April

April has come and almost gone, and despite being off work, I’ve still managed to fit a lot into the month!  The hardest thing has been the loss of independence due to not being able to drive.  It is amazing how quickly one learns to do things with one arm - and even then, after the first two weeks in the cast, I was able to use my left hand for light things like holding a fork, etc.

Since then, a lot of my days have been spent at work with Dave, working on things like fixing the P51d (Mustang) which was both fun and frustrating at the same time.  It has given me a much greater appreciation for the work that engineers do!  

We have been on a few short hikes up Coochin and Ngungun, although I won’t be able to climb my favourites for another few weeks until the tendon is stronger.  We have watched sunsets, been to the beach, and spent a glorious weekend away in Noosa together - our first mini holiday!

I also went down to Melbourne for a couple of days to visit a friend, and this coming weekend we are going to Hobart to visit Dave’s daughter.  This will be my first time meeting C, so I am a little nervous!  

The last couple of days have been a bit hectic - we almost got the Mustang finished, and then on the first engine run, a drive shaft snapped which may mean the removal of the entire engine, which is a massive job... ugh.  After all the hard work of the last couple of weeks it was a bit depressing!  Then, Lily suddenly developed an abcess and was in to the vet’s for emergency surgery, and the very same day I seem to have developed tonsillitis.  I can only say that I am very thankful that this has happened before my return to work.

It looks like I may be back at work in two weeks... I am now seeing a private occupational therapist as I wasn’t making much progress with the public system.  My new OT thinks that two weeks might be a bit fast, but I am determined to work hard towards it. 

This week, due to the Mustang being officially broken, Lily needing 24h supervision, and being a bit under the weather myself, I am keeping myself busy around the house.  My wrist exercises alone take up 4h30 of each day (6x45mins).

Also, we are another step closer to booking our trip to the UK and Ireland in September, as we have found flights - I just need Lily’s vet bill to clear off my credit card before I can book them 😂

My second housemate moves out today, which signals the end of an era.  My first housemate moved out at the end of January (he bought a house) and was efficiently organised in the weeks proceeding the move.  Everything was boxed up, everything was carefully loaded into the Ute for the minimum number of trips to the new house, and the move proceeded to schedule.

My second housemate decided not to pack.  He scheduled his move for yesterday and today (he got the keys two days ago) and decided just to throw things in the back of the car and “the house isn’t far away” so it didn’t matter how many trips (but every trip takes thirty minutes out of the day in driving alone).  He got side tracked during the first trip and spent a few hours at the new house cleaning gutters and so on.  He got side tracked on the second trip with multiple phone calls (at his usual top volume) to friends, and so far he hasn’t moved anything out of his bedroom at all.  (“I’m just going to tip the drawers into the boot.”)

He got a phone call last night from work asking him if he could do an overtime shift, so this morning he has gone to work, leaving him just the afternoon to move house.  I’m not quite sure how he is going to do it, considering he hasn’t even put his pantry contents into a box yet, or packed Anything At All from his bedroom.  But we shall see!  It is all quite amusing watching the process - and I am systematically going through my cupboards and putting his things on the spare bed as I know he will forget them otherwise!

In other news... there is no news.  I go back to the hospital this morning to have my splint amended - then another two weeks splinted and two weeks after that doing exercises and then hopefully back to work!  Lily isn’t going to know what hit her - she is loving having me home and trails behind me every time I move off the couch.