Mrs Jo-Anne Meadows
P O Box 253
Warners Bay
NSW 2282
Thursday 13th September 2018
Dear
Well
here I am writing another letter to you, it was great to hear from
you again, life here is good more or less. I had a cortisone
injection into my left shoulder on Tuesday and it has made a big
difference in the pain and movement.
The
Monday before last I went and got another tattoo it says “My Blain”
and is on my back left shoulder, I had wanted it on my left hand but
because of how much I was shaking they wouldn't do it on the hand.
I
went back to my aqua class this week because of the new tattoo I had
to miss this weeks aqua class .
My
brother is still driving our parents car and is looking for another
car he has been paid out by the insurance company and as he is using
mum & dad's car he isn't rushing to buy a car. My sister still
ended up having to pay the parking ticket.
Reading
about Paige's accident was distressing, she was very lucky and she
is going to have a long hard year ahead of her but she has a loving
and supportive family around her.
The
Saturday before we left for China I went to Landon's 6th
birthday party I had planned to
take
Leo with me but he said he didn't want to go, however, after I had
been there for about 5 minutes Jessica rings and said that Leo had
changed his mind and now wanted to attend. My sister Sandra &
brother Dave went and picked him up and of course he had a ball and
didn't want to leave when I said it was time to go.
I wish mum had been able to attend but my
siblings didn't think it would be a good idea and told her she had to
stay home. I really miss catching up with mum, yes I do still speak
to her every night for half an hour or more but I still miss her.
It
takes Jessica about 30 minutes to walk from her place to here and
around 20 minutes to walk from her house to the shopping centre to
meet me on Friday mornings. I do like seeing her on a Friday morning
and look forward to seeing her each Friday.
We
had a great holiday, although it was somewhat hard on me and Tim kept
saying it will be our last overseas holiday as I am not up to doing
them, that said I still want to take a cruise to New Zealand, Tim has
said if I can lose 20kilos and manage to walk better we can do one. I
think he is being unreasonable.
We
caught the train to Sydney and spent the night at the hotel opposite
the airport. Yes it is expensive to stay there but it's the
convenience of being just a short walk from the airport.
When
we went to Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City I was able to be
pushed around in a wheelchair they had a wheelchair service available
that cost us $60 Australian but was well worth it. The lady who
pushed me around didn't speak English but was so nice, at the start
of the tour I got out and walked down some stairs but when it came to
walking up the next set of stairs I fell as I was standing up after
that she wouldn’t let me try and instead pulled me up the stairs as
well as pushing me down the stairs. Thankfully the steps were only
low and not high but I felt terrible, although I do not know how I
would have managed walking up and down the stairs.
The
next day we went to see the Great Wall, which was awesome I didn't
even attempt to climb it, Tim did but he didn't go very far and ended
up joining me in the gift shops. We bought some souvenirs and then
had an ice cream, well Tim had an ice cream and I had a yoghurt cone
which was really nice.
The
following afternoon we had a Rickshaw ride and our tour guide was
able to arrange for the rickshaw to pick me up at the end of the
street saving me a long ass walk. The rickshaw ride was lovely I
really enjoyed it, after the ride we went for a meal in a typical
family home, how typical it was I do not know but I found it
enjoyable, well not the food, the food wasn't to my liking but the
experience was enjoyable.
The
home was tiny, the bedroom was up a narrow flight of stairs from the
courtyard and the kitchen was tiny the size of my bathroom or laundry
and they had no toilet or shower those where located in the lane way
and shared between the houses in the area.The next day there was a
visit to the Beijing Zoo to see the giant pandas but I didn't get to
see them as I waited in the bus our tour guide suggested I stay in
the bus due to the crowd and our far they had to walk. So Tim took
photos for me.
We
then took the bullet train from Beijing to Shanghai were we where
met by another tour guide, our first day with him I attempted to walk
from the bus to the lake for a boat ride. I didn't make it and broke
down due to the pain and how much I was struggling and ended up just
going back to the bus.
Tim
got upset because he didn't like to see me in tears and he had a talk
to the tour guide and the next couple of days there was a wheelchair
on the bus for me to use. This made things easier for me.
The
Beijing part of the holiday was super busy the Shanghai part not as
much, both tour guides were nice and a bit different. I am glad we
went but I was also glad to get home to my own bath and bed.
Thankfully
I didn't have to use a squat toilet but Tim wasn't so lucky while
using the toilet at a service station he found they only had squat
toilets.
The
other people on the tour were amazing, the left the front two seats
on the bus for me and Tim and many of them told me that they thought
I was doing great just being on the tour.
All
in all it was a great holiday and I was thankful that I had
wheelchair service at the airports, after checking in someone with a
wheelchair came and got me and took me to the departure gate and
later onto the plane.
When
we got off the plane there was a wheelchair there to take me out
again, so much easier for me.
While
in China Tim noticed that my jaw moves a lot, I noticed it a couple
of months back but didn't say anything to anyone about it. I also
found a letter here when we got back saying I have an appointment on
the 31st October with the neurologist, this has made Tim
happy.
Both
mum and dad are home although when I was in China dad was in hospital
yet again even though he is home he isn't great and on Saturday when
the nurse went to see him she wanted to ring the ambos again but both
Sandy & Dave said no as it was Father's Day on Sunday. Dad has
been saying he things it would be his last Father's Day but we
naturally hope he is wrong.
Although
their GP has told dad it is unlikely he will live out the year and
has arranged for palliative care for dad and has stressed that he
will not survive another serious bout of pneumonia this is
distressing but is also a fact of life we all have to deal with.
Also
while we were in China Tim's youngest brother John died he was only
31and he died of a heart attack, John was taken into care when he was
only 6mths old because his mother was neglecting him.
Even
though he was Tim's brother we didn't know him, I had never met him
and Tim had only seen him a few times in his life. We both attended
the funeral as did his sisters Jenny & Dianne as well as their
father.
However,
I told Tim he was really more the child of the people who raised him
since he was 6 months old, we only knew 6 people at the funeral as
pretty much everyone who attended were the family that raised him.
Tim
believes deaths come in threes and said after the funeral he wondered
who would be next, I thought but did not say it can be your father
not mine although my dad isn't well at all and Tim thinks it will be
my dad who goes next.
Well
that's all from me for this letter, until next time take care and
write when you can. I hope I haven't repeated myself, which some
times I do if so please forgive me.
Jo-Anne
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