recovering

Well everyone,
Just letting you know that I have been into hospital and had some abdominal surgery.  The operation went for three hours and we are now just waiting on pathology reports from the bits that we removed.
The surgeon managed to do the surgery Laparoscopically - So I only have 4 small incisions on my abdomen.  I have been told to expect a 6 - 8 week recovery phase and that I have to wear my 'sexy white DVT stockings' for 2 weeks.  Not too bad so far, but if we have any really hot days - I am not sure how I will cope, as they do feel hot most of the time.
I have also been told that it will be about two weeks before we get the pathology back, so will keep you up to date when I know anything.
Darryl is looking after me and I set out work to do, before I had the surgery, so that I don't have to lift anything 'heavier than 2 telephone books'.
Our repair work, at this stage, is at a standstill.  Once I am able to get up the stairs Darryl says he will do a bit more up there.
So no caravanning for the time being :C
But will be a good opportunity to get the vans servicing done :D So it will be ready once I am able to help set up.

our long trip curtailed for the time being....

Well we went out to Canungra on the 8th June to visit with our camping friends to to celebrate not 1 but 4 birthdays in the coming weeks.
We had a lovely day up in the hills with a very overcast day BUT a great day with friends.
Sunday 9th we made our way to Jimboomba for Gemma's birthday - a whole 7.  She had a lovely afternoon tea with family and on the Monday she was having some friends around for a play day.

Monday 10th - I awoke being very unsteady, a terrible head-cold feeling, sore throat and not 100%.  We were supposed to go up to Tamborine mountain to see our dear friends John and Gloria - but I decided that it was best not to spread the bug. Late that afternoon Ronnie came down to say that she had heard on the TV that a man had been killed on Tamborine by a bus rolling over him.  We tried to contact John and Gloria but could not get through.  [See John ran Tamborine Tours with his buses - so we hoped and prayed it was not him].  We finally got through to the home number and a lady confirmed our worst fears..... John had been working on the bus in the driveway when the accident occured.  Unfortunately emergency services were unable to save him.  A feeling of utter despair filled our lives.  Gloria - of course - was not available to talk.  We then decided to travel to Tamborine in the morning.  Bugger the bugs we needed to be there for our friend of 39 years.

What an emotional rollercoaster we had during the week.  Any thoughts of John and Gloria and we were instantly wiping away tears - and so it still happens now. :( 
We left Gloria on Tuesday at about 2pm as we had to travel back home and pick up Ronnie to go to Jimboomba for Bradleys 14th Birthday. 

Wednesday we headed down to the Gold Coast and collected the van and took it home again.

We were up the mountain again on Thursday helping where we could and then on Friday we were again on the Mountain for the Memorial service for our dear friend.  It was a long day but the show of support and respect from the whole community was fantastic.  The Presbyterian Church was full to overflowing and some were left standing. The wake at the Witches Falls Cheese factory and brewery was a nice finish to an emotional day.  We left the mountain and headed home as we had to go to Cleveland for dinner to celebrate Darryl's birthday.

We had a quite weekend at home and during the week we tended to  household things.
We are still struck by the senslessness of John's untimely death and the tragedy of it all.
We have decided that we will do weekends away with our campertrailer friends and the ACC but we will not be making any really big trips for the time being.  We do have two National meets to go to - one in September and one in October - we have not cancelled our presence at them yet but will work it out in the weeks to come.
There are things that we need to do at home and we want to be here for Gloria when all the comings and goings dwindle and the business starts to settle down again.

So for now we will be around the south east area of Queensland and we will plan a longer journey for 2014.

busy time

Hi all,
We finished off November with the sad news of the passing of Darryl's Aunty Shirley Svensson.  So on the 29th Novvember Darryl and I headed to Sydney going down the New England Highway to Lithgow which took 13 1/2 hours, onto Sydney on the Friday for her funeral and back to Lithgow and on the Saturday we had the 15 hour journey back home.  It was a very tiring few days but it was good to be able to get to Sydney to represent Mum Walkers line of the family.

Well we have had many doctors appointments over the past few weeks and have got the clear from ost of them.
We have some blood tests to dao and some x-Rays/US scan to get done and then we will await the results.
We were to go away with our Caravan group this weekend but we had to cancel :(
We have got a dentist appointment tomorrow afternoon and hopefully the XRays and  a booking for the US scan.
We will then have a busy week with preparing the van for our trip south for Christmas.  Buster is due in to have another haircut (so he will be lovely and cool in Wagga Wagga) and then Beckie and the family will be here on Thursday  Friday.
We have had word that our young friends from LifEuphoria (2 of them at least ) will be here - hopefully on Sunday.  Will have to put on a BBQ for them.  It will be good to Jimmy and Nick - last time we saw them was in Port Hedland WA.
Markus has returned to Germany to be with his family and Tommy is back in the UK with his family.
All I can say is -
Have a very Happy and Safe Christmas and may 2013 be very good to all.
Love
Barb, Darryl and Buster
corrected for a typo :)