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3 weeks in Australia

A busy 3 weeks in Australia.

My original travel plans had me staying in the US until I boarded a cruise in April, however with Renee’s passing, coupled with my health questions I decided to head back to Australia for a couple of reasons. I wanted to get checked out health wise. I had been Googling my health symptoms whilst in the US – always a dangerous thing to do – and what I had been experiencing according to Google could be indications of congestive heart failure, not something you want to read (Spoiler alert: it isn’t)

I also wanted to start checking out Queensland generally and Cairns specifically, with a view to buying my future home there. In terms of property, I have my house in Melbourne, currently tenanted out. It was mine and Ursi’s place that she turned into a home for us both, but after she passed away, I couldn’t bring myself to stay there, it was too painful. I left it after her funeral and had gone back to the UK to be with my family and friends there for 6 weeks, to deal with my grief.

When I returned to Australia, I never returned to the house to live and found a place to rent in Sydney, part of my healing process. I was indecisive in terms of what to do with it, but after 3 months I returned for a week and went through the painful process of clearing the house of everything, including Ursi’s things. Damien and Leah, Ursi’s adult children, were a great help as we went through everything deciding what to do with it. I then put the house up for rent as I couldn’t bring myself to sell it at that point.

A year on, I made the decision when I retired that I would sell the property and look for somewhere else, probably in Queensland, where the pace of life is slower, property is cheaper and the weather much better than Melbourne. Even though my relationship with Renee at that time was strong and growing stronger, I knew I would always want a base in Australia.

Cairns, a small town at the top of Queensland, is one of Ursi and my favourite places where we holidayed several times. It is a favourite holiday destination, and the relaxed vibe and small-town feel suits me just fine, if I can put up with the heat and humidity in Summer.

After I flew back to Sydney at the beginning of February, I checked in at my home from home, the Halls residence. Gabby and Russ are the closest and best of friends (Russ was best man at my wedding to Ursi, and Ursi considered Gabby as her pseudo daughter) and they graciously give me a bed in Sydney whilst I am technically homeless.

My first job when back was to check in with my Doctor. She is incredibly thorough and diligent. When I explained what had been going on in the US, specifically my breathing issues and my occasionally swollen ankles, she immediately whirred into action and organised a full body exam for me. I’ve said it before, but I continue to be so impressed with the Australian health care system. It is quick, efficient and largely free.

In the space of 10 minutes, she organised a whole series of examinations and tests over the next 2 weeks. They included.

• Prostate Exam including lower body Ultrasound

• Full Blood and Urine analysis

• Chest Ultrasound

• Doppler scans of both my legs and feet

• Ultrasound scan of my Heart

• CT contrast scan of my Heart and surrounding veins and arteries

• CT Contrast scan of my chest and lungs

• Full lung function test (this last one had to wait till I was next back in Sydney)

I told you she was thorough!

Whilst they were completed, I started to check out Cairns and the surrounding area for potential properties, to get a feel of pricing and options. This included a 5-day trip up to Cairns in the height of summer, to really look in detail at different suburbs and the small towns dotted up the coast north of Cairns to Port Douglas. It really is a beautiful part of the country and the trip pretty much cemented my decision to buy there.

By the time I got back to Sydney most of the test results were back. The summary was I was annoyingly very healthy, despite being badly overweight, with my heart, lungs, blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar levels all functioning extremely well.

That was great to hear, but it didn’t explain the shortness of breath symptoms or swelling feet I had experienced. Considered medical opinion suggested that it was probably anxiety and stress related, with the feet swelling a consequence of long hours sitting around in hospital. Whilst I was clearly upset and anxious with Renee through her final weeks, I hadn’t realised how much it was affecting me physically and subconsciously. I think, in part, it was compounded by having gone through a similar experience with Ursi 2 years before, there were a lot of flashbacks sitting in ICU with Renee, taking me back to sitting with Ursi through her final days too.

The symptoms I’d had stopped almost instantly when I had arrived back in Australia and before I embarked on the series of tests. I guess I chalk it down to experience.

It felt good to have such a clean bill of health and reinforced my confidence to continue my travel plans. As I’ve mentioned earlier, I had originally planned to stay in the US up till the end of April. Now I had 6 weeks or so to fill before my next milestone trip. Again, thanks to the power of online Karaoke, over the years I have developed friendships with several people in the Philippines, a country I have long wanted to visit.

A last-minute decision had me booking cheap flights to Manilla and contacting several friends across the Philippines to meet up through the month of March. That trip and adventures will be the subject of my next blog, so stay tuned 😊