Townsville Mornings

It’s a beautiful, tropical morning here in Townsville. The sun is just rising, the birds are making a fuss and I can hear the sound of the house’s water feature behind me in the inviting pool.

I’m sipping my necessary tea while I’m writing this and planning to go to the hospital soon.

For most people, kidney stones aren’t a big deal but I’m not going to lie that many of us weren’t worried about Mum’s health this week. As you know, she’s prone to urinary tract infections and between them and the stones and the surgery it did look like things may have taken a turn for the worse.

Even though I knew Mum was out of the woods yesterday, I still flew up to Townsville and was able to see her for myself last night. She was extremely tired and felt as though someone had taken a mix master to her insides but other than that she was fine.

Her obs are looking much better; the wild blood pressure changes she had Thursday night have evened out and her oxygen levels are better too. She didn’t have any of her previous problems with the general anaesthetic and I think they’re putting her back on blood thinners today.

Of course, Mum will have to have the stent taken out in a few weeks after the stones have passed. And there is always the risk the stones won’t pass and she’ll have to have more-extensive surgery. And that will come with a greater risk factor.

But for now, she’s tucked up in a bed at Townsville hospital with nurses who’ve come off a rotation into SACU and know her.

There are some knock-on effects of this incident. In particular, she’s been unable to do physio properly for several weeks and a year of inactivity has begun to affect her breathing and she’s developed a wheeze. Hopefully this will improve once she’s able to get back into her routine.

The plan is still for Mum and Dad to relocate to the Victoria Point house in Brisbane with Deirdre and Warren. But that won’t be until after this issue is resolved. Now my back has stabilised I’m hoping to keep this blog updated again. Please let me know if there’s anything in particular you want to hear about.