Well,
It's been a long while since I upgraded this blog-page. The last 18 months has been a roller coaster ride in a medical /health situation for both Avril & myself. In mid November 2009, we were in the middle of the Nullabour when Avril had a mini-stroke in the middle of the night. She then had a 550 kilometer ride in 2 ambulances all the way back to Norseman. The first ambulance wiped out the front when it hit a kangaroo at 180kms/ph on the way to pick her up. Luckily she had a complete recovery, & found out that she has 2 slightly faulty valves to her heart.
We left Adelaide again in March 2010, & drove to Broken Hill, then down to Mildura, & followed the Murray River, & then on to Canberra where we met up with friends who live there. After a great stay in Canberra, we headed into the NSW Southern Highlands, & visited a second cousin, Bettye Harcas, who lives in Moss Vale. We then continued to Sydney to visit Uncle Doug Woodley, cousin Ted Woodley & cousin Isobel Gelling. We then travelled up the coast to Coffs Harbour where the trouble started. Avril had been having problems sleeping, & her whole body was constantly in pain. Trying to see a doctor was almost impossible, & the only way to see one was to go to an after hours clinic & line up. Eventually we found a doctor who said that Avril should have x-rays & an ultrsaound. When we tried to organise that, It was going to be a 3 week wait. We decided that was too long & we moved to the Tweed Head/Coolangatta area. From there, Avril flew home to Adelaide to see her own doctor, & a Rhumatologist. I waited for a month & whilst waiting, Nick came to visit me for a few days. It was great to have the time with him. I eventually drove back to Adelaide, not knowing how long before Avril could travel.By late June we were off again, & headed as fast as possible to the middle of Queensland. We arrived in a place called Alpha on the 23rd of July 2010, & in the middle of the night, I had a massive heart attack. I know that it was massive, because I now have only 41% of my heart working. Luckily we were near the Alpha hospital, & got there fairly quickly. Although there was no doctor there, The nurses were great, & the got a doctor from nearly 200ks away, on the speaker phone. After they stabalised me, I was taken to Brisbane by the flying doctor, where I remained for a week. Son Simon flew up to see me, & son Van & daughter in law Dot, flew up & then flew to central Queensland to collect our ute & bring it to Brisbane. After my week in hospital, Avril drove us back to Alpha, where we stayed for 4 weeks whilst I recovered a bit. We then took 3 months to return to Adelaide by November. Since then I have had 4 stents fitted, & am recovering well. I'll never be the same as I was, but I'm doing well. I'm even working. We have bought another caravan as a home base. It is a Roma 2005, Elite 26ft 6ins with a canvas annex. We have situated it in Murray Bridge & it looks good & is very comfortable.
We will be leaving Murray Bridge on the 6th of May after my Cardiologist gives me the all clear to travel. We will be travelling through South Australia, Northern Territory, & Queensland this year, but that may alter, depending on weather. I'll post some pictures of our new home base soon.
I will also try to keep my blogs comming on a regular basis this year.
Love to you all,
Doug & Avril. XXXXXX
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