If you're a regular reader of my blog, you'll probably remember me mentioning that DH Russ & I were planning on returning to Sambar Park, Howqua, for our anniversary the first week of June. You may also remember me mentioning how Russ has been off work with back pain for the last 3 weeks. Well, today brought about some interesting developments on both fronts.
Russ woke up around 3.00 am this morning with even more excruicating pain in his back. Apparently he then sneezed a few times (I say apparently, because of course, due to his chronic snoring problem, we don't share a bedroom, and I found this out later on in the morning) and he felt like his back was on fire.
Around 7.30 am I did my usual thing and decided to walk Toby. At this stage, Russ was still in bed, and I hadn't had a chance to chat with him. Upon my return from our walk, I found Mum standing at the end of the driveway. She informed me that she had heard banging on the walls whilst I was out, and on inspection, she realised it was Russ. It turns out that he was in so much pain, he couldn't even get out of bed to use the bathroom.
So, to cut a long story short, we had to decide what to do - we don't have private health insurance, Russ' appointment with the specialist wasn't until 16 May and his pain was so bad that he decided the only option was to call an ambulance. I don't like driving anywhere but locally (which I'm sure I've mentioned before), and in any event, Russ was in so much pain that there was no way he could have sat in a car for the journey to the hospital. So, we decided since we do have ambulance cover, we'd call them. Firstly I raced up to the local x-ray place to grab the CT scans that Russ had yesterday, and when I arrived back home, we called the Ambulance Service.
Anyway, the paramedics turned up around 10.30 am, and I have to say they were absolutely fantastic. Steve and Felix, the paramedics, stood in Russ' room for over 1.5 hours, chatting to him about his symptoms, the likely outcome if he was admitted to a public hospital, and what they recommend he do. Now I've, thankfully, never had anything to do with paramedics, and I can honestly say that if these guys are any indication of the Ambulance Service here in Victoria, then they deserve WAY more money. Nothing was too much trouble for them. They were not only professional, but extremely friendly and affable.
So after considering his options, Russ decided against going to hospital. Because his back condition is chronic and not an injury, the chances are that if they had taken him to a public hospital, that he wouldn't be admitted. They would simply dope him up on morphine or some other opiate and then send him home. One of them even offered to have a chat with their friend's father whose a well known orthopaedic surgeon to see if he could see Russ. However, luckily it turned out that I actually managed to get Russ in to see his specialist a little earlier than expected on 9 May. They, the paramedics, also told us as they were leaving that if we needed them to come back at any stage, just to call them and they'd be right back. They even wanted to stop off to check out the rock wall that Russ has been building in the backyard!
So all in all, Russ didn't go to hospital, but he has resumed taking his painkillers (which, for reasons I still don't quite understand, he discontinued taking a few days ago) and is feeling slightly less pain. He's been in bed all day and my stepdaughter, Lauren, is sitting in with him at the moment keeping him company. He's off to see the specialist on 9 May, and in the meantime, I guess he's going to be stuck in bed, zonked out of his brain on painkillers.
Oh, and what about Howqua? Well of course, the way things are going, there's probably not going to be much chance that Russ will be well enough. He may even need surgery in the next few weeks, so all in all, the chances are that we are not going to be able to go. That in itself is not a big deal - Russ' health is more important than a trip away, however, the one problem is that I've paid the deposit of $580 and it's non-refundable UNLESS they re-book the week that we planned on staying. I called them this afternoon and told them the story, and I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that they manage to re-book it. If not, we're either going to lose $580 (which we can definitely not can't afford to lose) or Russ is telling me that he will somehow find a way to go. Hmm.. not sure about the latter option, but whatever will be will be. There's no point in me fretting about it, and if I lose $580, then that's the way it will be.
So.. that's been my day in a (large) nutshell. It's always one drama or another in this house. Oh well, life goes on. We've been through a hell of a lot worse than this the past 7 years, and I'm sure we'll get through this too.
"The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall." - Nelson Mandela.
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