great. This guy was just communicating with a whistle.

After the show, Katarna and I went on the Wild West Falls. I got absolutely saturated. It fully looked like I had wet myself. Plus my hair was drenched and my polo top was entirely wet too. All Katarna had was wet hair and a wet bum from the seat. The wind picked up and I was freezing. The next thing we did was get an ice-cream – good idea Mum… I stood in the sun cause I was covered in goose bumps.

After that, we went to the Kids bit. Katarna got onto some car thing and Dad and I just sat down. My feet were killing me (damn plantar fasciitis) and Dad’s back (he had spinal surgery last year) was aching. We decided that after Katarna was done in the kid section, we were going home.

Katarna wanted to go on the rollercoaster. Seeing that was the reason I was there (M&D can’t do rides & Katarna needed to be with an adult for the rides), I went on it with her. I’m not so good with heights, so I was freaking. This rollercoaster goes from like 30k’s an hour to a stop. Damn it hurt my back – I wasn’t ready for it. The second time around wasn’t so bad.

Mum & Katarna went into a shop and Dad and I waited outside. Once they were done, we went home. We got to the car at 5:30pm.