
Everything in the garden was perfect...
All we had worked so hard to achieve was complete...
We were totally content;
happy family, great friends, comfortable lifestyle...
Hey! The future couldn't get any brighter...
And then, we hit a bloody BIG brick wall...
2013
Definitely, a year to forget...

and, we thought it couldn't get any worse...
2014
What the hell!
Not, another bloody BIG brick wall...
Mary was always smiling...
February - Mary went back into hospital to have her knee manipulated.
Since then, with ongoing rehab and gym, she hasn't looked back.

A 3.00am selfie: One unhappy chappy...
Then, it was my turn...
-
My increasingly-painful arthritis was impacting on many life-time routines with the consequence that I went in for a right hip-replacement the day after Mary returned home. The result was immediate; I was able to stand, sit, walk and sleep with minimum pain. Great! It was so successful that I booked to have the left hip done one month later.
-
Half-way through mysecond replacement I had a cardiac arrest due to a blood clot. I was rapidly sewn-up (with leg attached only by soft tissue).
-
I required external cardiac massage (25 minutes) while being transferred to Geelong's University Hospital where my chest was opened and the clot removed.
-
Next morning - a second cardiac arrest... I was on life-support for ten days. This wasn't so bad for me; being totally unaware of the situation and enjoying hallucinations (super-heros, interesting adventures and exotic scenes). But, for Mary it was truly horrendous.
-
It was a further very painful and frustrating two and a half months before I was strong enough to have the operation completed and three before I could return home.
-
Thanks Jo and Jenn for keeping everybody informed via Facebook and Caring Bridge.
Guess it could be

a lot worse
Getting better...
But, so ever-painfully slow...
2015
My program of rehab, including hydrotherapy, physiotherapy, psychotherapy (post-traumatic-stress syndrome for both Mary and I),
a strict medication regime (warfarin etc.) and gentle gym sessions, has continued through into this year.
I guess the biggest changes in my life have been attitudinal:
-
My family and friends are so much more important...
-
My memories are golden treasures...
-
Time seems unreal; day-to-day reality seems not so very different from the hallucinatory world I'd inhabited while on life-support...
-
I suddenly realised there were strict limits to what I could do, when and how...
-
My old goal-oriented life seemed so 'on-shaky-ground'...
-
I became very aware that my financial nest-egg was at risk (our large house made it necessary to employ a gardener and house-cleaner 2-3 hours each per fortnight)...
-
My shaky religious foundations were crumbling; I saw no white lights, heard no calming voice, nothing...
-
Death was now a very real, in-your-face reality...

My three guardian angels...
My darling wife, Mary, precious daughter, Jodie,
and beautiful step-daughter, Jen,
held my life in their hands for the ten days I was on life-support.

Hey! Every day is a bonus...

Now it's all one day at a time...
A 70th birthday to remember...
So!
What's changed?
My attitude to life...
I am now more pragmatic,
less goal-oriented and firmly-planted
in the real here-n-now world...
Since returning home...
-
I treasure my darling wife and my precious daughter as life's greatest gifts...
-
I savour the moment, all memory-making opportunities as well as the day-to-day trivialities...
-
I welcome opportunities to listen, heap praise on others and share in conversations...
-
I am treating myself to long-hankered-for toys...
-
I take every opportunity to appreciate and 'spoil' my wife and children in the here-and-now...
-
I enjoy writing, movies, listening to music, indulging in hobbies (my photography and web-pages)...
-
I am happy to be diverted, to take longer over a task and to indulge in interesting distractions...

But, why did it take this near-death experience for me to appreciate
the true importance of people, memories and relationships in my life?
Hey, honey!
Every day really is a bonus.

Laying the turf (200 square metres)

