The dawning of Spring...

An uneventful few weeks have passed since my last blog. The only real change in my life has been the long awaited installation of ceiling hoists in my bedroom and bathroom (I can now take an occasional bath!). This is a real asset to my team of support workers who, until now, have had to manoeuvre my portable hoist through doorways and around obstacles in the bedroom in order to get me in/out of my wheelchair.

I have actually started on the final chapters of my autobiography... making notes from Christmas newsletters I have written over the past few years in order to bring the book to an updated conclusion. This has been a sad task in many ways as it has revived painful memories of my broken marriage, the passing of much loved pets and numerous health-related issues but, of course, mercifully twixt the gloomy times are sandwiched a lot of happy memories.

I spent three days in hospital recently for diagnosis and treatment of staphylococcus aureus (a bug in the blood)... not a pleasant experience but, thankfully, it was soon cleared through the anti-biotics administered by dialysis.

May your Spring be filled with happy days of love, warmth and sunshine!

Mid-Winter Blues???

OK folks, be prepared for this 'open minded, hearts'n flowers, tissue filling tears'n all,' blog as I get a few things off my chest... and a bra isn't one of them!

I recently sorted through lots of memorabilia with the intention of getting rid of stacks of seldom used, no longer needed, items at my garage sale. The day in question greeted us with threats of rain, cold and gusty winds and the sort of weather one would expect at the north (or south - whichever is coldest) pole... certainly not condusive to attracting the masses to a garage sale.

A few friends and I braved the elements for a few hours as we waited patiently to make our fortunes (one man's trash is another man's treasure sort of thing), but the few bargain hunting souls who came through the gate turned up their coat collars (and noses), did a quick 'about turn' and exited, muttering things like "who'd want that junk anyway". We sold a couple of items which were 'real bargains' at $2 or $3 only to be asked if we would accept $1.50 - which we did!

So, about three hours later and $5 richer, we gave up and retreated indoors to the heater... undaunted but determined to "try again" later in the year when at least the weather should be a little kinder. In the meantime I'll forget all thoughts of saving for a holiday in Christchurch!

Amongst the old VCR's I re-discovered a lot of home movies which, thanks to my brother Geoff, I have had copied on to discs. This gives them a longer life and makes them more convenient for viewing. On the negative side however, came looking back at happier times, such as my 50th birthday celebrated with old friends - most of whom (for various reasons) are no longer around, together with the holidays in America and Europe shared with my wife Diane... well, those times now seem too good to be real.

Not forgetting those thirteen wonderful months when Diane and I lived in Paschendale (western Victoria) with our pet dogs Tess & Ollie, cats Claude & Mintie and our darling pet goat, Sybil... all happy memories - sadly missed - which will live on in my mind forever (can you hear those violins in the background?).

Then, just two weeks ago, came the much anticipated reunion of my old band, "Insight". Approx. 50 invitations were mailed out and a similar number of emails were despatched to old friends and fans of the group asking them all to 'get in early' as this may be the last time we will be holding one of these functions. I printed several posters and circulated these as widely as possible, initiated some radio and newspaper advertising, conservatively booked 60 'afternoon teas' for our anticipated guests and waited for the bookings to roll in.

Four days before 'show time', we cancelled the event and advised the THREE people who had booked that we had more in the band than there would be seated at tables! Undaunted (again) we are thinking of re-scheduling what we will advertise as the "Final Insight Reunion" in September or October.

Most mornings of my life I have awoken to positive thoughts of how much I intend to do and eargerly looking forward to the brand new day. Over recent weeks, however, after an average of 3 - 4 hours of interrupted sleep each night broken by lengthy bouts of scratching skin irritations (diagnosed as dermatitis) and the after effects of prescribed sleeping tablets (which only work in the latter hours) I awake feeling - and looking - like a "mumbie" (a cross between a mummie and a zombie).

On non-dialysis days (Sundays, Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays) I spend much of my time gazing out the window with eyes half-closed or in front of the computer contemplating what to do next! Perhaps it's a reaction to my sleeplessness or the cold weather, but the needles penetrating my arm at dialysis time seem to be more painful than ever and the nurses are having more difficulty finding the right spots to 'jab'.

Each dialysis treatment takes four hours laying on my back while the machine I'm attached to does its work. Those four hours I usually spend trying to catch up on some sleep or thinking of how I could be putting all those hours to better use. I even do maths in my head! For example, at two needles per dialysis three times a week I worked out I have a minimum of 260 needles in my arm each year... riveting stuff!

The only really bright spots in recent weeks were brief visits from friends Harry & Glenda Wilkinson (Wangaratta) and Barbara (Melbourne)... bright spots on otherwise cold, wet and gloomy days!

Some days are diamonds...

Most of you will be familiar with lyrics of the song, "Some Days Are Diamonds" (which gives the alternative that "some days are stone". Well, naturally enough, I always keep chasing "diamond days"... with mixed success.

I discovered many moons ago that the secret to keeping on top of the 'negatives' in life is to 'create' things to look forward to... and this is what I do to the best of my ability, hence my 'blogging' suffers at times. For example, at the moment, I am in the middle of an extremely busy period of scheduled appointments thirteen days in a row! These, of course, include my three days a week of dialysis, plus visits to three doctors, a podiatrist, shopping, etc.

The only two real "diamond days" were when I had lunch in town with my daughter Leanne, and the acceptance of an invitation to attend a childrens birthday party at the home of Roberta, one of my support workers. Her son, Ayden, turned ten years old and celebrated with 17 of his friends and their parents. Roberta's mum works part-time as a childrens clown and face painter, hence the results of her handiwork in the above photo. Most of those in attendance agreed that it was a vast improvement on my looks!

Further upcoming "diamonds" include the 150th Baptist Church Anniversary Celebrations on June 7, a proposed garage sale (where I hope to sell heaps of useless items that presently clutter my unit), the Presentation Night Dinner of the local Darts League (my team failed to make it into the finals) and a journey to my brothers hometown of Maryborough on Friday, June 26 when I am to give a talk and officially introduce Geoff as the incoming President of his local Rotary Club.

The garage sale is designed to help me raise a few dollars for a very big "diamond"... my proposed trip to Christchurch, New Zealand, later this year. I only have enough money saved to pay for my airfares/accommodation, but nowhere near enough to cover the additional costs of taking a carer with me.

Why Christchurch? In a word - dialysis. I have always wanted to see a bit more of New Zealand after a brief visit there in 1988 and I have been told they have a very good dialysis unit at the hospital in Christchurch. Of course, without that treatment there would be no more holidays for this individual!

Memories of Bygone Days!

This photograph was printed in the local newspaper (The Bendigo Advertiser) a few weeks ago and it brought back many happy memories of when I was a young(er) man.
Taken in 1963, it shows the Bendigo Baptist Church Intermediate Christian Endeavour group of that time with li'l ol' me smack dab in the centre of the front row! It also shows my brother Geoff and my best friend Harry Wilkinson, amongst many other friends I had in the group. This was part of an article written by the paper about the upcoming 150th Anniversary of the church, when I hope to be attending some of the celebrations.

My recent weeks have been uneventful, apart from when I went to see a movie at the cinema for the first time in many moons. It was Gran Turana... a film I would highly recommend, starring Clint Eastwood.

My Easter was virtually a non-event as the pressure spots under my legs had become infected and were bleeding, thus I spent most of the time in bed in an attempt to relieve them. This will continue for some time, so I will be spending less time on my beloved computer!

The night before Good Friday was rather traumatic for me. My support worker who was due to do her shift putting me to bed at 9 p.m. phoned two hours earlier (just after I arrived home from my dialysis treatment) to say she was stranded out of town with a car that wouldn't start, so "sorry, but can you get someone else to do my shift"?

Phone calls to everyone in my team, plus the hospital, on call nurse and the after hours number of my service provider all met with negative results. By this time it was 10 p.m. and my legs were screaming for relief. I had broken out in a cold sweat and, in desperation, I checked the phone numbers on my computer of my past carers, phoning the only three that had not moved from their original addresses. The first two were also out of town and the third didn't answer!

I then rang another local service provider who said they couldn't help me because "our staff have not been trained to work with you". As I was speaking to them and telling them what I thought of them, the third of my past carers (Jan) rang to check who had called her earlier and told me that, after downing a quick cup of coffee, she would come around and put me to bed. I settled down to sleep at 11.30 p.m.

Needless to say I was also a trifle upset when the answering service of my service provider (Independence Australia, originally known as ParaQuad), said that their emergency calls were handled in the order of urgency, so I left a message saying my situation had become desperate and I needed to get to bed as quickly as possible.

I then waited for their expected return call... which came at 4 p.m. the following afternoon!!! They asked had I managed to get to bed yet, to which I mischieviously responded "no"... so they offered to send someone round to assist me! I then confessed that I HAD managed to get assistance, so they wished me a Happy Easter before hanging up... a great SERVICE provider!

I'm afraid the word "service" doesn't have the same meaning these days.

Snakes and bushfires!

A couple of quiet weeks since my last blog, yet the past few days have presented a horrific period for my city of Bendigo in Central Victoria with the devastating bushfires which have destroyed dozens of homes and taken at least one life (a man in a wheelchair) in their wake. Fortunately for me the fires were on the other side to where I live and, apart from the haze and smoke which drifted across my region, I saw very little of their impact.

On a more direct and personal level, above is a photo taken at "Harrymas" (see my previous post) of The James Brothers (Geoff and me) and I have lost one of my support workers who left for personal reasons (problems in her family) and will possibly be changing to another service provider in the next few weeks for my attendant care.

My thrice-weekly dialysis treatments continue with the usual painful needling, but - as pointed out by several of the nurses - "it's the best alternative"... the other alternative being to go without the treatment and die!

I have also commenced another season of playing competition darts. This is with a new team (for me), none of whom I knew before, so I'm not sure how we will go. Initial indications are that we will have an uphill battle to win many games.

It's birthday month in the family with my twin grandsons turning 15 on the 13th and my brother Geoff passing another milestone on the 23rd.

16 days in and... little has changed!

My team of carers are a great, but diverse bunch! All good workers and very caring, but I could easily imagine a TV lifestyle programme - or telemovie - being written around my life with them. One is a single mum with three children under 10, another is on the verge of a marriage break-up, a third is mixing her care duties with being a school teacher and a fourth is such a lover of all creatures great and small, that she will literally pick up a spider and carefully take it outside to continue its life in my garden! Each one has many other stories to tell, but one has to respect their privacy... and confidentiality is the keyword in being a carer.

NYE and I was spot on! I was in bed by 9.30 watching TV, which continued until I turned the sound down at midnight and saw the huge display of fireworks going off in Sydney and Melbourne, while I listened to the five or six being detonated in my street! My sole companion was the spider on my ceiling which was waiting for my carer to put him out the next morning to celebrate the first day of the new year amongst my pot plants.

I am looking forward to this coming Sunday where the remnants of my family... my brother Geoff, daughter Leanne and their respective partners and children... will join me to celebrate "Harrymas". This is our annual get-together in memory of our Dad (Harry), whose birthday was on January 6... we will sing a few of his favourite songs, look at some of his photographs and, in general, reminisce about the times we shared together.

Over the past week I have sent out, by both snail mail and email, over 100 invitations to family and friends for three 'events' I have planned for this year. The first is a backyard barbecue (yes, ANOTHER one!) in February, the second (in April) is the celebration of yet another birthday (I stopped counting them at 45!), with a reunion of some of the musicians and entertainers from the days when I ran a reasonably prominent entertainment Agency known as BAMPA (Bendigo Artists Management & Promotions Agency).

The third of these functions, to be held in July, is the annual reunion of my old band, "Insight", together with a get-together of members from the CJSC (Colin James Social Club) which was very successful in fundraising for local charities in Bendigo from the late 50's to the early 70's.

So, I'm "living in the past"! So, who cares? It was a damn good one, so why not??