The End Is Nigh – But Not in a Bad Way

3 July – 17 July 2025

Our sojourn ended all too soon and we found ourselves back in the big smoke. Well, Mount Cotton anyway. Peter had an MRI booked before his surgery, we got that tucked away and I delivered him to St Andrews War Memorial Hospital in Spring Hill on July the 3^rd, the op was the following day, and we had hoped to have him home the day after.

The gallbladder was removed without a hitch, but some stones were outside of the bladder and were proving difficult to remove. Peter’s surgeon had foreshadowed this, so we weren’t surprised or overly worried when we were told that they would keep Peter in hospital and try a different procedure to remove the troublesome stones. His next procedure was booked in for July the 8^th.

Just a side note, Spring Hill is an inner-city suburb. Nothing wrong with that, unless like me, you’re not comfortable driving a vehicle the size of a tank through the city. Getting lost, then having to circle the hospital several times hunting down a parking space. Then, when you do spot one, you find yourself parallel parking between a Porshe and Mercedes in an opening big enough for a standard sedan, not a tank. (FYI no car was hurt during the parking of our vehicle).

I won’t even go into the traffic, which turned a half hour drive into a forty-five-, or ninety-minute drive home. Suffice to say a couple of wines were welcome each evening.            

Peter’s second operation to retrieve the missing stones was successful. The surgeon removed about a tablespoon of “gravel” which would have proven problematic for Peter down the track, and he was discharged the following day.

I’d like to say I enjoyed my ‘home alone’ time, but I didn’t. I missed Peter too much.

Peter had a fair amount of post-op pain, so we stayed at Greenacres caravan park until the 17^th of July, giving him ample time to convalesce.

So, ‘The end is nigh’, is now simply, ‘The end’; our waiting period is over. Mum is still doing well, my next follow-up isn’t until November, Peter’s gallbladder has been dealt with, Chunky Bum & Arnie are both in good shape, and we are free to travel again. It’s only taken us ten months.

Where to next? I hear you ask, well your guess is as good as ours. Well not quite, we know we’re heading north then west, but will we make it to WA as we’d hoped? Let’s just see where the road takes us.

See you out there somewhere

On tow and on the go!