For once I have no exciting news regarding the infection. Just plugging along with antibiotics. I think they will be extended for an additional few weeks but we’ll see. I worry that they’ll decide to operate just when J leaves. Banish that thought!

We had a simulated Thanksgiving dinner tonight, one day late. J got a frozen rolled turkey breast, and we opened a bottle of bubbly. We had roast sweet potatoes, asparagus, turkey, and not very nice supposed Spanish rice. I was hoping for yellow rice like I was used to in Florida, but it wasn’t. I wanted to make corn muffins, but I’m still not up to cooking. But it was nice even though we forgot the cranberry sauce.

Speaking of bottles of wine, we have been drinking wine I have ordered from Naked Wines. This is not a plug and I have not linked to it. I started off mostly as a way to explore little known and independent winemakers. The scheme collects money from you monthly and you order what you want when you want. But the way, I can only drink whites, since reds give me migraines and I’m nervous about rose. I tend to wait till I have a decent balance and/or J is coming, because I don’t drink much when he’s not here. So far the results have been mixed. Many of these wines are not ones you would find in your neighbourhood bottle shop, and are newly established, or with limited distribution. Living in Canberra and being disabled, I can either order wines I know from previous experience or advertising, or rely on the retailer to point me at what he wants to sell. The wines from Naked have been an exploration. All are Australian, of course, but range from the Hunter to Margaret River. Some just neutral (“that’s a glass of white wine, all right”) to pretty damn good. I wanted to try Pinot Grigio but J doesn’t really like it. A good Riesling or Chardonnay is his taste, and mine too although I am a bit more adventurous. I have to watch my consumption because I will happily keep drinking as long as the bottle is open, but I shouldn’t. I shouldn’t probably drink at all with my health issues, but life is pretty boring otherwise. Food and drink are my only luxuries so I buy top shelf brands of liquor and sometimes indulge my palate otherwise. J and I did a lot of wine tourism in California and had our favourites which of course you can’t buy here. Mostly these wines cost me in the $12-20 range. I think if you’re going to drink it and then it’s gone, don’t spend a lot. We did limited experiments with high priced vs pedestrian wines and decided out palates were not sufficiently fine-tuned to notice a large difference to justify the price. Dom Perignon is very nice but worth five times of a more typical bubbly, no. And I’m not comparing to the $3.99 bargain bin.

I also indulged myself with online browsing of real estate. I looked at property in Yass, which is a little way north, to see if house prices were any lower. They’re not. But I found this absolutely over the top mansion on quite a few acres which captured my imagination. No price, up for auction. It’s a nineteenth century (I think) two story, simply huge house. I’m sure it needs expensive work, putting in a new kitchen and bathrooms but the rooms are huge. Grand reception rooms, each bedroom has an attached sitting room, all with fireplaces. I’m sure that means there’s no other heat but it’s so romantic and brings up visions of balls with ladies in lovely gowns and your fleet of servants serving grand dinners. Sitting on the verandah, overlooking the rolling hills. Romantic, but completely impractical. Sigh. Good night while I think of thundering cats running around that huge house.

Apologies to all. I promised more regular posts and then fell off the edge of the world. In mid September my knee became very much swollen, painful, red, and hot. It was almost as bade as it was before surgery. When I saw my infectious disease doctor at the beginning on October, he hustled me into hospital again. I had another needle aspiration that removed a lot of fluid and had a pic line inserted. I started getting very large doses of penicillin every four hours. After a week I asked if I could receive the treatment at home because all I was doing in hospital was lying in bed all day. I was given permission, came home, and am on the same regime I was on before, but this time I’ll be getting antibiotics for at least 6 weeks. I’m going through the Canberra Hospital instead of Calvary. It’s farther away but it has the better medical facilities, I think. That’s where I had my knee removed and replaced 8 years ago. At this stage I’m still due three more weeks of antibiotics, and I go in tomorrow to have a second ultrasound of my knee with possible needle aspiration. My knee overall is looking better. It is no longer red and hot, but is still swollen on the inside of my leg. To add to the mix, a cyst I have had on the top of my head for over a year with no pain or other activity, suddenly decided to burst open, leaving my hair full of gunk and a hole where it had been. It’s been seen to as well and I have a bandage on the top of my head.

Once again J has gotten more than he has bargained for, and has provided taxi service across Canberra weekly, if not more frequently. Most of my healing is due to his care, and his bringing me goodies like fresh figs and takeaway Indian food. I was hoping to put up my Christmas tree this year but there’s no way I could get it down by myself. In fact, summer has arrived suddenly and it’s in the 30’sC this week and continues windy. This is fire weather and so far we are the only corner of Australia not to be enduring bush fires. I was hoping when J was scheduled for a visit that we could go down to the coast for a couple of days but I am on the hospital’s schedule which means daily nurse visits.

I cannot promise to post as frequently as I had planned. I hope I can do better at least, now that I’m no longer in such pain. I hope you are all getting prepared for holiday festivities but it will be a quiet one here I expect. I still sleep a lot. I missed the World Series in hospital but I’m glad Washington won.

A brief one tonight because I’m tired and sore. I saw my infectious disease doctor today. There are no breakthroughs on offer. One strong possibility is that I go back in hospital to get stronger doses of I/V antibiotics. That will also allow my surgeon a chance to see what has developed since I saw him last. If it’s to the private hospital I was in last time it’s not horrible except I will miss being at home with J and the cats.  The doctor says the damn Pasturella is hiding in my knee prosthesis and if they can’t get a reaction with a different antibiotic mix, removing the knee and replacing it is the only option. Not happy but somewhat resigned. Of course, the knee was on its best behaviour, swollen and red but not hot or very painful. It saved that till I got home.

We ate Indian takeaway (saag paneer for me with naan) and watched Moneyball which J had never seen. Having seen statistics on every aspect of baseball for the past few weeks, it seemed a bit archaic to view the days when none of that really mattered.

Tomorrow make sure my hospital go-bag is stocked and wait for a phone call.

Gosh! This daily posting can be a grind! Just kidding. If I stop getting hits, I’ll stop.  Or if you tell me I am not writing what you want to read. Want me to rant against the entity that sometimes resides in the White House? Be glad to oblige,  but my close friends have already heard it, and most Australians I have met can’t understand either technically or rationally how we put him in office. These are the days when I’m very glad to be a long way away and I don’t read/listen/watch news because of the drivel it contains.

On that note I just finished watching season 2 of “The Good Fight” and thought it was terrific. Great legal cases, mostly relevant to our time, a great cast. I get it on Stan. I have no idea where it is broadcast elsewhere. And speaking of Chicago (because that’s where the series takes place), I listened to Michelle Obama narrate her own autobiography. This was my first experience in a long time in listening rather than reading. I found the experience somewhat annoying in that you have a person talking at you for (in this case) 14 hours and it lost its appeal along the line. She has a slight speech problem which as a linguist grated. Her book was absolutely great and I highly recommend it. She is a great woman aside from putting up with being First Lady. I thought it interesting that she accounted in detail Laura Bush welcoming her to the White House and showing her around, but not a mention about her successor. Hmmm. It was illuminating to hear about how the couple got together and worked their way up. Also the behind the scenes at the White House including how much the Obamas had to pay out of their own pockets for daily living. Of course a billionaire like the Donald will have no problem with that or will get somebody else to pay for it. I always had mixed feelings about Chicago. I visited very frequently for business and rarely had any time to explore. I am also a New Yorker born and bred and Chicago will always be the Second City. Also it was usually freezing when I went for library conventions and I hated plowing through snow drifts. I enjoyed shopping and eating out. There is/was a great German restaurant I think in what’s called the Loop that brewed its own beer and served game on the menu. I had several memorable meals there.

Today I got out and did a few things. I had another blood test done and while we were in the small shopping centre, J spotted a hairdresser who didn’t look busy. He asked if he would do a quickie haircut. Yes! I got a very basic cut which cost all of $33. The hairdresser knew all about Pasturella because he raises meat rabbits and they carry it and are susceptible to it. We also drove around a bit because it was a beautiful day. Then I came home and had excruciating pain in my leg. I wanted to watch the first World Series game and I managed to sit in the lounge room for 5 innings where the Nats beak the Astros which was very comforting. If they can do that in Houston, maybe they can do this. Go Nats!  Then (after dinner) I went back to bed in great pain. Crying and swearing were involved. I tried watching tv on my iPad, but it was pretty bad. Copious amounts of wine helped and it’s now quiet so maybe I can sleep tonight. I regret to admit that I have been drinking when I can’t sleep and sometimes for the pain. Sometimes it’s wine, sometimes tequila or scotch. Unfortunately I’ve discovered that for me the only spirits (liquor to Americans) I can drink straight up are expensive ones. So I have great single malts, and lovely tequila. It’s not a habit I like to indulge in but it does dull the noise in my brain.

Sleep well.

I promised regular posts so I had better fulfill my end of the deal. Little sleep last night again. This is getting beyond boring. I tried reading but I have to be so careful. Now I know I have a cataract in my right eye I don’t want to strain trying to read. Horrible headaches ensue. I hadn’t even thought about the implications of my infection on other parts of me, but my GP cautioned consulting my infectious disease doctor about the advisability of having a minor skin cancer removed and I think I will add cataract surgery to that. My immune system is in slow down mode and maybe adding other healing to the situation is not a good idea. I will ask on Friday.

It’s lovely having J here. Now that I’m playing hospital in my bedroom, he comes in for a chat in the evenings. Let me clarify that I sleep most of the mornings and he often goes out in the afternoons. Evenings he reads while I watch tv. Of course, tomorrow the World Series starts so I will have to rouse myself for that. I’m not all that interesting to visit. At least this time I’m not actually in hospital, unlike his last two visits. I was hoping we could go down to the coast for a few days while he’s here, but I also thought I would be healthy by now. I can’t sit in the car comfortably for over an hour and it takes a little over two to get to the ocean from here.

Spring is here and it’s gotten quite warm for a while. Canberra’s weather is erratic in spring and fall and you have to expect sudden ups and downs. My fruit trees have blossomed but the birds will probably get all the fruit. I’m hoping I can save some apples from the rosellas. I almost missed the annual spectacle of my wisteria in bloom but I did see it before a wind storm blew all the blossoms off. I was also going to try and grow some veggies in pots on the back deck but I’m not up to tending them. Besides, I think this is going to be a dry year. I really miss gardening but that’s how it goes.

We are both distressed over the rampant development going on around our area of the ACT. New suburbs popping up like mushrooms and we can’t figure out where all these potential home owners are coming from and why. All I see is a lot more traffic and precious little being done to the roads or parking areas to accommodate it. Ginninderry supposedly will have 11,000 new homes and who knows how big Whitlam will be. They’ve been planning to redevelop my local shopping centre for years but no progress has been made. Those 11,000 homes will need to buy groceries somewhere.

Well, it’s 1AM so I had better at least try to sleep. Hope to get a few hours; I have to go out for a blood test tomorrow.

Hello, folks. Yes, I am alive but not well.  I thought I would write some ramblings and try and keep it up while I’m not sleeping. My infection is going strong and I see my infectious disease doctor on Friday when I plan to beg him for the other antibiotic he’s been keeping in reserve. At this point, it might cure me and I can’t continue as I am. Potential resistance must (IMHO) give precedence to curing the disease it was invented for. At the moment the entire inside half of my knee is very swollen, red, and hot, not to mention painful. I thought when I saw him the last time I had somehow gotten a shin splint. However, one does that during exercise and I haven’t done any of that. The shin is extremely painful and I have come to the conclusion that the infection has spread. Cutting me open has not cured me so far and the blasted Pasturella just comes back from wherever it’s hiding in my body. This is also why I don’t see the point in removing my knee prosthesis. After the last clean out, I was healing quite well when it appeared again. I may be forced into another surgical procedure but I am trying so hard to not go down that road.

Otherwise, I am acting like I’m in hospital, meaning mostly bed rest and ice on my knee when the pain of the ice is bearable. So I lie in bed, read, watch stuff on various streaming services, get slept on by cats, and have had a staggeringly long run of insomnia. Yesterday I didn’t get any sleep until 4PM and then it was all of 2 hours. The knee is painful in so many different ways and sometimes that little niggle in my calf is enough to keep me sliding over the edge into sleep. It’s certainly not doing me any good but it’s not fatal. This lesson I learned in the 1980’s when J and I both battled insomnia and would meet in the family room at 2 or 3AM. That’s one reason why now that he’s here we avoid disturbing each other in the wee hours. He is an excellent nurse, and is developing into being a good cook too.

My accomplishments for today were taking a shower (a major operation), trying to watch some tv but my recliner is not at the right angle for my leg, and retreating to bed to play puzzle games, scroll through FB, and now write to you. I finished “Galleon” by C.W. Williams (on Kindle) which was very fun. I recommend it to any lover of sci-fi. I’m also reading “Wonder Boys” by Michael Chabon (in pbk). His writing style is so off the wall that I deal it out in small doses. My BBBB is “Wilderness and the American Mind” by Roderick Nash. I find it bizarre that the first settlers in America believed that the “wilderness” was not only just scarey, but inhabited be daemons and mythical wild beasts, and that merely by entering the forests you would lose your connection to God and become a godless heathen yourself, like the native people were judged. Today we worship wilderness for, in some cases like my own, its connection to a higher power, but they thought the only good land was that under cultivation.

I was looking forward to the World Series but not so much now that the Yankees are out of it. I can muster support for the Washington Nationals so that’s coming up. I forgot how much I loved baseball until I got access through giving J sports access on my cable package. We would get up in the late morning and watch whatever was playing. I followed baseball through two husbands after growing up with it and really missed it here. J and I will check out what passes for baseball here but the field is at the far side of Canberra and who knows what disabled access is like. I am using my walker all the time but covering distances isn’t fun.

Today’s ramblings

Today’s another miscellaneous post. I got my dander up by watching s Star Trek: Discovery (yes, I know it’s dreadful) but I was particularly irritated by their overuse of hand-held camera work.  Is it some kind of artistic superiority that makes camera people/DP’s want to shoot every scene in jerky hard to follow handheld? I am quite over it and scenes that include a dozen cast members that are filmed as if the camera person had the DT’s are not pleasant to watch. This is not the first occasion that it has driven me to distraction, but the first I have examples fresh in my memory.

Health wise, my cellulitis has turned the corner and aside from lingering discomfort in my right ankle and a swollen foot, it’s recovering fine. My knee, given sufficient rest, is also improving and I’ll have to do some physiotherapy to get it back to full function. I’ll also have to get my foot prepared for compression hose to combat the lymphoedema. I have yet to find a carer and am muddling along until J returns mid-May. I have a few interviews scheduled and already have a driver to doctors’ appointments.

I am consumed with desire to get back crafting but I have confined myself to bed rest until I am recovered. I watch a lot of stuff on Netflix, Prime video, Stan, and Foxtel Go. I like SBS dramas but too many have subtitles which interfere with my vision. I love Billions on Stan partly because I love Damian Lewis. I am NOT a GoT fan and could care less about the last season hoopla. I prefer Victoria, or The Blacklist. I am ticked off at Prime who notified me that Season 5 of Bosch was available. I rushed over and binge watched 5 episodes only to be told today the Season 5 was unavailable. Huh? Somebody jump the gun?

The crafting that’s calling me is quilting, but I’d also like to spin, needlepoint, and continue making squares on my pin loom to the goal of turning 4” squares into a blanket. But then I love reading, both science fiction and mysteries. If I weren’t having trouble sleeping during normal bedtime hours and ending up sleeping half the day away, I would get more accomplished. Also this falling business has to stop. I was standing at the kitchen island putting food in Max’s dish and felt myself going over backwards and caught myself, but it’s simple things like that which lead to calls for ambulances.

Hope all of you are enjoying spring or autumn depending on hemisphere. I also get annoyed when deluged in ads for spring stuff which is a little inappropriate here. Supposed to be down in single digits at night this weekend so another blanket is ready (if I only had a quilt).