It pays to be flexible
All in all, my first day in Victoria was not as I had planned. Given that my wrist was still very uncomfortable and during the previous day codeine had not been really touched the pain, a trip to an emergency department was in order. After disembarking the ferry (delayed because the car parked in front of me was missing its driver) I headed to to Barwon Hospital. emergency department.
The staff there were lovely. I was triaged, had all my details recorded (no, I had not had anything to do with Barwon Health before!) and sent to the first track waiting room to pass only a small amount of time before I saw a doctor. She, concerned about my pain, offered endone - I declined on the basis that I wanted to drive when I left the hospital and the pain wasn't bad enough, in my view, to need a drug that strong.
I was getting a bit worried about parking arrangements - my car was in a metered area and I needed to make sure that payment was done by nine o'clock. The doctor got me into x-ray really promptly then, advising the staff, I went for a brisk walk up the road and organised parking payment.
Back in the consulting area, a nurse came by and noting my use of a silk scarf as a sling, admired the silk but offered a more comfortable sling. I was slightly amused when she returned with a calico triangular bandage and had no idea how to use it to make a sling! I thought that was boy scout first aid 101! The consultant who accompanied the doctor to discuss the x-ray results gave a quick lesson.
And the good news was - not broken as far as they could determine! So my record of never having broken a bone remains unbroken! I did accept a prescription for codeine - I was still pretty uncomfortable.
And I was most impressed with the time I spent there - I was walking out of emergency by 9:30am despite hearing a couple of calls for "cat 2" or "cat 3" in emergency - which from experience I know triggers fast track like nothing else!
I returned to my car to message Susan that I was heading her way. Our plan for breakfast became plans for brunch. It took me about an hour and a half to get to her place - and I STILL hate that section around the Westgate Bridge. Susan hussled me off to a lovely cafe where we both had scrambled eggs for breakfast and persuaded me to stay the night rather than drive from Melbourne to Warragul and possibly camp! The thought of camping horrified her.
Given that I could change gear without expressions of pain, but still with discomfort, I was happy to accept her comfortable bed and spacious bathroom. in return I offered to cook a dinner of scallops - which I had in the eski.
After brunch I left Susan to her meeting and work and I headed off to deliver a box of goodies to Nina. It was delightful to meet her face to face for the first time albeit outside and keeping our distance. I do like the way so many people are so much more thoughtful of infecting others since we were all made aware of not spreading the plague!
I also met Taji, Nina's son, who is lovely. Both seemed appreciative of my pantry and garden goodies.
I continued on to deliver goodies to Christine's place - she was out but I had a cuppa and chat with Brian before returning to Susan's (via some tedious Melbourne traffic) and we started to prepare the ingredients for the scallops, consume a nice Ninth Island sparkling rose and talk non stop about all sorts of things.
I enjoyed meeting Susan's husband Charles, and think I made a reasonable impression with my scallop dish! We settled down after dinner to watch a movie and despite the fact that it was one I had picked, by 8:30pm I was flagging and retired for the night to a rather needed sleep.
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