ferrousland.com - diary archives
Sunday, November 16, 2003
visiting monica & britt - 06:29 AM
tomorrow evening i'm flying to sydney to visit my sister, monica, & her family & to introduce riley to them. then on the thursday morning i'll go from there to melbourne to visit dad & tosca. i've been looking forward to it immensely. 
in regard to how britt is going, well, she's officially in remission! there are no more leukaemia cells in her body. she & monica had been home for a number of weeks now & britt was doing well. she still has to have chemotherapy though & that will continue for about another eighteen months or so.
however, last night monica called me with some news. she & britt are back in hospital. brittany had a fever. as her immune sysyem is so depressed at the moment from the chemo, if she comes down with anything, they have to monitor it closely to make sure that it doesn't threaten her health in a more serious way.
this changes my plans for sydney a bit. i won't be cancelling the visit, since i still want to go there, & since i'll lose the money i paid for the flights, but it means that i'll be going into the hospital to spend the day with mon & britt there. in regard to taking riley there, i just have to be very careful to wash my hands thoroughly before & after touching anything other than him & to pretty much stay in their room the whole day to make sure that riley doesn't catch anything contagious.
i'll have to make my way to the hospital via public transport. apparently it takes two trains to get there. no matter. there's no point in me going if i'm not going to make the effort to be where monica is. if i didn't do that, then i'd simply be sitting at home by myself at their house for two days.
if the day long visit to the hospital isn't too much on riley (which i doubt it will be. afterall, he has his food on tap & will sleep anywhere) then i'll go back for the second day too.
i was also going to catch up with my good friend, helen, who moved from brisbane to sydney some years ago, but i'm not sure how feasible that will be now that i'll be staying at the hospital until the evening when greg will come to visit with kesley, then take us all home again.
i'm a bit disappointed that i won't be able to spend the days in more pleasant surrounds at their own house, but i'll still be able to see monica & spend some quality time with her & she with riley, so that's what matters. it'll be nice to help support her while she's at the hospital too.
[edited at 9:15pm to add the following ..]
well, plans change it seems. greg (my brother-in-law) rang earlier this afternoon to ask if i could change my plans for visiting them. they're under a bit of extra stress at the moment which they definitely don't need.
i think it's a case of the straw breaking the camel's back. kelsey has had some tests done today, of which they're still waiting for the results, after she went to the toilet & there was an appearance of some blood. let's hope it's nothing serious. that sort of thing doesn't always mean something dreadful.
on top of that, greg's under a bit of stress at work, so to have to take time out in which he really needs to be catching up on work, to pick me up from the airport (in real terms it would mean more three hours out of his day) & then worry about my welfare too, is not what he needs. greg is a wonderful guy & would never ask me to change my plans unless he really needed me to. he must be really under a load to ask .. & i'm glad that he trusts that i'll understand that he wouldn't ask unless it was that important.
so i've cancelled my flights to sydney, pending talking to mon & greg to see how they'll go for a visit later in the week or perhaps earlier next week. i've booked a flight for tomorrow evening, only half an hour later than the original one, to go to melbourne, instead of sydney. if things are still not so good for mon & greg, then i'll simply spend the whole week with dad & tosca in melbourne instead.
i hope that i can get to see monica at least for a couple of days. i'm really disappointed about not being able to see her tomorrow, as i'm sure she is too, but with things not going so well, they need each other & not the added stress of looking after another body. i can understand that totally.
i'm glad that i can still visit dad & tosca anyway. they're both looking forward to meeting riley, too.
Hello Coralie
Have a good trip, take care.
A bit of a hiccup, not my idea of fun, sitting in a hospital room all day, no matter who the patient is.... bummer.. good luck with the two trains, and concentrate on having an enjoyable time with your family. hugs, xx
You are doing things the right way although I know everyone must be a bit disappointed. No matter how welcome and beloved company might be, the truth is that visitors bring stress. All the problems Brit has had will be in the past soon enough. Just save up hugs for bigger and better ones later.
Love,
i know you are disappointed, but greg can see things more clearly from the ground. i can undserstand his world being somewhat upside down at the moment. you will see them soon enough i'm sure. enjoy the visit with tosca and your dad. i'll touch base with you when i get back fom my trip.
good luck! hope everything sorts Itself out. must be really hard making plans and then having things all up in the air. I know you`ll have a great time no matter what
gmail
com
I hope you have a wonderful time with your family Coralie!