Bed Ladder

My hip replacement surgery date keeps being pushed back by more urgent cases. It's going backwards at the rate of 2 months every month - current estimate is October/November (it was supposed to be this month!). This is because I'm listed as a Category 3 patient (non-urgent), so anyone at a higher need pushes me down the list. Unfortunately Canberra has the longest waiting lists in the country, at the moment.

I was feeling pretty despondent about this all, so I called my surgeon last week and spoke with his lovely nurse / secretary Karen. She said Dr Smith only has 1.5 public patient surgery days a month, which equates to 3-6 surgeries, so it could be another 6 - 8 months (in addition to the 10 months I've already been waiting) before I'd finally get my operation, which I'm not happy about. (For non-Aussies : "public patients" means those chosing to be covered by the Australian government health care system, Medicare, which provides subsidised medical care and free hospital treatment for all citizens.)

Karen made the very sensible suggestion of seeing my GP to have my category revised - I think I'd qualify as a Category 2 now (surgery within 90 days), as my level of disability is increasing daily. I need to use a 'sock aid' to put my socks on now, am in pain most of the time, and am using a walking stick whenever I'm out. I'm also needing extra pain killers to sleep through the night.

So I'm seeing my GP tomorrow. Fingers crossed!

I wanted to show you something clever my husband made for me - a bed ladder! It's basically just a rope ladder with dowel rungs. You tie the ends to the foot of your bed, and use the rungs to 'climb' yourself into an upright position.

An easier and cheaper solution than those overhead 'trapeze' grips, like is used in hospital. I'll use this once I'm home from hospital and needing help to sit up in bed.



Mind you, he used this as an excuse to buy himself a drill press! I figure it's a fair cop, though ;)

The main downside of this design is you still need to have someone position the ladder on top of the bed, while you're in it, it's not so easy to get into position yourself when in bed. Hmmm, maybe there's a way of letting it hang down the side, and adding a tether to hold it in position? There is a rather nifty cloth strap version which has solved this particular problem. I'll have to see what improvements we can make!

Here's your Petal photo for today :

Chihuahuas are solar powered puppies - this is her favourite spot in the mornings, up on the couch, in a little cushiony bed, with her ball, in the sun!

Was that just one week?

It's been a busy time!

Last week I dropped my strip off at the NGA, and Dotter and I got to meet Magda Sayeg, the American woman who started Knitta Please! We had a great 10 minute chat about knit graffiti, and got to see her in action, sewing (and gluing) striped panels onto the bollards. Unfortunately we missed out on meeting Denise of grrl+dog, who was running a bit late driving down from Sydney ...

Last week this happened too : Dotter turned 18!

There was a big lunchtime party at our place on the day (Wednesday), with her school friends. She didn't want junk food (good girl!), but this meant I was cooking nearly all day - home-made chocolate cake, bran muffins, pizza toasts, popcorn ... one of her friends brought penis straws, but we'll gloss over that! There was champagne with the cake, but no other alcohol. She had 3 friends sleep over too, and I made a big dinner for that as well. The extended family lunch is this weekend.



Amongst other gifts (a gold and diamond ring being the main event), I made her a Nautie, which she loves! Cleckheaton Vintage Hues for the shell ...

In the midst of all this my agent urgently needed me to write of 4 new Gourmet crosswords for Reader's Digest. Aaah! Still, they got done, and it's rather cool to be getting work in Reader's Digest's new puzzle booklets (which I've yet to see, not sure when they're coming out).

On the weekend Dotter and I went to the NGA to see the final wrapped columns! Aren't they SPECTACULAR? You can see the Gallery's photos on Flickr here.


See the arrow? Yeah, that's where my strip was. Third from the top. So high up that you couldn't see the cables. Ah well, I knew they were there!

This was the seventh pole. What struck me was how many people were stopping, touching the strips, looking, talking, taking photos ... it was inspiring.

I've also had several long lost friends come over for lunches - the Clapotis has gone to its very happy new owner - and even met up with an old friend from graphic design college days (through the wonder of Facebook!).

I'm currently busy as Technical Editor on Spanish Word Games for Dummies - thankfully I don't need to know Spanish too much to do this job (there is a second TE who is checking the language in detail). A fun project. Work is going a little slowly as I often seem to end up working one handed, cos of this little bundle of nips and joy, who needs to be cuddled and wrapped in woollen shawls, resting on my arm, to stay warm (or so she tells me) :

All together now ... aaawwwwwwwwwww

Now I just need to shake this dratted cough, and all will be well!

Wrap a pole

Tomorrow I'm taking my somewhat wonky cabled strip (~10 x 140 cm) to the National Gallery of Australia, to be sewn onto one of the six huge concrete poles at the entrance to the gallery. This is a Knitta Please public art project. It'll be fun to see my little cabled strip included in what promises to be quite a stunning display!



Here's the info from the NGA site :

Stitching up the NGA

Knitta Please covered an entire bus in wool at Plaza Luis in Cabrera in Mexico City in 2008.
Photo by Magda Sayeg, founder of Knitta Please

Tuesday 7 July – Sunday 12 July | Gallery foyer | Free

Be a part of this daring community project to transform the front entrance and foyer of the National Gallery of Australia with knitting.

From Tuesday 7 to Sunday 12 July, Knitta Please founder Magda Sayeg and Sydney artist Denise Litchfield, with a team of volunteers, will transform the front entrance and foyer of the National Gallery of Australia. Knitta Please is a tag crew of knitters who turned their frustration with their half-finished knitting projects into a phenomenon sweeping across the world.

Knitters are invited to help create pieces that measure 10–20 cm wide and 140 cm long, which will be stitched together to create coverings for 6 large concrete poles at the front of the National Gallery of Australia. Any colour, yarn and technique is accepted—the brighter and wackier, the better!