What it takes to have a night off work, lol and minor car blip :)

Posting is top of my to do list today, so here goes.  Have just got to remember I have the sprinklers on outside watering the garden so that hopefully my new lettuce plants survive.

Speaking of survival, both the car and myself have had near misses so to speak,  this last week. I was driving back from work just after midnight last Thursday night, admiring all the twinkling lights at the port, thinking how great it was to see lights on all through the night, much like the steel mill at home (kind of pyschological support when you live on your own and yes it was a long thought, lol) when glancing down, I noticed a light that said "engine", was on.  Eeek!!!!  Thinking that I was about to cook the engine, the dilemma was to keep going or stop,  but as I was still aways from home and not wanting to walk  at that time of night I decided to put a few words upstairs and crept home - about a mile.  I was going so slow it took me three goes to get up the hill which is my driveway,  and when I stopped the car, ?smoke/steam was pouring out from under the bonnet with that horrible rancid metal smell that indicates something is extremely hot.  I stood contemplating the car for a moment once I was out, pulled all my things out in case it was smoke not steam in case it was going to burst into flame any moment, then when it didn't immediately do that, left it over night to cool down.  The next morning I checked the oil and water - the radiator was nigh on empty and the oil was ok so topped up the radiator, nothing appeared to leak out anywhere and with a certain amount of trepidation, turned the engine on.  No light appeared, the car kicked over and woohoo it gets to live another day.  I need to get it to the garage for a service I guess as the last thing I need is for the engine to go bang on the way home from another night shift.

Had a nice evening on Saturday as I was invited to the exworkmates' place for dinner to celebrate their eldest daughter leaving school - where did the time go!!! ( and she has her full licence now).  Barbeque dinner and a fierce game of scrabble afterwards with Nana (as the grandparents are visiting for several weeks) Gerard and family friend.  The tiles were reasonably kind to me, I haven't played scrabble for ages and it was fun with all the banter around the table.  I was moving gingerly as after spraying weeds with roundup earlier in the week, then sitting for two days at a work conference, my back had gone out.  I was coming right but unthinkingly had lugged several heavy bags of groceries into the car prior to dinner and by the time I was ready to go home I could barely move.  Decided to have an earlyish night, took voltarin,  and woke up bright and early the next morning so thought I would check out the state of the nation on the computer for awhile, whilst  the rest of the world woke up.  I remembered I had washing to hang out so at 7am went out to the line and while I was (slowly) hanging out various items I started getting a pain in my chest.  It started as a sort of pressure and then seemed to get more and more somewhat back labour pains (for those playing at home) or an elephant with its foot on your chest .... Great I thought, I am standing here outside on the lawn with just a dressing gown on (was about to have a shower as well), and I am going to drop down dead on the lawn in all my glory, lol - charming indeed.  (I figure if you go to the worst scenario and work backwards, it is never so bad, lol).  I got back inside (phew) and not only was the pressure getting heavier, I started getting pains in my jaw and pressure/pain in my left arm and for good measure felt like I wanted to throw up.  Went to go to the loo in case of being sick and decided I needed to sit instead.  Great, now I am in another position where I could die in extremis as have heard tales that a lot of people die on the loo with a heart attack ( it is getting better and better by the moment).  I have also heard that if you think you are having a heart attack you should cough, so there I was sitting and coughing and when able to move again, hied myself out of there.   OK, now I was getting a little more concerned and as I was thinking - drive or ambulance to the hospital to get this checked out, friend Donna rang.  She was being smart on the phone at the start thinking she had woken me up until I groaned and as soon as I told her how I felt, she dropped everything and zoomed over to take me to the hospital.  I opened the front door (again in case I karked it on the spot, lol) and went to throw some clothes on and not long after Donna arrived. Fortunately I had piles of laundry on the bed, grabbed knickers, threw a sleeveless dress/long top and a pair of jeans on.   Got to the hospital which is not far away and after explaining symptoms, was whisked straight into A&E and into a bed. They put an oxygen mask on me (nearly made me gag and felt very claustrophobic at first), then put my finger in something like a peg (I think that reads oxygen stats) and a blood pressure gizmo on my arm that continued to take my blood pressure automatically every 15 mins or so for the rest of the day.  Someone came and took blood and was so good at it, I didn't realise till later that she had put a leur in as well.  While that was happening, another nurse started placing these round plastic dots  with what looked like a dome in the middle about my person and then was hooked up by a variety of plastic wires to the heart monitor.  The good news is that the results were pleasingly dull and boring, all was well.  The nurse came to explain what they were doing by taking bloods and apologised for using technical terms to start with.  I said I knew exactly what she was talking about as I had worked on the heart ward at home (albeit as a social worker but I learned the lingo, just not how to read the heart monitors which is no bad thing for a social worker, lol) and to fire away.  I knew that if I had had a heart attack it would show in the troponim levels in my blood - an amazing diagnostic tool that can  tell when and if an attack  has occurred - something to do with enzymes in the blood.  Mine were negative but the hospital protocol is you have to stay there for 8 hrs for another blood test to make sure before you are sent home.  Somewhere around 10.30am I asked if I could pay a visit to the loo as my eyes were about crossing and after being unhooked, got there and had to laugh - a whole new meaning to not getting your knickers in a twist when I found that in my daze, I had mine on back to front.  I thought they felt a little unusual but on a scale of 1 - 10, at the time, that was not the end I was most concerned about.

I have to say, the staff were amazing and I felt I was in very good hands.  I was moved to a side room as time went on with another woman who was having angina for real and who was later sent by air with the Flying Doctors to Perth for more specialised treatment ( she had been having angina for three days and was diabetic to boot !!!).  I was given asprin early in the piece to take and by 11am was feeling a little peckish.  Was given sandwiches and then must have dozed and missed lunch so was given more sandwiches with apologies late afternoon.  Got to experience watching tv in hospital - the screen fixed from the ceiling above the foot of the bed, hand controls much the same as the controls to move the bed and the speaker/volume of the tv is in the hand control so several people can watch different channels and nothing can be heard much further than the bed you are in - brilliant, can I take one of them home, lol.  Dozed in and out of watching a V8 race - part of the series which finishes this coming weekend,  and then the beginning of the "Return of the Pink Panther",  which looks so dated now. As my 8 hrs were coming to an end, another blood test was taken, all normal and was allowed to go. They took the blood from the leur and unfortunately the protocol for doing that is the first 5ml is thrown away and the next amount drawn up can be tested (in case of impurities), so that was a bit of a challenge to lie still while needles were about my person.  This week I have to have a cholesterol blood test done and have to do a stress test.  I have to say I felt a complete fraud after the first hour with nothing further happening, not even a twinge of anything but was reassured I had done the right thing at the time.  They gave me a medical certificate for work for that night and then it was time to go home again. 

The workmate had said the night before, why didn't I ring them when the car was on the blink the previous night, they would have come and got me, so I had promised if I needed help again I would ring,-  so rang her phone - no answer, rang Gerard - no answer, rang eldest daughter- no answer and last but not least rang the home and this time got Nana who said everyone was at work but Grandad was out and about picking one of the boys up and he would come and get me.  I found a seat outside the hospital and was happy to sit in the afternoon sun which warmed up my bones without being unpleasant and was just day dreaming away when   popped up one of my ex Tardun neighbours beside me.  She had been driving along the highway, past the workmates car which had broken down just after picking up the others from work and even though she was on the way to a birthday party with her two young boys, she deviated to come and pick me up to drop me home. Bless.  Am happy to report all is well since.  Had an early night Sunday, slow day Monday with an afternoon sleep then worked night shift and then slept again yesterday afternoon and am now back in sync again.  One of the nurses at the time said there could be a variety of reasons for the pain/pressure I experienced, reflux, gall stones etc etc so will just have to see how things go.  The other thing I am thinking is that my whole system is out of whack with my back out, so it could be something to do with that.  Watch this space.  The good thing is if I get a similar pain again, I will take an asprin and if not gone in half an hour, will have to do the whole process again.  Forgot to mention they took an xray as well so not sure when I will hear about what that indicated if anything.

Have just rung for an apt at the chiropractors and realised it is Wednesday, not Tuesday like I thought and I have missed the Rotary meeting this morning - buggar.  (small pause while I go and turn the hose off).  Donna and I both weighed in at weight watchers last night and despite all odds I have lost 1.2k over the past two weeks.  I was extremely surprised at that as last week I was at conference for two days (previously mentioned) and the food there was rubbish.  All scones with cream, pastries, and very unappetising dinner of buttered chicken and horrible braised steak, lots of bread and pasta and bowls and bowls of lollies on the tables during the day.  The venue was sited right on the coast on the main highway to Perth with beautiful views of ocean, port and sand dunes.  Inside think 1970's budget hotel as to decor etc.  The conference itself ranged from tedious to slightly interesting though the murder mystery dinner the first night was a lot of fun.  We all got dressed up, most were Hollywood stars or other famous musicians and you had to ask one and all who they were and what was their clue to piece it all together.  It was great to see all the costumes and watch people get into character.  My CSI training came in handy, lol, I guessed the who but not exactly how.  It was reasonably obscure and I thought it had to be from exactly the clues we were given which it wasn't.  All good fun though and a great way of mixing people up.

Big news of the day today is the visit by Barrack Obama to Australia.  He will be in Canberra today which is pretty much in lock down mode by all reports on the tv, and is flying to Darwin tomorrow where he and Julia Guillard are announcing closer military ties of some sort - again according to the reports I am listening to with half an ear - have just heard next report and marines are going to have a base in Darwin -- hmmm wonder if any jobs are going up that way, lol.   He has bought his Presidential limo with him, all bullet proofed etc but egg on the faces of the men in black, who left info in a rental car with most of the President's movements today.  Big oooooops.  It was noted he comes with more security people than the Queen did when she was here earlier in the month ....

Am about to go out into the garden to peruse and clip dead heads of some plants.  Am eating cherry tomatoes daily off my plants and I see a couple of beans are ready.  Have planted new bean plants and am hoping the locusts have all moved on as about three plants only survived from the last batch.  I want to mow the lawns but not sure how sensible that is with my back being the way it is.  A pox on feeble body parts!!!!  I did carefully, spray the weeds out front yesterday morning as it must have been the only windless morning in weeks.  Did not lift the container of spray this time but moved it about on the ground slightly bending to spray - all good with no ill effects afterwards that I noticed.  The weeds out the back are dead or suitably dying so have been picking them out of the path which is beginning to look great again.  Have forgotten whether I mentioned the purchase of a worm farm in my last post and am happy to report the worms appear to be growing and multiplying and I have fed them the first lot of vegetable scraps.  Am disposing of all poisoned weeds at the tip so none of those going in the compost or to the worms. 

Am feeling peckish and it is time for lunch. Will go harvest some more tomatoes and work from there - have some ham in the fridge so may make a mini pizza, hmmmm choices.  Air Force 1 has landed, 20 mins early as he arrived with a tail wind.  Non-stop reporting on telly for the afternoon such is the newsworthiness of it all. 

And just in case anyone is concerned about my dramatics above: I AM ALL GOOD :):):)