So much for August

I vaguely remember promising awhile ago that I'd finish the August update but life has been rather hectic and getting near the laptop for anything other than work purposes (at work or at home) has been somewhat tricky.

I guess the major event in our lives has been Aaron's illness. He was sent home from work on a Friday night with a nasty tummy upset. We went through our usual "I'm taking you to the doctor's..." "...no you're not.." routine until Sunday when he finally decided he'd go. The doc of course sent him straight to the hospital. It being a weekend we sat down after triage expecting a long wait. The first shock was how quickly he was seen...never a good sign in an emergency department. Then before we knew it he was in a gown, on IV fluids and antibiotics and they were ringing around looking for a surgical bed. The opinion was that his appendix had ruptured and that's why he was septic. (I managed to resist the "I told you so!" urge). Aaron's face lit up when the MICAs came to get him instead of just normal patient transport!

He was admitted to Dandenong hospital where they observed him over night and stabilised him before his surgery in the morning. They said the surgery should only take about 20 minutes or so, maybe an hour if the appendix was enlarged and it should only require three small incisions as they were using key hole.

Aaron went in about 10 or 11 that morning, I didn't see him again till after 5 that evening. Things didn't go quite as planned... The good news I guess was that he had a very healthy (although somewhat redundant) appendix - the bad news was his bowel had ruptured due to a rather nasty, hereditary disease, and he was in danger of "shuffling off this mortal coil"!!!!

Aaron spent over a week in hospital - they only let him out when they did because he was being a little persistent (those who know him will know that this is the polite version - don't you the art of euphemism?) He has had a lot of time off work and we're not sure when he'll be able to go back. The road to recovery is obviously going to be a long one. On the positive front his near death experience has made him reassess his life style and although the bulk of the damage was done to his bowels during his teenage years he is now eating high fibre food, drinking lots of water and exercising daily so that it doesn't happen again. Hopefully his daughter can avoid this happening to her. Another positive has been the amazing support we've had from so many friends who have rang constantly, been to visit and offered to help in so many ways!

In the mean time I'm juggling work, nursing the invalid and cleaning up after Aaron and co so needless to say I haven't had much time to do much else. Ah well, can't complain (no one listens anyway) and when I realise how close I came to losing my boy I really don't mind the extra pressures as it's much better than the alternative. Not too sure how we're going to pay the mortgage on one income but I'm sure we'll work something out. There was a cabin for sale at the caravan park in Chelsea so we may just have to sell up and down scale - it could be quite cosy!

All I've done in terms of the house lately (apart from the usual hosework) is add pebbles and more mulch to the front garden. I would be nice to put more plants in but at least it looks respectable, I'm happy to take my time anyway so I don't have to water lots of new plants at once and I don't want it looking cluttered and overdone. It's a beautiful day today so in between washing loads I might pop out the back and do some work on preparing the vegie patch and other garden beds...afterall I now have two weeks at home to do as I please.

See ya