Catching Up

Just to briefly catch up from where I left off....some time last year I think?

I have an 18 and nearly 22 year old son - how the hell did that happen??

Possum is still working where there are golden arches - and they are steadily repairing the damage done by too much stress and pressure, in fact he is doing Cert 3 in Retail and Crew Trainer ~ and has been approached to consider management training.
He is happy!
He is not applying for ANY IT positions in the foreseeable future.
And he is happy.

Small Man has now lost 40kg.
He is keeping steady with the weight loss now.
I saw a tv show recently showing a body lift surgery - NFW am I going to allow him to go through that!
Or hopefully any plastic surgery.

There is a course he'd like to do.
But we have discovered the organisation is now a non RTO :(
To think he almost paid them $1000 to complete the course.
He can't work at this stage, but he wanted to complete something.
We will need to look into an alternative REGISTERED training organisation.

We have had two disasterous appointments this year.
One on an emotional level, one on a physical level.
Long story short we went to Melbourne to try and get some help and advice from a so called expert in CFS/ME.
The result?
He was told 'some people never recover from this' and to 'do a TAFE course'.
I was made to feel like one of those mothers that makes their kids sick for attention or whatever they do.
OMG it was awful.
The only good thing that came from the appointment was the prescription of Melatonin.
It has helped Big A HEAPS between shifts (he works day then night shift, 12 hour shifts).

Oh, that's right the Melatonin was for Small Man....
Yes Small Man does take it but it's very hard to break his sleep pattern and keep it consistent.
In fact it's nearly impossible.
I felt criticised for this too.
Talk about making me feel like shit, and that I'm not doing enough for him :'(
We have found ordering it from the USA our best option, you can buy it on eBay for a fraction of the price of a private script ($40 for a month private script).

The second appointment that was a disaster was with the surgeon that is now adjusting Small Man's gastric band.
He added some more fluid to the band, called a 'fill'.
Small Man always drinks some water after the adjustment to make sure it will go through the band, if it doesn't then the band is too tight.
This time the fluid went through, all was well.

We came home, he ate some pasta for tea and everything was fine.
The next day when he woke up he vomited immediately - shouldn't happen as he hadn't eaten or drunk anything yet.
He then found that water wouldn't go down.
I was at work, on the other side of town.

It was nearly 'knock off' time for doctors surgeries and the like.
We couldn't get hold of anyone (the surgeon is only in his rooms Wednesdays).
I ended up ringing our original surgeon in Melbourne to ask advice.
Which then led to 5 hours at the emergency department waiting for someone that could remove some of the fluid from his band....by the time we saw someone he had been over 24 hours without fluid. 

Not good for a well person let alone an unwell person.

Anyone that thinks gastric band surgery is in some way an 'easy' way out seriously needs a slap up the side of the head!

I have also found an amazing alternative therapist for Small Man, so he has either Bowen therapy, a massage or reflexology for 30 minutes per fortnight. Whether it helps or not who knows, but it make him feel relaxed and good and that's all that matters.

Apart from that everything else is pretty much the same.

I am still doing the same job, it's not too bad at the moment.
I reached 15 years of loyal service in January and not a single f*ck was given but that's ok, I shouldn't have expected any different......

Mum has been helping me out with the banking, so pops up once a fortnight to take care of that and some folding of washing. 
Different for me to get used to but it's been good :)


G
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