Hi all and welcome to our website.  I have successfully made it back from the US and am settled into my normal routine here in Sydney.  My dad was discharged a few days after I left and is back home recovering; yay!! I got back on Sydney time pretty easily and all my flights back went well.  Work has been good, not too overwhelming to come back to.  It is nice to be with Brandon and the cats again; they missed me!!  This is what my last week in Wisconsin and first week back in Australia entailed.

My parents and I had thought we would be in the hospital 4-5 nights, but due to some ups and downs and non life threatening complications, it ended up being longer than that.  Thankfully, I was able to extend my stay and do some laundry for Mom and I.  The hospital had good food options and Mom and I worked out a routine so that one of us could stay with Dad at all times.  He was feeling well enough off and on to play cards, do his sudoku, watch some Price is Right, and the Brewers.  Other times he would just want to rest and Mom and I would read.  Every day he exceeded his walking quota (4) and even was able to get outside once.  Stephani and family came to visit one day, a nice change and good to see them again.  The doctors were super cautious about pushing Dad’s body too fast as far as diet.  They said if they discharged him too soon, before they saw fit, and something happened at home, he would be just sent back to Milwaukee via ambulance.  Dad is a complex case and his body does not follow the textbook how to heal instructions.  He is a medical anomaly, as much as he and Mom would prefer otherwise.  This is why he had three surgical specialist teams responsible for him and checking on him multiple times a day.  I really hope and pray that the surgical repair was successful and that this was the beginning of the end of his medical issues.  Hopefully these 6 weeks of healing, then in the future, one last big surgery to go and it will be all good; back to a normal life.  They need it.  They deserve it. Peace and no more doctor visits.  Hoping and praying for an end in sight.

I had to head back to Australia before he was discharged.  I caught a ride with my cousin, his soon to be wife, and their dog back to my parents’.  I packed up my stuff, reorganized my suitcases and was ready to go.  I was able to meet up with Ciara and Brad for lunch, some silliness and shopping at the mall, and a ride to the airport.  It was good to see them again.  I was able to sleep on the long flight and Brandon met me at the airport.  We took an Uber back home and I unpacked.  My suitcase frame had bent funny this trip and when I went to bend it back, it snapped.  Good bye trusty suitcase!  I have had it for many years and we have been a lot of places together.  We were going to toss it, but the cats are too intrigued by it.  They like to sleep on it like a hammock, so it is just chilling in our living room for the moment.

This weekend, I worked Saturday, then Brandon and I went for a long walk around Annandale to enjoy the last bit of evening winter sun.  Sunday, we had church which was very chilly (old, damp building with no heat nor insulation…brrr!) then took the bus to Circular Quay.  We walked around the Harbour, Opera House, and Royal Botanical Garden.  We then searched for a cafe to have lunch at.  Many were closed on Sundays, so we went back to the Queen Victoria Building to be inside, out of the wind.  The Queen Victoria Building is celebrating its 120th year with some cool art displays.  We had a delicious lunch, and now are back home for the day.  I am posting this, hopefully going to nap, then make some soup for supper.   Have a great week all and Sydney friends-stay warm!!