Precious Things

Our shipping arrived on Monday! We were very glad to see our stuff had survived the long voyage over the high seas; past pirates, sharks and storms. Getting all our stuff back was like our Christmas and Birthdays all rolled into one. Its been 5 long months and the last month has been longest of all. We had forgotten half of what we sent and opening the packages has been a series of lovely surprises.

The removal men arrived at 7am so we had to be up bright and early to be ready for them. They worked amazingly quickly and by 9am they had left having unloaded every one of the 95 parcels and assembled our tables and bed. We spent the rest of the day wading through cardboard and bubble wrap. I had an emotional reunion with my books. I know and love each one of them well. It took me most of the afternoon to sort out the books and find homes for them all. It was a warm afternoon so it was hot work for both of us.

Julia and I were also really excited to get all our kitchenware and cook books back. I can't wait to start cooking again now my shoulder is improving. I have been doing some one-armed cooking but this involves either sticking to very simple recipes or chasing an onion round the kitchen like a mad one-armed axe-man. Julia has not been impressed by the amount of mess I make. I am just starting to use my left hand again but I don't have good coordination yet. There have been a number of spillages over the last week involving a tub of tomato sauce, a pot of soy sauce and an entire jar of kalamata olives which spilled right into my lap and then ran down my legs. I was soaked through to my pants with stinky black olive juice. Julia saw the funny side of this accident. She has brought up the apparently priceless look on my face numerous times since.

On monday night it was wonderful to lie back and relax with a beer on a proper sofa and watch our own TV. No more camp chairs or plastic cutlery. It was even nicer to be back in our own bed again. As I lay in bed I couldn't help imagining all those thousands of miles of sea the bed had crossed to get to us. It was a nice image to fall asleep to.

Our house now feels more like our home. We still have plenty of unpacking and organizing to do but we now feel a lot more prepared for when the baby arrives.

Apart from the arrival of our shipping the rest of the week has been quiet. We enjoyed our stay in Ballarat. We went to Larry and Ange's caravan at Daylesford and picked up an old rocking chair that belonged to Julia's nan. Julia plans to refurbish it and then use it as a nursing chair of her own. We returned to Melbourne on a very rainy Saturday. On Sunday we picked up Julia's friends Martha, Libby and Emily and drove to St Kilda Botanical Gardens for Harriet's 1st Birthday party. Harriet is a cute little girl who belongs to our friends James and Simone, who moved to Melbourne from London earlier this year. They put on an excellent BBQ. Unfortunately I have been choked up with the cold for the last few days and wasn't into drinking much. I think Julia might be about to come down with the same cold.

the lake at Daylesford

I was back at the physio again yesterday morning and things are still going well. I can now manage most of the day without resting my arm in the sling. It might be another couple of weeks before I have any real confidence in it though. The physio has advised I go ahead with the hydrodilation injection to help speed my recovery. I will try and book this in in the next couple of weeks.

Yesterday the weather went back to being very hot. 35C again! I am starting to understand the weather a bit more - on these really hot days there is always a ferocious wind. The wind brings in the hot air from the North. It wasn't even sunny, just an overcast sky, lots of wind and a sickly wilting heat. We decided to stay inside and sort through more of our precious things. Last night we were baby sitting for Simone. Claire was very good and even went to bed on time. Today the weather has changed again - it is 15C cooler, with sunshine and showers. We are planning a little housewarming/tea party on Sunday so there is still plenty to do.

Art

More Art

Ballarat

bottlebrush

We have come to Ballarat for a change of scenery. By the weekend we had both got tired of looking at our empty house and were needing a change of scenery, however the really good news is that now we have a date for the delivery of our shipping. It will arrive on Monday the 28th of November. Finally! We can't wait. So we've driven up to Ballarat for a few days for a break and when we get back to Melbourne we can get the house ready for our furniture.

Ballarat is about an hour and 20 minutes drive from our house in Essendon. You drive West out the city and up into the Pentland Hills. You drive through scrub and bush (bush is the Australian equivalent of forest - there is mile after mile of eucalyptus trees) until this gives way to rolling farmland and then you are in Ballarat.

Ballarat is Victoria's third biggest city - population almost 100,000. Its success was built on the big gold rush in the 19th Century. One of the main tourist attractions is Sovereign Hill, where they have the original working mine, a gold museum, you can pan for gold and there is an excellent boiled lolly shop (lollies is what Australians call sweets). Ballarat was named by a Scotsman called Archibald Yuille in 1837.

http://www.sovereignhill.com.au/

Julia's parents, Larry and Ange, have lived in town, in Ballarat for the past 14 years or so. Before that they lived down the road at Bungaree on a 40 acre farm.

Driving to Ballarat always reminds me of when I lived in Edinburgh and used to drive home to Bridge of Earn. There's the same sense of leaving the city behind and getting into open country. When you arrive its colder and the sky is clearer and you can see a lot more stars at night. Ballarat is known for being cold. Snow even settles on the ground through some winters. Today I am wearing a jumper for the first time in the last month; its about 14C. I'm glad that its cooled down a bit. On Friday in Melbourne it was 35C! It was the first day where it was actually too hot to go outside. Julia and I stayed in with the curtains drawn and the air conditioning on. Stepping outside was like stepping into an oven. And summer hasn't even begun yet!

Another storm rolled in on Friday night and things cooled down over the weekend. In fact it didn't stop raining on Saturday.

Things have been quiet for us over the last week. We've been feeling as if we're stuck in limbo. Waiting for the furniture, waiting for my shoulder to improve, waiting for the baby to arrive. At least now we have a date for the furniture and the physio is definitely helping my shoulder. I'm now able to tie my own shoe laces and I can get my arm out of the sling for long periods each day.

The weather was nice on Sunday so we took a walk through the local park. We sat on a bench watching the ducks in the lake and then from over the other side of the park I could hear, drifting over, someone singing 'Caledonia'. We wandered over and there was a banner which said 'Clan Mac Lennan Gathering'. There were a dozen or so elderly men and ladies having a picnic and playing bowls. Some of them were wearing kilts or tartan skirts. One old guy was providing the music with a harmonica. I resisted the temptation to introduce myself or burst into tears and belt out the chorus (... let me tell you that I love you . . . that I think about you all the time. . .). I'm not quite ready for the whole mad scotsman thing yet.

succulent plant

roses in Larry and Ange's garden

Our plan for the next few days is just to relax here and maybe take a trip to Daylesford for a day. Daylesford is a local, scenic spa town where Larry and Ange have a caravan. Julia is very pregnant now and she gets cramps at nights; she wasn't feeling too hot at the weekend with lots of heartburn. She can't wait for the baby to come. One of the nice thing about Larry and Ange's house is all the plants in the garden. The garden is overflowing with life. Larry has green fingers and seems to be able to make anything grow. Perhaps his secret is talking to the plants. There are plants everywhere. It appears that if you leave anything out in the garden for long enough plants and flowers will spontaneously sprout. I will need to ask Larry the names of them all. He has been very generous and our own little courtyard in Melbourne is beginning to sprout with gifts from Larry's garden. I hope we can keep them alive through the hot summer.

Local news in Australia - the country is still basking in the glow from Barack Obama's visit last week. 'Schoolies' has started; teenagers everywhere have finished school for the year and travel to the Gold Coast to celebrate and party, and most worryingly Cows have been killing Koalas. Its true! Cows are not the peaceful animals you imagine.

Shoulder Doc Part 2

The saga continues . . .
(Don't read this if you are easily bored by shoulders)

I had my MRI scan and shoulder xray on Tuesday this week and then my follow up appointment with the shoulder surgeon on Wednesday. The diagnosis has changed again! Help.

Last week the shoulder doc had thought that all my problems were coming from tendonopathy of the long head of the biceps and was all set to cut it out and reattach it to my bone. According to the MRI scan though my biceps appears relatively normal and healthy. Also there appears to be no problems with the SLAP repair or any further rotator cuff tears. What the MRI scan did show was signs of scar tissue and adhesive capsulitis - basically 'frozen shoulder'. The capsule of tissue around the shoulder gets tight and inflamed and stuck.  This may be a result of the capsule being over tightened during the previous surgery, or perhaps I re-injured it in my recovery or perhaps I'm just unlucky. Normally this happens straight after shoulder surgery - the doctor couldn't say why my shoulder was fine for two years and then became inflamed. It also doesn't fully explain the problem with I've had with my biceps, though I've since googled this and discovered other people have described the same problem with frozen shoulder - that the biceps is painful and its as if its trying to 'wring' itself out or wrench itself off my arm.

While some of my symptoms don't match a classic frozen shoulder - especially the fact I've always felt a good range of motion in my arm; in normal frozen shoulder the shoulder/arm becomes completely stuck - many other symptoms do ring a bell: the pain, the slow and torturous recovery, the fact that putting my arm above my head or behind my back brings it on.

It can take a couple of years for the frozen shoulder to resolve and there is no magic fix. Apparently it just goes away eventually. There is no need for surgery. The doctor advised physiotherapy and if it still doesn't improve then a corticosteriod injection would be next. If there's still no improvement after a few months, or if the shoulder settles but the biceps problems remain I am to go back and see the surgeon again.

Here are some links to explain it further if you're really interested:

http://www.shoulderdoc.co.uk/articletile.asp?article=55&section=16&tile=1
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adhesive_capsulitis_of_shoulder

It feels like a mix of good and bad news at the moment and we are still trying to work out where it leaves us. Its disappointing I don't have one obvious thing wrong with my arm which can be easily fixed by an Op and then back to normal. But then it is good news I don't need another operation right now and with good physio I might soon get my arm back and then back to work. But what then if it flares up again?

At least I am happy that the correct tests have been done and I have a definitive diagnosis and if I have any more problems I can go straight back to the shoulder surgeon. I am no longer just waiting and waiting in pain and frustration. My arm is improving every day now with the physio and I should be rid of the sling in the next week. I am really looking forward to being able to eat my dinner with two hands, to be able to cook and drive and hopefully be able to hold our baby when it comes. Fingers crossed.

So that is the end of the shoulder saga for now. I promise to not mention it again for a while but I will quietly keep you up to date with my progress.

Where's Our Stuff?

Our stuff is currently in customs in Melbourne Port. We got an email last week giving us an update on the progress of the shipping. We've paid the custom fees and now it is hopefully just a matter of them clearing the paperwork and we may get the delivery of our stuff even by the end of this week. We both can't wait. The novelty of sitting on the floor and using plastic cutlery wore off a while ago and now we are dreaming of comfy sofas and proper crockery and pictures to hang on the wall and books, books, lots of lovely books (more so me with the books). We are looking forward to putting our own stamp on the house, making it feel more like our home; especially as the baby is due in 7 weeks.

I went to see a physio last week as per the instructions of the surgeon. I explained the situation and she was very gentle with my tight elbow. Again I was braced for terrible pain afterwards, but was amazed to find things weren't too bad. The physio has managed to get more movement back in my elbow in a few days than I have over the last 3 months. She has even managed to get the darn sling loosened, and I might look forward to getting rid of it altogether for a while. I am due back to see the physio again tomorrow.

On Saturday Julia and I had our second and final baby parenting class. This time we focused on everything that happens after the baby arrives. We covered breast feeding, sleep, settling the baby, medical conditions to look out for and even how to deal with difficult family. It looks like we'll get lots of support at the hospital - Julia is booked in to stay for 5 nights after the baby comes. The real hard work will begin when we get home.

Julia has been busy catching up with her family and getting things ready for the baby. She had shopping trips last week with her mum, Nicole and Simone on separate days. She is thoroughly shopped out - she doesn't like shopping that much! We are also in the midst of planning how things will work when Julia goes into labour. We need to arrange transport to and from the hospital. We need to work out how to get the baby home when I can't drive. We need to think about food and shopping and housework. There is a lot still to do.

We got our home phone connected at the end of last week and we will email you all our land-line number in Melbourne soon. We'll also give you a budget international calls number which keeps down the cost of phone bills. You can normally find ways to phone for about 1p or 2p a minute.

Looking out the front door this morning

The weather has been nice over the last week. Perfect Spring weather - up to about 26C in the day and then cool at night. There have been blue skies most days with the odd shower. On Thursday night a big thunderstorm swept into Melbourne. We only got the edge of it here in Essendon. It was exciting to see the dark clouds pile up and the sky strobe with light. Thunder boomed over our heads and rain lashed down. Parts of the city were flooded. We don't get many thunderstorms in Scotland but here in Oz they come in often through the summer. I'm starting to understand better how the weather works here. It tend to roll in from the West, coming all the way from Perth and then Adelaide. You can often predict what the weather will be like in Melbourne tomorrow by seeing what the weather is doing in Adelaide that day. Southerly winds bring cold from the Antarctic. Northerly winds bring hot desert air from off the red center of Australia.

Here's another couple of interesting facts about Australia: the water flows anti-clockwise down the plug hole (back to front!) and they don't say 'flip flops' they say 'thongs'. If you said your thongs were sore in the UK you'd get some very funny looks.

Shoulder Doc Part 1

I finally had my long awaited appointment with the shoulder doc yesterday. You can imagine my anxiety as we drove to the clinic - my previous hospital experiences have not been great. You worry that the doctor wont take you seriously, or wont want to do anything, or will just put you on some massive waiting list.
My appointment was at the Melbourne Orthopaedic Group in Windsor, a suburb south of the Yarra River in Melbourne. Windsor is a very affluent suburb with great tree lined avenues, huge houses and unbelievably expensive delis. Melbourne Orthopaedic Group is one of the main and best regarded centers of Orthopaedics in Melbourne and was recommended by numerous people.

http://www.melbourneorthopaedics.com.au/index.html

We passed from the quiet, well kept garden and entrance into a heaving waiting room. My heart sank. You could hardly find a seat. The place was packed with the sick and injured. Half of the people were on crutches or in a wheel chair. Everyone was waiting apprehensively for their turn to see a doctor. I had flash backs to my time in ERI where the place was always so jam packed and crowded you waited ages to see your consultant and were then chucked out the surgery after 5 minutes.
For whatever reason Orthopaedic Clinics always seem to to be incredibly  busy. I can't complain of course as I am just another of the pilgrims desperate to find a cure.

After we had filled out the forms and found seats I calmed down a bit. The place was busy but the patients were getting seen very quickly. And looking round you could see faces tight with exactly the same anxiety as I felt. Everyone was in the same boat. Our future health and mobility were all on the line. There's even a bizarre sense of camaraderie; people were making jokes about the walking wounded and the place looking like the aftermath of a war zone.
They soon called my name and and it was my turn to be seen.

The appointment went very well I am glad to say. My consultant is called Ashley Carr. I think he's younger than I am but he really knows his stuff.

http://www.ashleycarr.com.au/

He took a full history of my shoulder problems, did a careful examination and then explained that the long head of my biceps tendon is buggered (not his exact choice of words). He said this is unfortunately a common complication of my previous operation - a SLAP repair. Basically, after my initial injury the tendon had torn loose and had to be reattached. However in an effort to get good healing the tendon may be then too tight. This explain my feelings of having a 'tight arm' for the last 18 months. The tightness leads to degeneration of the tendon - biceps tendonopathy. The tendon gets stuck in its sheath and much pain is the result.

The SLAP repair cannot be redone, but there is another procedure which can fix me: a biceps tenodesis, which involves cutting out completely the damaged tendon and reattaching the head of the biceps to the top of my humerus (upper arm) with a screw. It sounds drastic but apparently it has a great success rate for this situation and the French have been doing it for years (is this meant to make me feel better?)

http://www.shoulderdoc.co.uk/article.asp?article=724&section=559

I have an appointment next tuesday for an xray and MRI scan to confirm the diagnosis and then I will see Mr Carr the day after that to make a plan. If surgery is the only option it could happen as soon as mid december, and then I would have my arm in a sling (hilarious I know), and a few months of physio/rehabilitation before I could return to work and normal activities.

The doctor was also worried about my elbow. Because I've immobilised my arm for so long to control the shoulder pain, there is a danger my elbow could tighten up and become a whole new problem. He advised that I ditch the sling and see a physio to get my elbow moving, even if it meant some pain.

I was worried that I might be in extreme pain following the examination given that my shoulder has not responded well to previous attempts to get it moving, but so far so good. It was sore last night and I was on the ice and painkillers but it has eased off a bit today and so far is not as bad as I'd expected. I'm going to contact a physio today to see about the elbow thing.

I am very happy that things have taken a leap forward regarding my shoulder but am still concerned about this next operation, its success and effect on my work and hobbies. Also I may have the op just a few weeks before the baby is due so it looks increasingly likely that I'll have my arm in a sling during the labour and wont be much use for driving or cooking. I can always provide one handed massages.

And if things don't work out with this operation I can always have the giant robotic arm fitted that I've been dreaming about.

Parenting Class

On Saturday Julia and I had our first parenting class at St Vincent's Hospital in the middle of Melbourne. Its at St Vincent's that our Obstetrician is based and it is where the baby will be born when it is due.
Despite Julia being pregnant for almost 8 months, and the fact that the rest of my family and friends have all had babies, I'm sorry to say that before Saturday I knew very little about the actual process of child birth and what to expect.
Now I know too much!
The class was about 4 hours long and covered everything leading up to the birth of the child. I now know what terms like 'cervical dilation' and 'braxton hicks contractions' mean. I know about the 3 stages of prelabour, about how to time contractions properly and about what way the baby comes out (I already knew where it came out from). It was a long and interesting afternoon and they provided us with snacks (dim sum, sandwiches and cake, very nice). There were about a dozen couples there. It was funny to see so many pregnant women together at one time. You couldn't swing a cat without hitting a bump.
We watched a DVD about the whole birthing process which freaked me out only a little, and did some relaxation exercises.
They also gave us a tour of the birthing suites and maternity rooms. Its all very plush and everyone gets their own room. Its a long way from Forth Park Hospital in Kirkcaldy (a crumbling victorian institution).
I should point out that its St Vincent's Private Hospital. So its a new health care experience for Julia and I. About half women opt to have their children privately in Australia and the costs are normally covered by health insurance. Because private health care is so well established in Australia the costs for something like this aren't actually too bad, and for us its made cheaper as we missed out on a lot of the early pregnancy scans and treatment we would have had in Melbourne. St Vincent's is where Julia's sister Nicole had all three of her children and she recommended the Obstetrician very highly.
We were both quite tired by the end of the afternoon but we feel much more prepared for what's ahead (easy for me to say). My main role seems to be providing emotional support and massages and trying not to get in anyone's way too much.
Next Saturday we have the 2nd class which deals with everything we need to think about after the baby arrives. That's gonna be a whole new head spin!

boxes, not of nappies but of baby stuff donated by Simone

Meanwhile Julia is doing pretty well to say she's nearing the end of pregnancy. The bump is getting bigger week by week. She does get tired some days and sleep isn't always easy. The baby seems to be the right way up (or down) at the moment as it keeps kicking Julia in the ribs.

We went out for Thai food after the class. It was getting hot on Saturday, 30C and blue skies. Fortunately the forecast for a 34C day on Sunday didn't come true and things cooled down a bit. On Sunday we met up with Larry and Ange for brunch and then with Martha in North Melbourne for pizza and beer. I've done well to string out my birthday celebrations for 3 days and my own little bump is also coming along quite nicely.


ps thanks again for birthday cards, most of which arrived today.

My Birthday

Today was my birthday!

Presents

Thanks for everyone's emails, gifts and cards. I had a very relaxed day. I opened my presents from Julia: books, a beautiful fountain pen and a mug; and then Julia and I went for a walk round our area in the morning. We discovered more cafes, delis, a swimming pool and the stadium of the Essendon Bombers, the local AFL team (aussie rules football). AFL is mental. I'll give you a proper description at a later date. Now we're coming into summer it is the off season for AFL and the country is instead focused on cricket, soccer and tennis. I have a dilemma though. People keep asking me who I'm going to barrack for (support). Julia's family is divided between AFL teams Collingwood and Geelong. Each half of the family wants me to support their team. But I couldn't support one side without bringing down the wrath of the others. The obvious solution is for me to support my local team of Essendon, especially as their colours are red and black, the same as Dennis the Menace. But if I do this I will incur the wrath of both sides of the family! I will need to give this much thought.

In the afternoon the sun came out and I sat outside, reading my new books. We ate ice-cream and fresh juicy mango. Again it got so hot I had to run scampering to the shade. In the evening we went round to Paul and Simone's house for a BBQ. Nicole and Mark were there as well. It was fun hanging out with my Australian nieces, even if they do tend to follow me about copying my scottish accent (the words 'book', 'look' and 'Harry Potter' have been particular hits with them.)

Paul fired up the barbie and we ate sausages and steak and drank beer. I had a big chocolate cake which I shared with Maggie who turns 7 on Sunday. Every time I come to Australia I seem to eat and drink an inordinate amount and my waist line expands like a balloon. I'm going to have to find some exercise soon to keep me sprightly.

Julia, David, Emma, Maggie, Claire and Beth

So that was my birthday. A bit different to what I'm used to. I had a great day but believe it or not I miss my Scottish birthday. I miss the frost on the grass in the morning and it getting dark mid-afternoon. I miss the neds throwing fireworks in the middle of the night, I miss the drone of the football scores coming in before tea (East Fife 5 Forfar 4), I miss Halloween and Bonfire night and getting wrapped up in coats and scarves, I miss the first snow on the mountain tops and most of all I miss my family and friends. OK that was all a bit misty eyed and romantic and I'm in danger of becoming a  mad expat Scotsman who goes on about the glens and the lochs, but there is something special about this time of year in Scotland and I do miss it just a little bit.

To cheer myself up I'll just have to get out in the sun, top up my tan and crack open another beer.