A good week

I have had a very good week; visits from two lovely ex-students, a friend, an ex-colleague, who is visiting home from the U.S. and today a friend who brought me some memory food back from one of his his regular trips to Papua New Guinea.  Click images to enlarge.

PNG products still popular 

This morning I went to a ‘swap meet’ and bought a blow torch.  It is probably 50+ years old and still works well.  The fuel tank is brass and will polish up nicely.  Not sure if I will ever use it, but it is a nice piece.    A ‘swap meet’ is perhaps not the correct name for a flea market as the only swapping done there is swapping money for objects.

Lynch Syndrome

Our daughter Helen recently had a Colonoscopy and the results showed no cancers, but 31 polyps were removed.  That number is of concern and when she visited her GP she was told that there is a possibility that she may have Lynch Syndrome.  

An extract from the doctor’s information handout....

   It would seem That either my side of the family or my late wife’s side may be genetically disposed to this syndrome.  I should perhaps get tested. I will discuss the matter when I visit my GP next week.

Meanwhile Helen will have regular tests and scans.

St John's Ambulance Service

Yesterday I had a visit from an ex-student of mine; Hwee.  Hwee was a fav student of mine at Willetton SHS and she works as an ambo for the St John’s Ambulance Service here in Western Australia.    There are many stories we should gather on the work of ambos; some of them humorous, some dangerous and some sad.   Ambos certainly see a broad cross-section of society. There is a good book or a realty TV show to be made there.

I was surprised to read that the U.S. state of Alabama still has separate schools for whites and the rest of society.   I thought the American Civil War to end that sort of rubbish was won in 1865.   

Mitch is on the mend

Mitch is on the mend.  The latest surgery was to reconstruct his left knee.

 They want to leave a week in between each surgery. Next will be right knee then left wrist. He is in good spirits and keen to get things moving along. Abdomen seems fine now so let's hope it stays that way. 

Mitch with mum Karen

'You've been in the wars!'

Short report on my niece’s son Mitch. Text from mother Karen....

had a set back last night.  Emerg surgery to remove part of his bowel that had a hole in it and leaking air through his tummy.  Big abscess draining now.  In ICU. Hopefully tomorrow back to trauma unit.

and then more the following morning....

In pretty good spirits.  Gut not working still. Small blood clot left vein of kidney. Bit jaundice today. So many things at work/concern.

My mother would have said...’you’ve been in the wars’.

Google searches

Some six years ago I wrote about a David Attenborough documentary titled ‘The Biami People of Papua New Guinea’.  I found it on YouTube on January, 18th 2010. You can find that post here.

Yesterday when I was checking my blog hits I found that that posting suddenly has 80 hits with people searching for The Biami People of PNG.    Most of those hits were from the UK and so I thought that Attenborough’s documentary must have been screened on BBC television that evening.   Looking closer, I found that around 5 hits were from the U.S.A.

Searching for that documentary with Google I found a TV programme on air on May 8 with small clips of many of Attenborough’s travels and the Biami was part of a collection of his previous adventures…this one from 1950.

http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/shortcuts/2016/may/04/attenborough-90-wildlife-legend-top-10-tv-moments

This is a screenshot of that segment…

Click to enlarge

Mitch update.

Mitchell's situation is looking better.

Facebook post by his mother Karen.

Mitchell's ongoing saga

 My niece’s son Mitch is still in intensive care after his major road accident.  His leg and arm have been repaired, but he is still on oxygen because of damage to his lung.  The medics cannot repair damaged ligaments until his lungs are deemed strong enough for more surgery.  The lung problem is preventing an MRI scan as the medics think he is not  strong enough to detach him from oxygen etc for the 15 minute transfer to the MRI machine.  If the ligaments are not repaired soon, they may shrink.

Mitch also has some cracked/broken ribs.   

I have this information from my sister in Esperance.  It is all a bit ‘sketchy’ and I hope I have it correct.

T-Boned by a 4WD

My sister Shirley lives in Esperance, a nice seaside town on the south coast of Western Australia.  Her daughter Karen also lives there.  One of Karen’s sons was involved in a serious road accident yesterday.   He was riding a moped to work when a 4WD T-boned him breaking his leg in three places and his arm.  He had a CT Scan and was flown to Royal Perth Hospital for specialist treatment.  Further scans have shown extensive bruising of his heart, lung, kidney and spleen.  The open wounds and broken bones of his leg and arm will probably be operated on today.  There is concern that his heart and lungs may not like the anaesthetic and fail.  I would surmise that RPH has the equipment and skills to get him through the first stage.  If he pulls through, this looks like a long spell in hospital.  

Karen and another son and her ex-husband, the father of Mitchell are standing by.

Update:  Mitchell has survived the initial surgery to repair his leg and arm.