Thyroid Cancer

My daughter and husband James are in Queensland visiting family and  friends.  I drove them to Perth Airport late Friday night.  They are away just over a week.  Their dogs are in a boarding kennel and I have a few jobs to do at their house which is around 500 metres from my place.  Not being there, it has made me aware how much they mean to me.    I will be looking forward to catching up when they return.   It has also made me realise how isolated some people can get when they lose a partner.  I am fortunate that I have Helen and James near me and also a small circle of friends to meet up with once a week; even if we do tend to tell the same stories over and over.

On Tuesday morning I am having an ex-student of mine visit for a coffee.  She is probably 35 now, married with a 16 month old child.  She was a wonderful student in my classes and we have kept in touch over the years.  When I talked with her last week she told me that she had had Thyroid Cancer and had the thyroid removed and chemotherapy. She will get the results of a final investigation next week.   Too young for that!

Bastard disease!

Bougainvillea

On Sunday last, I helped my son-in-law James, erect some lattice work on a wall in Helen and James’ front yard.  The lattice will soon have Bougainvillea growing through it and hopefully prevent the 15 year old pain-in-the-arse from further up their cul-de-sac using their front yard as a short cut to jump over their fence to get to the adjacent road.

From the time Helen and James purchased their house and moved in, this kid has been giving them strife.   It started with him kicking a football at their garage door.  Words were exchanged and James talked to his parents who seem to have no control over him.  During that conversation he told his parents to ‘F... off’.   It transpired that the previous owners shifted out because of ongoing trouble with this kid.   He has continued to walk through Helen and James front yard even when they are out the front and gives them a mouthful when they suggest he is trespassing.

Until the Bougainvillea covers the lattice,  Helen has planted some very nasty prickly plants in vulnerable gaps.

The lattice screen looks similar to the airbrakes use on some night-fighter planes during WW2.  Even though it is securely fastened to the wall there will be a lot of pressure on it with our strong Sou-West summer winds.

We await the next move by their nice neighbour.

Passwords

Yesterday a colleague from a past life called and wanted me to look at a computer I had set up some years ago.   It was for his disabled son and has served him well until now when it is got bit clogged up with downloads and attempted downloads.

When he delivered it, I remembered that a friend and I had configured it so that the operating system couldn’t be tampered with.    That set up included a password which neither Rob nor I could remember.  I had taken the machine around to Rob’s place and the IT pro that he is, came to the fore and he was able to get into it and change the password.   Yes I have written the PW down.

Paul, my colleague from Willetton SHS days, will be pleased that his son is back on line with a clean machine, also asked me for a speedy machine to go to Darwin where a friend is involved with movie making.  I gave  him a G5 Mac which is one of a number given to me  from a local newspaper.

I am past the complex issues of computing and am very lucky to have a friend like Rob, who I can lean on for some assistance with those brain-crushing workarounds.

I have recently ordered cheap PRAM batteries for the many Macs I rebirth.  Locally here they cost around $18. each and I can buy them from China for around $3.50.  I don’t know how long they will last compared to brand name batteries.    The word cheap means different things to different people.  Here in Australia ‘cheap’ usually means inexpensive.  I have noticed that in the U.S. ‘cheap’ means rubbish.     PRAM batteries keep the computer’s time and date correct and also maintains printer selection.  Not a biggy if the battery is flat, but Macs keep telling you if the battery is dead.  That can be a bit annoying.

Multi Cultural Mix

For the last 13 years of my teaching career I taught at a very nice Senior High School which was proud of its multi-cultural mix of students.  In all that time there was, at least to me, no evidence of any racial or religious discrimination.     The one exception was practised by a  group of students who were members of a sect named The Plymouth Brethren.  They believed that their members should not eat with non-members and each lunch time, cars came to the school and transported them away from the mob.  Later they purchased a house opposite the school and their kids walked to the house for lunch.   Then they opted out of the school system and got their education from Distance Education which caters for students in isolated locations.  I don’t know how they convinced the Education Department that they deserved special treatment.  These days they have their own schools as does the Muslim cohort.

I know I won’t be offending any Plymouth Brethren by writing this because they aren’t allowed to use computers.

Yesterday I offered to help my brother fix his toilet cistern. He had purchased a new flushing mechanism for $72 (plus the usual 99c).    When I tried to replace the new flushing bit it was obvious that it wasn’t going to fit into that model of the same brand.   I went to Bunnings Hardware and bought the whole tank with all the bits for $59.    A bit of mucking around drilling new anchor holes through ceramic wall tiles and it was all up and flushing in about two hours.      At 72 years of age I am starting to feel my age and felt pretty tired when I got home.   I had planned on an early bed, but bro turned up with a couple of bottles of wine and we bought in fish and chips.  I slept very well.

Rioting in the streets

Yesterday brother Graham and I drove up to Maida Vale where Joan’s cousin Kingsley and his wife Margaret live.    Kingsley had previously contacted me offering a nice printer which didn’t want to work properly on his computer.  Bonus; it works beautifully on mine!  I rang Kingsley and offered to return it to him, but he had already bought another and graciously told me to keep it.

Their property was originally 10 acres, but has been reduced to 3 acres with a nice large house and lots of trees, both fruit and natives.   Lovely semi-rural area!  Graham and I got the tour and a bag of oranges and passionfruit.

The local Muslims are rioting in Sydney town over the backyard movie which supposedly mocks Islam.  I cannot understand how the looney who made the movie didn’t think that it would not cause death and destruction throughout the world?   

It is only that we, in the Western world, generally live in democracies which cherish free speech which allows even the most controversial stuff to go to air.  The protesters, even the moderates, want the U.S. government to do all sorts of things to the film maker and I guess a few family members of the murdered embassy staff would also like their government to stomp on him.

I must say that the rioting thugs in Sydney look like a pretty evil bunch themselves.  I wouldn’t want some of them living in my street.

Top Shelf

I recently met a young Filipino (soon to become Australian) family.  I had advertised a coffee maker and they came to buy it. 

Colloquially, Top Shelf means ‘the best’.  In our case Top Shelf means it ends up on a top shelf through lack of use and that is what the coffee maker did and I thought I would get rid of it.  

The young couple were pretty interested, but I could see that it wasn’t going to suit their needs, so I talked them out of it.     They were astonished that I did so and couldn’t quite believe it.   Instead I offered them a near new percolator type of coffee machine at far lesser price and they very happy.     We got to talking and when they left they had a large bundle of my Swiss Chard (silverbeet) a bag of lemons and a nice computer loaded with games for their kids.   The next day I came home to find a message on my answering machine inviting me to dinner.  Unfortunately I had a previous engagement and drove to their place to apologise.  The food was being prepared and smelled delightful.     I felt bad as they had gone to a lot of trouble.   The husband is a FIFO worker in the North West mining industry and when he returns in two weeks is to be naturalised as an Australian citizen.  They have invited me to attend and I will take photographs of the event.

Rowena, the wife, asked me why I give away computers for free.   I introduced her to the word altruism.

I have the feeling that we are going to keep in contact.

Albany Road trip

Back from our road trip down to Albany.  It was a good trip although the weather was cold and windy for the first three days.    We crammed ten eMacs into Dennis’s ute and they seemed to survive a detour back to Albany along a bumpy track.  I have started the process of doing a ‘clean install’ of the operating system on each machine and loading them with appropriate software.  The school they came from is a small private primary school and the Macs were obviously bought configured for the lowest cost.  They do not have a DVD drive which means loading a more up to date operating system means a bit of a work around.   Enough techo-talk!

Albany has a population of around 25,000 and is very hilly in parts.  The city calls those hills mountains.   There are many colonial buildings and houses as well as modern houses.  It is a very pretty town which I have renamed ‘Roundabout and no right-turn City’.  Albany is the largest town/city in W.A. or even Australia. without any traffic lights.  There are hundreds of roundabouts and not one traffic light.

Some Albany oldies....

Roughly half way to Albany from Fremantle is the town of Kojonup.  Many South Western towns have an ‘up’ at the end of the name. ‘up’ is aboriginal for ‘place of’.  There is a small military museum in Kojonup which it is claimed as the oldest surviving colonial building in the state.  It was established in 1830s when a military outpost was established to protect travellers on the Albany/Perth track.  The building is in good repair, but unfortunately was not open when we passed through town.

I had some time to myself in Albany so went on an antique shop tour.   I spied an old cafe sugar dispenser and grabbed it @ $1.00.    I have always thought them to be very practical and it will stop me spreading sugar over the kitchen bench when I am adding sugar to a coffee.


And now for your laugh segment at my expense.

I have recently had my GP issue me a script for a more powerful cream for my rash on my legs and arms.  On Friday morning I opened the new cream and smeared some on my legs and arms.  During the morning it became sticky and stuck to my trousers.  I decided to wash it off in the shower.  I collected a bit of the cream on my finger, tasted it and realised I had medicated myself with toothpaste.  Lesson here; put glasses on before using medication.

Fathers' Day at Fremantle

Fathers Day was a biggy for me.  Helen and James took me to Fremantle City where we visited the Freo markets, a nice brewery/restaurant and a bit of a Freo pub crawl ending up at Little Creatures Brewery in the fishing boat harbour.  Quite a few drinks, good food and music.  I haven’t been to Fremantle for pleasure in many years even though my house is only 10 kilometres away.    Most enjoyable.

Tomorrow we are driving to Albany.  Dennis is delivering an antique drawing table to an artist friend there and I am collecting 9 computers to bring back to Fremantle.  We are staying in town for three nights and hope the weather calms down so we can do the touristy thing.  There is much to see in historic Albany.  Some pics when we return.

I have been looking at a vintage pocket watch I have.  To restore or not, that is the question.     It is an American Waltham Traveler made in 1890 or thereabouts.  It needs a Bezel and Crystal which in layman’s terms means, watch glass rim and the actual glass.  I have had a quote by an Australian repairer at $490.00 which includes cleaning the movement.  This watch has no family heritage attached to it, in fact I don’t know how it came into our possession.  Perhaps Joan, my late wife, bought it for me and never got around to having it repaired?  I will now never know.

I cannot image myself at a gathering, reaching into a waistcoat pocket, hauling out the gold pocket Waltham exclaiming  ‘Dear me, is it really 4pm?’

Two very brave Russians

Two political opponents of Russia’s President Putin have written and had published a book on Vladimir Putin’s excesses.  Brave fellas!  The all girl band of Pussy Riot got into a bit of trouble when they staged a protest performance aimed at Putin in Moscow’s main cathedral and the three of the band members were rounded up and sentenced to two years in the big house.

The book about Putin and all his goodies which are quite extraordinary by any ruler’s account certainly places him in a league of the animals of George Orwell’s novel, Animal Farm.

‘All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal that others’.

Vlad struts a bit of machismo....see here.

Some of Vlad’s riches.

Me and the Big C

I have thought of closing down Joan’s blog...’Me and the Big C’ and yesterday I had a look at the stats and was surprised to see a large number of people searching for Cancer topics on her blog.   By far there were two main searches...’The Silence of the Dying’ and Xeloda.  There were other topic searches of course and the blog has changed from one where people followed a journey to one for, hopefully, helpful information.

I also felt that I should leave it for myself and our family.  Later I will have it printed.

I have been offered some 25 Mac computers from a school in Albany.  It is about two years since we drove down there and so thought I would drive down and bring back at least 10 machines in my car.  My friend Dennis decided that we should both go down for a few days in his large ute and bring them all back.  Good idea!  Albany is a most pleasant small city at the bottom of Western Australia.    I have an ex-student teaching at one of the Albany schools and will make an effort to catch up with her.

Mobile phone fine

I am probably talked about in our cul-de-sac as the looney who grows vegetables in his front yard.  My Broad Beans have flowered and already small beans are abundant.  I don’t mind if the neighbours think I am an old Italian gardener...the front of the house points north into the sun and is the best place for vegies on our block.
A couple of times I have had to search amongst the Broad Beans to find the morning newspaper. I reckon the bean patch would present a nice target.

Talking about loonies;  in this morning’s newspaper there is a report about a Senior Police Constable in the seaside town of Mandurah giving an infringement ticket to a woman using a mobile phone whilst in control of a vehicle.  The fine for this offence is $250.00. and three demerit points.

Yes, the woman was using her mobile whilst in charge of a...wait for it...pram.  She was walking her baby along a footpath/sidewalk and foolishly answered her mobile.  Fortunately senior police officers recognised a problem with the infringement and cancelled the ticket an apologised to the woman.  The looney cop had mis-interpreted the law involved and probably shouldn’t show his face around town for a while.

Embryonic Diapause

I suspect that my mailing list has been compromised.  I am receiving a few emails from people I know; their names appear on the header but the email addresses aren’t theirs. 

Not a worry at the moment, but it will spook me if others start receiving emails purporting to be me.

U.S. Congress hopeful Todd Akin, a Republican candidate, has severely embarrassed Presidential candidate Romney with a wacky statement saying that the female body can shut down conception in the case of true rape.   He is a right-to-lifer and opposes abortion even in cases of aggravated rape.  His claim is that doctors have told him that in cases of true rape, the female does not conceive.  Looney and soon to be a loser!

I imagine that many a rape victim forced to carry the child of a rapist to full term might not afford it true motherly affection.

Maybe he was thinking of what Kangaroos can do in times of extreme drought.  Kangaroos can ‘freeze’ the development of an embryo in a process called Diapause if they are still nursing a previous newborn.

A big day in

Yesterday we had a luncheon at my place which went on until around 5pm. Beef roast, lots of vegetables and salads courtesy of Helen and James. Also along were brother Graham and Helen and James' friends and house guests, Scotty and Chrissie and their lovely 14 month old daughter Sarah who provided much of the entertainment for us all. Sarah is a remarkably smart and funny kid. I have yet to hear her cry.

                                       Sarah with her beer hat on.

Scotty and Chrissie have shifted back to W.A. From Queensland and have both secured well paying jobs. They have bought a house quite close to here and will move in around about 10 days. Their two horses (Great Danes) will come out of their boarding kennels and settle in at the new house. The plan is to remove a swimming pool in the back yard and grass the whole area for the dogs.

Keel haul them!

The Australian shock jocks and even ABC and SBS TV are running with a headline story about Pirates.

A Norwegian car-carrier ship en route to Singapore from Fremantle, MV Parsifal, responded to an Australian search and rescue organisation which had received a distress call from a refugee boat supposedly sinking. The Parsifal took the 67 refugees on board, but when they were informed that they were heading for Singapore and not an Australian territory (Christmas Island) they understandably became 'agitated'. The Captain decided to change course and take them to Christmas Island.  Christmas Island is a slight diversion from the Fremantle-Singapore route.

Then came the media beat up... Pirates story. The Captain later stressed that there was no piracy, the refugees threatened self harm. There was no threat to his crew.

It is most likely that the ship's owners advised the Captain to land them on Christmas Island as there would have most certainly been costly delays in Singapore whilst that government wrangled over who was to take them.

The Leader of the Opposition, Tony Abbott, said he would have sent in the SAS.

What a load of codswallop!

In this morning's newspaper there are letters suggesting such acts are pure piracy.
Keel haul 'em and hang 'em from the yardarm.

Bride Running Away

When our daughter Helen was about ten years old she painted this pic...

It's not bad at all..she hadn't perfected her human figures at that stage.

Just kiddin...it was painted by Arthur Boyd in the early 1950s and was just auctioned for the princely sum of A$1.68 Million. I am, even at the age of 72, a bit puzzled as why such art is so valuable. I guess it is investment value.

The Australian government has just caved in to the opposition about how to deal with boat people arriving at Australia's Christmas Island. Christmas Island is just a spit away from Indonesia from where most of the boats depart. Everyone (except the Greens) now agrees that offshore detention in Papua New Guinea and the small nation of Nauru will deter reffos who think they will get a quick trip into Australian residency. Not sure that will actually work.... but?

The government previously built expensive detention centres in Australia and now these will not be needed. Two of these in Western Australia; one at Leonora which is desert-side of Kalgoorlie and the other at Northam which is about 60 miles from Perth city will probably fall into disuse. The Mayor of the small town of Leonora is whinging about the fact that the town relies heavily on the detention centre for its local economy. The Mayor of Christmas Island is also saying the same thing. Both communities initially whinged about the establishment of the detention centres, but now have changed their mind.

Down and Up

Today I start my preparations for tomorrow's Gastroscopy and Colonoscopy. Low (just about everything) diet and at 6pm I commence drinking the four litres of 'Colonlyte'. I don't mind the actual procedure because I don't know it is happening. Brother Graham is delivering me into the hospital and collecting me when it is all over.

A friend Dennis, recalls having a colonoscopy in a clinic with maybe a dozen other people in line for the same procedure. He thought it unlikely that the medicos had a couple of dozen endoscopes and wondered how the autoclave would cope with a couple of instruments being used over and over in a relatively short time. I won't concern myself with that detail.

I have a colonoscopy every four years because of a family history of colon cancer. It is estimated that bowel cancers take around four years to present.

I recently had a Rotary Club sponsored blood-faecal test which came back as negative for a bowel cancer. The results cautioned that the test does not conclusively rule out a bowel cancer, as some cancers do not bleed into the bowel. My wife Joan also had a negative result with a test she did around three years ago, but sadly her bowel and metastatic liver cancer was not detected. GPs are cautious about the real benefits of this easy test.

Today I am 'Skipper' when Helen, James and I drive up to Hillary's to have lunch with Joan's sister Dorothy. I don't know what I will have to eat as I am instructed to abstain from.....'Milk or milk products, pulp. Pips or seeds, stock cubes, green, red or purple food colouring. No solid food, no chewing gum and no agar jelly. Looks like warm water for me.

For a humorous take on a Colonoscopy see here.

Postscript: Correction...it  is a Gastroscopy and Colonoscopy.    It went well and I have nothing but a small hernia in the oesophagus and some minor diverticulitis in the sigmoid colon.    The Doc told me to have another colonoscopy in eight years if I am still going.  Nice guy!

Grumpy old bugger!

So Syria's President Assad's Prime Minister and all his family have skipped the country. He says it is because the Assad regime is bad and he wants to distance himself from it. More like he can see the writing on the wall and knows what will happen to him and his family when Assad falls. Same goes for pilots and generals who have deserted. Ex-Prime Minister Hijab and 10 relatives and their families are in a 'Safe Haven and in Safe Hands'.

The West has been supporting, in words at least, the rebels. So what will happen when the rebels eventually bring down the government and it reverts to an anti-western regime of Muslim fundamentalists? Probably like other Arab Spring Middle East countries, Syria will not be so accommodating to Westeners as it has been in the past. The Christians of Syria have been pretty -well left alone by the Assad regime. A sectarian Muslim regime may not be so benign.

I am thinking of having my newspaper delivery stopped. I don't read it thoroughly enough and most of the articles are are of little interest to me. When the comics at the rear of the paper are the most interesting part, I reckon I can get the real news from radio, TV and the internet.

Grumpy old bugger aint I?

The Olympics

I am slightly underwhelmed by the Olympics. It always seems to promote a fair bit of Nationalism.

Watching a couple of events last night I was struck by the physical appearance of most of the female athletes. Are breasts a serious impediment to success? They don't seem to worry the Williams sisters. I am sure there is no hormonal treatment involved.

There are a few ads which pop up on web pages and FaceBook that deserve a bit of scorn.

There are the “Congratulations, you have won...' types.

'The Doctors Hate her' types.

The '"crazy old secret makes this so easy" ads.

And the overstocked iPads from $24.95 scams. 

Donations to Charities

Since my wife Joan died, I have made donations to organisations which support cancer sufferers. I was happy to give substantial monies to two organisations. I have also been giving a monthly donation to the another world-wide charity as a 'Humanitarian Partner' to support their various causes.

I am perfectly happy to donate to good causes, but resent the double-up they follow up with. All three organisations have mailed me; a couple, several times, seeking more donations for another of their projects. I know I am no orphan on this one...friends who have been good enough to support a good cause have also been hounded for more donations. 

There...I feel better with that off my chest.

 In yesterday's post I received a letter  from the funeral home which had done Joan's funeral service.
The letter was in collaboration with Curtin University.  It was a survey of partners of a deceased loved one assessing their physical and mental well-being.
The Study Title is: A population based approach to bereavement support: a Western Australian community survey.
There were a number of sections to the study. Most focusing on the health and bereavement process, with lots of questions on support offered by medical professionals and palliative care staff and the Funeral Director.  The questions had the usual check boxes rating all aspects of treatment and palliative care as well as postmortem follow up for the partner.
There were spaces for personal observations and I felt like writing that I was going along nicely until I had to go through all that pain again.    Still, I am glad that I was allowed to participate in the survey.   Generally I was well satisfied with the treatment and palliative care for my wife.  I wasn't happy with the outcome, but no one could have done better than the medicos who sincerely tried their best to save Joan.

Calcium batteries

Daughter Helen's car, a Ford Fiesta, is just two years old and the battery has failed. It is a sealed 'Calcium' battery. The dealer tells me that there is a 1, (that's ONE) year warranty on the battery. Gone are the days when a backyard mechanic like me could test the battery cells with a hydrometer and if necessary top up the acid levels with distilled water. A load test is required to determine if the battery is still good and that is what the RAC call out man determined....the battery is dead. This was late on Saturday and he suggested that I call the RAC battery replacement guy to fit a new battery. I didn't have much choice by then so I agreed and about 90 minutes later the van arrived and the battery was replaced. 'Just swipe your card here sir and $171 bucks will be sucked out'.

Older cars must have been less demanding on their batteries because I have had many batteries last 4 or more years.It is claimed that 'Calcium' batteries are expected to last longer than Lead Acid batteries.  BS!

The young fella who fitted the battery was a recent (4 years ago) immigrant from Afghanistan. He was pleasant, skilled and spoke good English. Not bad seeing he could not speak English when he arrived in Australia. He was not a 'boat person' and had come here through official channels. I asked him if he was Hazara, which didn't get the answer I thought and it became clear that there is a lot of religious conflict within Afghanistan and other Middle East countries and Hazaras are at the bottom of the heap. He wasn't one of 'em. I didn't ask him what shade of the Muslim faith he was.

                                                Goodbye old friends.