Lots of News

Blink and a month has gone by...

News #1 - Rowie Progress

9 weeks have flown by. It doesn't seem possible sometimes, but here we are. Last week Rowie started back at work, effectively meaning that life is officially back to "normal". This was a difficult step for her, and I think I understand that the "normality" of it was what was so difficult, that after all the months of waiting, changing dates, the operation and subsequent recovery, it's all over. In a sense there's some grief about the process ending, which on the surface is probably hard to understand; wouldn't you just be thankful that you came out the other end? However I think that months of pumping yourself up for such an event is bound to be hard to transition back down from. Anyway, we're talking it through and this week seemed more settled (so far!).

News #2 - Neil's New Job

I hadn't mentioned on the blog before, but I've been looking for a new job for some time now. After 5 years in Aged Care, I'd gotten to the point where I needed to get out and try something new. In many ways RSL Care has been great for me - it really was a fantastic opportunity to take all those years of technical experience and apply them to a "greenfield" site, and I know that I've succeeded in my goals. I.T. is now embedded into the organisation and I am proud of how I've achieved that. But, like all things, the price paid is high. The politics in the place were entirely negative, and I felt stifled and unable to constantly affect change in the end.
I have been looking for a while, and in fact had done quite well through a couple of interviews; no new job though. In August I applied for a role through an employment agent and got the usual form letter "Thanks but Sorry", but this time I pursued it. Email rejection letters are in many ways more difficult to receive than posted letters... So I pursued the comments, and got into quite a discussion with an employment agent who gave me some good feedback... and the week following called me about a role for a company called RP Data. This company is entirely online and provides real estate data to agents across AUS/NZ. This is interesting in itself - I've wanted some e-commerce experience for some time now - but as I went through the interview process and got to know more and more about the place, the role appealed more and more. They are essentially growing at a rate of knots and tripping over their growth (very similar to RSL Care), and require someone to come into the organisation and build solid processes, policies and procedures to manage both the technology and growth. And that someone is me!
They vetted me through three interviews (final one in Sydney) and I was offered the role...

So I'm currently taking a week between jobs having finished my notice as of last Friday. It was quite emotional in the end - which in itself was a surprise - but in the end I'm glad I've been able to move on. My boss took me out for lunch and then in the afternoon my team organised an afternoon tea, with the usual speeches etc., then I was gone.

I'm starting tomorrow, and I'm beginning to get that nervous feeling... lots of questions running around my brain about the new place, but I'm trying to be calm about it.

Good News Week

“My name is Rowena and it’s been 6 weeks since my last operation.”

Just practicing for when I go to rehab. A lot of you probably thought I should have started rehab a long time ago but this is cardiac rehab. Sounds like fun, no?
Do you like my cow picture? Calf valve, get it? Now if I could just lose some weight I’d be a very happy little heifer. I really haven’t been eating all that much but I just can’t seem to stop grazing all day. Oh a-ha ha ha ha.
So how am I doing? Well, to be perfectly honest I’m actually a bit over it all being about me. So obviously I thought I’d write a blog all about myself. But Neil says that people want to know how I am. That’s very kind of you, thank you. I have a check up tomorrow and hopefully I will be given clearance to drive again (can’t wait) and perhaps start working again (can wait for that) and probably given permission to take these oh so attractive white surgery stockings off (hooray!). My chest seems to be healing up quite nicely. I’m still a bit stiff and sore some days but definitely improving. I’m still pretty unenergetic though and having a nap almost every day. I’m very disappointed in this but a visit recently to the GP (and more blood tests later, cos you know I didn’t get enough of that whacky fun in the hospital) had me diagnosed as being anaemic. Not due to my iron level but my haemoglobin level is still low. You may remember that a day or two after my op I had to be topped up with a couple of pints of blood (mmm, yummy) because my haemoglobin was really low. No blood transfusions this time, just some iron supplements to hopefully encourage my red blood cells to go forth and multiply. Have only been taking the iron tab’s for less than a week and it has only been 6 weeks since my open heart surgery.... so it’s possible that I’m expecting too much too soon (who me, impatient??!!) but I had high hopes that after the surgery I wouldn’t be so horribly fatigued all the time. I mean, that was the whole point of the operation right?! Oh yeah, and to increase my life expectancy past 40 years of age.
So that’s about how I’m doing. Maybe I’ll get Neil to take some photos of my scars to post to gross you all out. Oh and let me just say, I actually had 1300ml of fluid drained from my lung (not the 700ml they estimated in the hospital as per Neil’s earlier blog) and it was reeeally not a fun process. Especially when the tube got a kink in it and I was in excruciating pain for about 24 hours... But apart from that, I must say that I had excellent care. Thank you Prince Charles Hospital staff and Holy Spirit Intensive Care staff. There was one nurse of course (there’s always one). I won’t mention any names but I prefer to refer to her as Nurse-zilla or The Nurse-inator anyway. She, quite frankly, scared the living daylights out of me. But everybody else was just wonderful. Thank you again and thank you to my surgical team headed up by Dr Andrew Clarke. Great bloke. The anaesthetist was an interesting and helpful chap too. Can’t remember his name unfortunately but he quite accurately predicted that after the surgery I would feel like I’ve been run over by a truck. Indeed.
So in the next week or so things should hopefully start to get back into some semblance of a normal routine. Mum, who has put her life on hold to come down and look after me (again, a big thank you owed there) will be able to go home and reclaim her life. I know Dad is missing her and she him. Oscar, who’s behaviour has been fairly erratic the last two months or so, is starting to settle down. I won’t go into it but suffice to say his behaviour and emotions have been on a real rollercoaster, up and down almost minute to minute. However, in his good moments he’s been wonderfully caring towards me, fetching me drinks (with straws to make it easier for me, how cute), helping me out of bed and insisting on carrying things for me. Interestingly, Missy has also been out of sorts but is now starting to settle down. Neil has been magnificent, especially given the amount of stress he’s been under with work as well. He even put a little bell beside the bed for me so that I could ring for him. Awwww.