Home at last

I had my final procedure on 25th and my urologist, Dr. Boon Kua said it all went well. It must have as I now feel nearly back to normal -- no pain and just some minor residual symptoms which seem to be steadily diminishing. So I am optimistic for the near future. But I did go though three pretty grim weeks to get to that point. A couple of complications cropped after the initial procedure which left me in a fair bit of episodic pain and discomfort.

Anne and I celebrated tonight with an Indian takeaway from one of our usual suppliers of Indian food and it went down exceptionally well after hospital food. Not that the food was bad at the Wesley. It was just a bit Australian for someone who long ago converted to ethnic food. Though they did quite a reasonable Thai curry on a couple of occasions. And their bread rolls were always excellent. And quite good porridge for breakfast was also appreciated. I am stiill Australian when it comes to porridge.

Anne visited me fairly regularly while I was in hospital and Paul came up a couple of times too -- accompanied by Susan and Matthew. Matthew was undoubltedly the one who enjoyed himself most on both occasions. Exploring my motel-type room was great entertainment for a 9-month-old.

I have top private insurance so even the costs of a high class outfit like the Wesley were fully covered. I had to pay only admission fees and anaesthetists.

The mostly female staff were invariably pleasant and using my call button always elicited a prompt response. I was amused that even the Wesley had a contingent of Filipina nurses -- but they were perfectly competent and spoke reasonable English. Filipina nurses seem to pervade the world these days. Maids, wives and nurses seem to be the main exports of the Republic of the Philippines. But a good work environment at the Wesley means that they can pick the best ones.

The key to the Wesley is plenty of staff. So when I fronted up to the Emergency Dept. on three occasions, I did not have to wait 4 to 8 hours to be seen by anyone -- as I would have to wait at a public hospital. I in fact waited on all three occasions about 2 minutes. It shows the difference that adequate staffing can make. Anybody who relies on the public hospital system gets what they pay for: Third class service. Good private insurance costs no more than what the average smoker spends on his habit so you pays your money and you makes your choice. And over 40% of Australians take out private health insurance.

Another hospital visit

A serious complication to my treatment arose on Thursday morning (17th) so I took myself off the the Wesley again and was readmitted. I had corrective surgery first thing on Friday which seemed to go well. I was discharged early on Saturday.

A visit from a caveman

Because of complications I was readmitted to the Wesley for a few days. While I was there Paul and Susan paid me a visit -- on the night of 13th. They brought their little caveman with them: Matthew.

Civilization goes back only about 5,000 years so it is too recent to have had much effect on our genetics. So little boys grow up as trainee cavemen. It is the caveman life that their genetics prepare them for. And cavemen of course largely feed themselves by chasing and killing animals. So they have to be very lively for that. So little boys are programmed to run and jump and climb and generally rush around like mad things.

People who want them to sit quietly are asking something unnatural

All that is particularly true of people of Northern European origin. People who have been civilized for a long time -- such as the Chinese -- are more passive. But our ancestors were living by hunting as little as 2,000 years ago. And hunting is still a popular sport.

So Matthew was the perfect little caveman. He could not sit still and was crawling and climbing wherever he could. Such behaviour can annoy some people but it is just his innate programming and if you realize that it is a little caveman you are seeing, that should make you indulgent.

Understanding cavemen as I do, it was a delight to see such a lively child as Matthew.


UPDATE

Scientists test their theories by making predictions from their theories and then seeing if the predictions are confirmed by events. So I decided to test my theory that little boys are apprentice cavemen -- i.e. that their characteristics trace back to a hunter/gather lifestyle from which we have emerged only recently -- recently in an evolutionary sense.

So I asked Anne about Aborigines. Anne knows Aborigines very well from her many years of working among them and they have emerged VERY recently from a hunter/gatherer lifestyle. So from my theory one would predict that Aborigine children would be very active and would tend from an early age towards hunter/gatherer activities.

And Anne tells me that that is exactly what happens. The children are very active doing things like stalking birds and go fishing from a very early age. So my theory is confirmed.

And a story about a great little Aboriginal kid might help make the point. This happened in November 2007:



A four-year-old boy has been found playing in a croc-infested Territory creek after sneaking off pig hunting alone with four dogs and a puppy. The toddler was found five-and-a-half hours after he set off from his parents' house playing in a creek with the puppy. Amazingly, Daniel Woditj also swam two creeks known to be inhabited by crocs during his adventurous romp. Mr Knight said that after walking for several kilometres, Daniel came to a creek and swam across it. Four of his dogs "bailed up" at the creek but the youngster continued on undaunted with his puppy to a second creek. Mr Knight said Daniel swam the second croc-infested creek and walked on for several more kilometres. "Captain is a hard bushman and Daniel is following in his footsteps. They breed them tough out bush."

Back home

Still convalescing but I might as well do that at home. It is just a matter of time now (I hope)

A Serious illness

I am not up to writing much at the moment but I thought I should put up how I am situated at the moment

At about 11am last Wednesday (2nd.), I was suddenly struck with a severe pain in my lower right abdomen -- roughly where the appendix is. So I was fortunate to get a 12.40pm appointment with GP Rangiah at the Annerley Medical center -- where I normally go. He poked and prodded and then said: "You have to go to hospital"

I took a taxi to the Wesley and was given morphine shortly after arriving. I was then given a CT Scan and a kidney stone was detected. I was on the operating table at about 6pm that night under urologist Boon Kua -- an Australian Chinese who speaks good Australian and did his studies at UQ. He impressed me favourably.

He inserted a stent to fix the connection between my kidney and my bladder and that fixed the pain, with actual laser destruction of the stone scheduled for 2 weeks further on

So all went well initially but just before I was due to go home, I started to pee lots of blood -- so had to stay in. Dr Hua theorized that I have a unrinary tract infection but the medication he has prescribed has had no effect and I am still doing lots of painful bloody pees.

I have had UTIs in the past and found that Bactrim gave me relief in hours so I will suggest that to him next time I see him. He probably will say more moderrn drugs are better but Bactrim works for me if it really is a UTI..

But at the moment nobody knows what the problem is so I may be heading for serious trouble.