I never felt a thing while the surgeon removed the cataract from my right eye, and next morning without pain I turned up for the Bass Division Speech Contests feeling pretty well, and confident that I could give them my best shot.
I couldn’t drive, and had made arrangements for my Area Governor, Michael to pick me up.
Arriving at Berwick it was terrific to catch up with friends and the day went really well. I managed third place in the Division Table Topics contest which pleased me, and though I didn’t place in the International Speech Contest, I was pleased I entered and received enough positive feedback to want to do it all again in 2015-16.
That was on 28th February and it’s been all downhill since, apart from attending a goood friends 60th Birthday.
On 4th March I drove into Melbourne for my consultancy work which went very well, and next day attended an appointment at the Ophthalmology unit of the Alfred hospital to check that my eye was healing well. Michelle, my surgeon was very pleased with my progress, and booked me up to have my left eye done asap, for she said that it was pretty poor and needed attention quickly. My eyesight will be wonderful when that’s done.
Leaving the hospital around 10 am, I was feeling pretty chipper, and with Nancy and Oscar by my side, we walked a short distance to a local cafe to get coffee and a bite to eat, and that my friends was when I tripped on a sandbag, crashed into tables and chairs and clumsily fell to the ground injuring my left upper chest. Winded and feeling less than fit, I sat gasping for breath and trying to stay calm.
The next few days I spent a lot of in bed resting up. and remained there for most of the time since, until yesterday, when suffering with shortness of breath, I visited my doctor.
The diagnosis is that I’ve suffered a pleurisy attack, had a temperature, and possibly had internal bleeding and damaged a couple of ribs. Now I’m confined to the house and will be for the next few days, swallowing pills that would knock-out a horse; taking 20 mls of cough expectorant 4 times per day, and can expect the damage to heal over the next couple of weeks.
I’ll be out of action, and will mot be on line much till then. The good thing is, I can read all about friends near and far on social media, and will look forward to being on my feet asap.
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