Uta’s Diary, December 2016

Peter went into hospital on Friday, the 9th, and was allowed to go home on Sunday, the 11th. On Monday Caroline took another day of carer’s leave. This was a great help to us. Peter is going to see his urologist on the 9th of January. An earlier appointment was not possible.

Tuesday and Wednesday were extremely hot days. But Wednesday afternoon there was a change: It became much cooler, and later on it started to rain. It is still raining now, a nice steady rain. After yesterday’s very hot and later on cooler wind, there is no wind today, which makes the rain very pleasant.

Peter and I went to see a GP yesterday. Daughter Monika drove us there. We could not see our regular GP. We both needed a prescription, which another doctor then gave to us. It was no problem. Next week Peter’s GP is back from leave and Peter can talk to him then. He had been advised to do this by the head nurse in the hospital.

I might have to see my optometrist soon, because my eye-sight is not very good at the moment. Our car is still in repair. There is a chance that we may get it back today.
Peter still needs a lot of rest and he is also advised not to lift anything heavy. He is supposed to drink a lot of water. This is sometimes a bit of a struggle for him.

The other side of Wollongong Hospital — From here Matthew picked Peter and me up after Peter was released from the hospital on Sunday morning. Caroline was with us too. We all had to get into the Proton because the Audi needed to be repaired!

Now we are all looking forward to next Wednesday when we are going to have a special lunch for our anniversary.

Uta’s Diary

These pictures were taken by daughter Caroline this morning while we were waiting for Peter to come out of surgery. Caroline took the pictures with her phone. I had forgotten my camera. Still, I looked around taking some pictures in my mind. The tree I was touching in the above pictures looked marvellous. It was really smooth to the touch.

Peter’s cataract operation went well. After a couple of hours he was allowed to go home. It was good that Caroline could drive us. Peter has to wear his eye-patch till seven 0’clock tomorrow morning. The patch starts irritating him a lot. He keeps having the feeling that he wants to take it off. At the moment he has been lying down a bit trying to catch up on some sleep.

While we were waiting for Peter, we were able to spend a bit of time in the sun in the hospital grounds. It was a beautiful sunny morning. The older I get the more I love spending time in the sun. I have been reading lately a lot on the benefits of sunshine in connection with the need for Vitamin D. My favourite page on Vitamin D right now is this one:

http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/about-vitamin-d/how-do-i-get-the-vitamin-d-my-body-needs/

Tuesday Outing

Yesterday Peter and I went with Caroline and Matthew for an outing to the ocean. It was a warm sunny day after many days of rain. The coastal bush landscape was still rather wet. Nonetheless we ventured for a walk along a path that was in some places rather muddy.

Early yesterday morning I received a phone-call from the hospital. I was asked, would I like to come in for my medical procedure on Wednesday, 20th November, which actually had been the original date I had been given and which had been postponed to the 4th of December. Now I had all of a sudden the chance to have my original date back and have everything behind me somewhat earlier. I gratefully accepted the renewed change in dates.

They want me to be at the hospital by 12,30. I was told that today I had to fast from 6 am on. This is why I made sure I was up early. I had already my cup of tea with honey and I ate a banana. I did not feel like eating any toast as had been suggested. I hope they don’t mind I ate a banana instead. I also had my two painkilling tablets. I was allowed to have them before 6 am. Now I have plenty of time to get ready for the drive to the hospital.

Visiting David

David’s brother let Peter know that David is in hospital. We went to see him there two weeks ago on Sunday. We traveled by train to Westmead station. From there we walked to Westmead Hospital. We found David in good spirits. He looked much healthier than we had seen him before. We talked for about an hour. He called us ‘Papa’ and ‘Mama’. He showed us his leg where it had been amputated. He said he was going to get physio so he would be able to walk better. In a few weeks he was to go back home.

In the meantime the brother sent another message that David was to be sent to a nursing home. So the villa where Gaby and David had lived for the past twenty-three years had to be vacated. We were asked would we perhaps want anything out of the villa that had belonged to Gaby? We said, we would go up to the place on a day when David’s family was to be there too.

We didn’t take any photos inside the hospital. But David was in a pleasant ward, I think it was on the seventh floor. He had a room all to himself! He was listening to his radio which a neighbor had brought in for him. He had just had his lunch and someone came in to pick up his lunch-tray. He said he didn’t smoke any more and this was going to save him a lot of money. We were very happy David felt so much better after having had good medical care in hospital for several weeks.