Its Monday night and I am still on the Gold Coast and my Pop is still fighting. I arrived on Saturday lunchtime in time to see him whilst he was barely conscious. He recognised me and was happy to see me even though he was beyond talking.
The nurses have increased his drugs to relieve the pain and this will keep him unconscious but he "broke through" the drugs on Sunday morning and was awake for a time. By "awake" he could open his eyes and look at you, but I believe he knew we were there.
Today he still breathes hard and pants and the noise is like a metronome. Occaisionally he will stop for 30-40 seconds and everyone looks up from whatever they are reading (I have read all the New Ideas and Womens Days from 1999 onwards) and we wonder if he will breathe again.
He does of course and he has been going like this still. You are proud that he fights so hard but at the same time you want him to pass quickly and peacefully. I have very mixed feelings at the moment.
I will stay here until the end though and will hopefully be back in Sydney for the weekend. It is Niki's birthday tomorrow and whilst she is at home and is wonderfully supportive, I just want to be back to help her celebrate.
The Doctor believes that tomorrow will be the last day for Pop, but he can't give any guarentees.
I am going to the Gold Coast on Saturday morning as my Pop up there is in a bad way and is not expected to make it much longer. He has been battling cancer for some time now and he lost a kidney as a result. The cancer spread to other parts of his body and the pain he is experiencing has increased dramatically. He has been sent to Hospital and the diagnosis was to relieve the pain, the kidney dialysis needs to stop and then that means that he will not live long without the dialysis.
Its very sad, and it’s been a long process but given my
Not a nice post, but everything else you think about isn’t worth writing about.
Am on the late train this morning as I was up late watching a tape of “Inside 9/11” that was on National Geographic Channel last month. My mate Noyz lent it to me recommending it. I started watching it the night before last before realising the thing goes for about 4 hours! Anyways I was up until 1am watching this thing after being up to midnight the night before (though I must say, I didn’t start watching until nearly 11pm both nights) and I have been riveted to the show. Its very good and if you ever do get a chance to see it, I highly recommend it. It goes from the 80’s and the history of why al-Qaeda was formed to of course 9/11 2001. After all this viewing, I am only just now at the aftermath of the plane strikes…
So I am a bit tired today and will have a snooze after watching this, but I do want to give a view “news items”.
Firstly, our friends Nick and Paula gave birth on Saturday to a baby boy Antonio. He weighed in at a good 9lbs and though the birth was difficult and very long (44hrs!) mum and baby Antonio (Tony) are doing well.
Secondly my good mate Joe got engaged to his lovely
On the gaming front, I lost my Fumbbl Cup match last night and bow out of the tournament. I made the third round but came up against a Swedish coach who was quite good plus a better team. Still, I lost the game 2-1 in the last turn of the match and made an elementary mistake that could have stopped his 2nd touchdown and hence forced overtime. But I do concede, my team had been bashed pretty badly (3 casualties) and I was up against it if we went to OT.
Anyways, I am signing off… time for some zeds.
I was early this morning… managed a double snooze on the alarm and still managed to get showered and shaved and dressed with a few minutes to spare before I had to leave for the train. Left the house in a leisurely manner and headed off to the station. Halfway there, I realise I had forgotten my train ticket. A quick call home, I do a U turn and head back. Train ticket couldn’t be found until I checked yesterdays shirt in the laundry. Scampered out again with the kids looking bemused.
Now I am in a bit of a hurry but will be OK if I go down the mountain to Emu Plains and meet the train there. I have plenty of time and head down towards Mitchell’s Pass which for those that don’t know it is a single lane, one way pass down the mountain. You can only go down and there is no overtaking and its fairly windy, but if you know the road there is no issue.
It is a quick way down the mountain but I struggle to get there as a dog, a bike rider and a dog walker all decide to step out in front of me in the 1.5kms to the pass from my place. My blood pressure rises as I get to the top of the pass. I turn into Mitchell’s Pass and then SLAM on the brakes. Seems as though someone thought that morning peak hour would be a great time to take their 16yr old child out on their first drive on L plates. Why? WTF were they thinking? So now I am in an 8 car procession down the mountain. Can’t pass, can’t overtake, and can’t take an alternative route… I am now bound to this learners brake lights and erratic steering.
We crawl down the mountain and I am increasingly running late. By blood pressure is now boiling… I am a cranky driver at the best of times and I am gripping the steering wheel with ever increasing force. The clock ticks… my train would be leaving Lapstone now and I am pushing to meet it.
At the bottom of the mountain, the L plater turns off to continue their leisurely lesson of frustration and I speed ahead down the old highway. I get to the Lennox Shopping Centre with clear space in front and behind but that doesn’t stop this absolute tool pulling out in front of me. I hate people who pull out in front of you when there is clearly more opportunity to let you pass by first… but this guy will have none of that and pulls out in front of me doing 80km/h so he can slow me down to the 50km/h he is doing. We proceed down the highway (which is single laned) and we get to the train station. I want to turn left to go into the back carpark, he is going straight. He takes off from the light and I start my left turn until he decides halfway across the intersection to turn left right in front of me. I nearly T-bone this dickhead and I am now sitting on the horn. He pays no heed and goes to the back car park.
I get the last space though in the carpark and I am now the furthest point from the train platform. The train is now coming into the station and I make a dash for it. I am not a dasher and I arrive at the platform and the train puffing after my 150m sprint. I get the last seat by the windows which is a three seater at the back of the carriage. I place my coat on the middle seat and a lady comes in a decides to sit on my fucking coat. No excuse me, no do you mind… just she plonks her arse on my coat….
She is now sleeping on the end seat after she realised she didn’t have to sit hard up against me… I swear I have run into every fool in the universe this morning and it could have been avoided if I had simply remembered to grab my train ticket…. I hope the day improves from here.
After our big win on Saturday, I went out to the SCG on Sunday to see Day 3 of the
The World XI Team: I think the selectors have erred big time. People like Lara and Kallis are woefully out of form. With little preparation and the added fact that the team was picked on reputation than form, then it is no wonder that Australia are having a better run of it. People like Vaughn, Fleming, Vaas should have been given a run. Fielding should also have been a factor, particularly in the ODI’s. Inzamam Ul-Haq is the most useless tub of lard to grace a cricket field… his dismissal on Saturday was comical… he basically fell out of his crease…
Third Umpire: I hate it. I am sorry, but the fact that umpires can make mistakes is part of the game. They referred a lot of decisions yesterday upstairs and it took a lot of momentum out of the game. Everyone stops and stands around and the video screen at the ground goes blank. However, if you’re in the bar queue, you can watch the Channel 9 coverage… seems odd that the big screen is blank. Then I noticed when Ponting was given not out he was quizzing the umpire for the reason… I think the umpire (Taufel) didn’t actually know… One commentator says that eventually all you will need is a guy to hold a bowlers jumper and hat… I think we’re at that stage now.
Bad Light: Bad weather happens and it’s a fact of life. You wont get rid of nature, so I think they need to work on the consistency. The lights are not good in daylight with a red ball… they are for full night time with a white ball. Unless they use coloured clothing and a white ball for tests, then the fact is that bad light will occasionally end or post pone play. So be it. Let the umpires make the call and stop trying to beat nature with technology. I was at the game, it was frustrating, but what can you do.
Australian Team: Watson is not a test batsman nor a test bowler, but he can do a bit of both. I think we should play Andrew Symonds who can bowl spin and mediums and is a better batting prospect. Then let the conditions dictate whether MacGill or a 3rd seamer plays. However I think they should now be only playing a 3rd seamer on real green tops rather than waiting for a spinners paradise to play MacGill. MacGill is a great bowler and add the fact that opposing nations have no idea against leg spin, it’s a great option. Katich needs a score too, but he should be getting plenty of time to do so… Hussey is knocking on the door though… why is Hodge 12th man though if Hussey is the “next man in” so to speak??
