Monday 27th January
We had our Australia Day celebrations at the village today.
Wayne cooked up a storm of pies, peas, potato and gravy for lunch.
There was damper, also made by Wayne for morning tea.
Dessert was Pavlova with fruit salad and cream or Lamingtons with fruit salad and cream.
Typical Aussie tucker.
Graham did his usual MC task to keep the games rolling along.
I was Barista and prepared fresh coffee.
Frank and Marie kept everybody happy by sorting problems before they became umm err, problems.
The day progressed along happy lines. A few hiccups were quickly sorted and no complaints.
My back got steadily worse during the day. Lucky I have a doctors appointment tomorrow.
Tuesday 28th January.
The doctor repeated that I have a Chronic Pain condition. In fact I am intoo much pain at the moment to consider any physical manipulation – such as physiotherapy, chiropractic or osteopathy, even massage. He increased my Lyrica dosage to 75Mg twice a day and will increase that to 100 Mg twice a day after a week. He also prescribed Targin twice a day. If I get the wobblies, discontinue the daytime dose. At the end of the day there may have been some relief but I know the Targin is messing with my head plus it makes my skin itch. I have heard the itch is similar to what heroin addicts get!
Most Opioids, including heroin , can cause intense itching. This itching is related to the way the opioids interact with the immune system and the central nervous system. Opioid- induced itching will usually go away when a person stops using the drug.
Targin is an Opioid!
Wednesday 29th January
In the morning, two things stand out as things I look forward to.
The first is a walk along The Broadwater early in the morning. Today I met up with other walkers, Bill, Doug and Mark for a coffee at Beach Café in the Aqua building on the corner of Marine Parade and Imperial Parade Labrador. What a wonderful location for coffee or breakfast.
The second is, as good as breakfast is at the Beach Café I also enjoyed making my own mushroom and capsicum omelette and eating it on my verandah with a light breeze coming off Biggera Creek.
Friday 31st January
Hmmm! It seems the Targin is doing its job of making me drowsy which helps me to have a good sleep at night. During the day I often struggle to stay awake so have accepted the fact and allow myself a snooze after lunch.
Saturday 1st February.
Sister Enid arrived today and carried out, in her usual whirlwind, cleaning house and gardening. The work got the better of her as she lost track of time. She planned a walk along the Broadwater, then cocktails at the Grand Hotel followed by dinner in Chinatown. We started our walk but as it was already after 6pm we had to postpone, yet again, the cocktails. Darn, I was so looking forward to a Pina Colada. Next stop, Chinatown where parking was not going to be easy. It meant walking only 2 blocks then wandering around the food places. I started off by looking at the budget places run by mums and dad’s and gradually worked our way up the more elaborate establishment. Surprisingly the prices were not much dearer but included full waiter service, a larger choice of dishes and a liquor licence. We finally settled on an upmarket place called YuYin https://www.facebook.com/yuyinchinesecuisine/
The food was good, the service was excellent and as expected, Enid finally found a restaurant which serves jellyfish. In this case it was a chicken and jellyfish salad. As expected it was served cold. We had this many years ago in a Chinese Restaurant in Sydney’s Chinatown. It’s a dish I can take or leave. I chose to leave it tonight.
Afterwards Enid suggested we go to Harbourtown and have cocktails at Crafty’s. https://www.craftys.com.au/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=gmb
When we arrived, customers were packed in, shoulder to shoulder, three guys were providing music and the noise levels were toxic. Nup. This is not the place to be if you want to sip on a quiet cocktail.
Sunday 2nd February
Enid did more gardening for me and headed back to Brisbane after lunch.
I should mention here, as I have not mentioned for awhile, my back pain is no better and in some respects it is not worse. In other respects, it is worse.
I still take the Lyrica and Targin although neither seems to stop the pain. However it could be that the meds are screening the worst of the pain. Sitting in some chairs creates a painful experience and then makes walking painful for about half an hour afterwards. Getting g in and out of i30 is painful but once seated I am virtually pain free.
This week in 2011 I was housesitting at Traveston on the Sunshine Coast.
The weather was unsettled with many days of rain.
Of course earlier in the month there were the flooding rains which devastated Brisbane, parts of the Gold Coast, Mary Valley including Gympie and parts of the Sunshine coast.
The weather here on the Gold Coast has been hot and humid. It is typical summer weather.
Heavy rain is forecast next week.
