17th February 2011

A brief summary of life in Darwin since our return - medical appointments as mentioned with oncology and palliative care and also with Mum's new GP Dr S as Dr G has moved to Tasmania; allied health appointments with audiology and physio; social visits with Shirley and Kaye and Lil; an outing to Diane's house; a trip to see "The King's Speech"; a week's visit from Wendy and Sarah and baby Aisling from Brisbane; baby Aisling learning to walk (aged 1 and 1 week); excursions to Frillies and to Rapid Creek markets; a Cat One Cyclone and some very windy weather!
I've asked Rory the private physio to visit 4 times a week to try to keep up some of Helen's physical gains from Melbourne. He thinks she is doing well and stronger overall but I must say in the day to day I don't really notice this and feel worried that she will just sit in her chair until she is completely deconditioned again. I try to encourage her to do a little practice but she's not terribly keen.
The audiologist gave us the sad news that the radiation damage to hearing will be ongoing and we can expect a continual slow decline requiring adjustment and increase of her hearing aids every few months.
She has come off her steroid medication all together which is a good thing but has certainly had a noticeable decrease in appetite, enjoyment of food and energy levels.
We have joined the Vision Australia Library and received one of their special CD players. Lately Helen has been enjoying Piano Lessons by Anna Goldsworthy and People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks.
She is due to join a telephone based Book Group run by Vision Australia on the 8th March and is on the wait list for a support group called Quality Living with others who have recently lost their vision.
I have generally been finding the caring role much more difficult than before - I feel as if my reserves are used up and also my long term on/off depression is starting to manifest again.
To try to address this I have been to NT carers to organise for more respite and a friend from Melbourne called Natalya is coming next week to let me go away for a bit. From the second of March we have found a private carer who can start doing 3 x 10 hr days a week - Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays - her name is Jo, she is a friend of a friend and seems lovely. Probably Louis will come up to Darwin on ~ the 28th Feb (he has been having a bit of a catch up with his Brisbane life).
i have been offered some more work in Darwin through March but haven't committed to this as yet - feel like I need to see how everything is going.
In terms of the cyclone it turned out to be a bit of an anticlimax for us in some ways.
Tuesday night when it was just a "Warning" was much worse than Wednesday night when it was supposed to be an actual cyclone!
Tuesday I had a 4 hour shift in Palmerston at the Urgent After Hours Clinic and had organised "emergency" respite with NT Carers with a lovely woman named Kristy.
When my shift ended at 10pm I started to drive back to Darwin (about 20km away). After about 3min of driving I realised I had made a big mistake. Extreme wind and rain, potholes, flooding, no streetlights and the strong feeling that I was doing something culpably stupid!
I turned back to the clinic. As it turned out the other doctor who was supposed to take over really wanted to stay home and Kristy wasn't able to get home herself so I stayed at work and saw patients (in a very sturdy safe feeling building) and poor Kristy stayed home with Helen in The Gardens with the power out and the electric recliner stuck half up and sat by Helen's bedside all night! I didn't get home til ~ 10 am the next day. The rest of Wednesday was a frantic cyclone preparation day and 2 friends of Shirley's came over to give me advice and support. In the end Tim E stayed over as well so we were very well looked after and in any case the weather on Wednesday really wasn't that bad!
Although we listened to the cyclone news fairly constantly Helen was pretty unfazed by the whole thing. Just as well I guess.