Catch up!

Helen's beautiful flat on the ground floor of Dorchester St - scarves by both Helen Peake and Helen Pavlin. Glass mosaic a gift from Louis purchased at the Natimuk Frinj and driven to Brisbane by our friend Gareth.

My apologies for such a long hiatus on writing. News since I last posted....I am back in Brisbane with Louis and Helen. We are all at Dorchester St and Louis has done an amazing job of making Helen and I comfortable. It's an ideal situation to each have a little flat for privacy and comfort, Helen and I are next to each other on the ground floor and Louis is in his own home on the 3rd floor so it's all very handy for shared meals etc.

We have been having little outings together most days.

Healthwise there seem to be ongoing pluses and minuses for Helen. On the plus-side: she is having daily dressings from the palliative care nurses of her poor ears and the wounds are slowly healing. No longer weeping exudate onto the pillow at night and much less sore. Her physical strength is a little better - she has been able to make her own way slowly up to Louis' flat using the hand-rail and sometimes to manage a short unsupported walk - without one of us holding on. Walking is still slow and unsteady and very exhausting and any more substantial effort needs the wheelchair. Her (possible dermatomyositis) rash has completely resolved since being on the dexamethasone - no more itch! She is not coughing at all now and is only a little breathless at times.

On the less good side: She is very weak and tired. Everything seems like a big effort and it takes much longer than before to finish things. She continues to feel much more deaf than usual - we think maybe skin has sloughed in her ear canals causing blockage. The dressings on her ears make it hard to wear her glasses and awkward to talk on the phone. For all these reasons she is feeling more unable to do things. Also at the moment Helen is feeling more anxious and sad than she was before which also makes everything harder. She is finding it hard not to worry about practical aspects of life both in Darwin and here - something she was blessedly free of whilst an inpatient in Brisbane. On that note I will ask you all not to leave her phone messages as she is feeling stressed about having to remember them and return them and feeling a bit like she doesn't know what to say to people. Socialising is a bit of an effort right now.

Cards, texts, emails are all lovely and calls too but please don't leave messages, be clear you don't need/want a return call or letter and be sensitive if she sounds too tired to talk.

Basically if she is able/wants to talk she will answer the phone and if she doesn't it would be best just to try again at a another time.

I must say I'm looking forward to accompanying her to her medical appointments on Wednesday - at times the restraint required not to be a doctor and examine, prescribe and treat is quite a challenge for me!

Having said that I am quite clear it's not the right thing to do so I will try to restrain myself to intrusive suggestions to her actual medical practitioners. I have decided not to work as a GP at the moment and have resigned from a number of my roles in Victoria as I'm not sure when I'll be able to do them justice. If we settle I plan to start looking for some less "responsible" work - either medical or non medical but for the time being just managing the day-to-day and the ongoing streams of paperwork from my own and Helen's lives seems to be enough.

Louis has managed to teach a couple of his yoga classes - and I went to one as a student and thought it was great - but he too is still finding his normal work pretty hard to do and says so far teaching is an effort.

Still not sure on the timeframe of Darwin vs Brisbane. I am thinking maybe we will have to go as a "visit" in the first instance if Helen gets a little more energetic and positive than she is now. Would be good to have the ears healed up too before confronting the full tropics. Friends up there say the wet has sort of started - lots of beautiful evening rain.