Reporting From Gympie

I'm back in Queensland to visit Dad for a week. Vicki is back here too after a brief return home to visit her new house. This means we can share the load a bit in helping to look after Dad. His radiation treatment and chemotherapy started on Monday and will run for 28 sessions in all, which with weekends and Easter will take it up until the end of April.
Treatment involves driving down to the radiation clinic at Maroochydore each day, about a 90 minute trip each way, and occasional trips to Gympie and Nambour hospitals. Thankfully there have been no unpleasant side-effects yet and dad is managing the travel and treatment regime very well. We are all aware that it may get difficult and unpleasant as it progresses so we are enjoying the ease of this phase with gratitude. I had my first lesson (hands-on) in changing his colostomy bag today which wasn't quite as confronting in reality as it had been in my imagination. Dad has adjusted to it very well and the whole process is handled with a minimum of fuss.
Me being here meant that Vicki could take the day off and stay home today which is a welcome relief for her. I'll take driver/companion duties for the next few days while I'm here. I fly back to Victoria on Tuesday afternoon and return to work at 6 o'clock Wed morning.
Wed night I "receive" my Christmas present when I achieve a long-held ambition: to see Bruce Springsteen in concert, at Rod Laver Arena. I have been a big fan of The Boss since the early 80's but this is the first chance I've had to see him live.

I have 11 days off work in total and on the weekend just gone Jordy and I hired a truck and drove up to Mum's place at Tatong to collect the remainder of Vicki's furniture etc. The trip went well and Jordy was a great help and good company. He liked Mum's place and even said he might go back up on his own for a visit.

Over the last few weeks I have been collecting old railway sleepers from a railway stockpile (with permission) and bringing them home to cut up for firewood. I burnt out the motor of the powersaw I bought on ebay because the wood is too hard so I've graduated and bought myself a chainsaw! Woohoo! (Imagine Manly grunts and gestures). With an abundance of good quality firewood for the winter not only should the notoriously poikilothermic Mrs Holt Press stay warm but we might be able to sell off a couple of trailer-loads of firewood as well. Jordy and I will split the workload and the profits on the venture.

Finally I can't blog without saying how much I'm looking forward to the return of the footy season with the opening game tomorrow night. The Summer hiatus is almost over. Bring it on.