Old journal entries in Back entries: 2013 - 2015

The following entry is an edited version of what I wrote in a heap of journals back in 2002...Originally posted online in October 2007. 24 November 2002: My first diary thing since 1995, so just a very quick update. 1). I grazed both of my knees, rushing to meet Mike the other day. 2). Have gained two kilos in weight over the past few days. Want to lose it. 3). Got a bit worried about a friend recently. He’s been saying he’s going to die soon, he’s seen death, that sort of thing. Not sure what to make of it. 4). We went whale watching last week. I ended up sending Mike off to find some paper bags, as I ended up feeling seasick. Still got to see some whales, so I was happy.

28 November 2002: I dreamt of dogs last night. Three dogs had their leads tangled up in the garage of my grandparents place. One of them (a Jack Russell) wouldn’t leave me alone. I was trying to eat a pasta dish, and he was all over me. So I ended up shutting the door to the kitchen on him to eat in peace. The only other bit of my dream that I can remember was that my grandmother had to go to hospital, so Grandad and I dropped her off.

29 November 2002: We went to the casino today to meet Hazel, Mike’s sister, and Rena, Mike’s mother. After lunch, we paired off and wondered round the casino for a while. Mike and I won $78 between us. I’m not sure how Hazel and Rena faired, because they stayed on after we left. Mike isn’t a huge fan of gambling, so we didn’t stay for very long.

1 December 2002: Dreamt about snakes last night. I am sitting in a room full of people and I spot an upside down red box near one of the seats nearby. There is a bit of material over the top, and a lump in the material. I let someone know about it, before the lights go out and the odd torch comes on.

I then hear a voice saying that they were going to take a look at it. Then, silence. The torchlight goes out, and I yell for someone to turn on the light. I later find out that the person who had gone to the box and the other person who I’d tried to talk to had both been bitten by a snake, which was the lump under the material. Both people had passed away. The person who had gone to the box had been bitten at the back of his throat – the snake had worked his way into his mouth as soon as the person opened it.

8 December 2002: My brother’s twenty years old today. I forgot to include yesterday’s dream in yesterday’s entry. I dreamt that Mike wouldn’t let me have any hobbies outside the flat. If I did, he would kick me out. I would have to live with one of Rena’s neighbours. Next we are in a building getting some photocopying from a magazine. I have a book to hand back but I can’t find where it belongs so I leave it in the toilet on a windowsill. I hope that the cleaner who’s tidying the toilets doesn’t give the book back to me. I then find that I’m walking out of the bedroom here in the flat. I look at the closed bathroom door. There’s a figure in black loose cloth standing there. I notice it’s shorter than me. There’s a taller figure next to the first, also in black. I’m sure that the taller one is Mike, and I got the impression the shorter one is my brother.

19 March 2003: Mike has had to book some time off work sick as he has a sore throat and a lump on his throat.

21 March 2003: Mike was told by the doctor today to go to the hospital to get the lump seen to. I went with him. I ended up leaving the hospital waiting room at around 8.15 this evening after Mike got checked in and told me to go home. The lump is an infection gone wrong just under the skin. He rang a bit later to let me know which ward they put him in, and told me that the doctor has removed some of the lump. However the plan is to flush the rest out with antibiotics.

23 March 2003: Mike told me that he’s to have the operation to remove the rest of the lump tomorrow. He’s telephoned Steve and Kylie from a payphone about visiting them soon for a weekend. We both kept dropping off to sleep today. Neither of us has had a good deal of sleep – Mike finds the hospital beds a little uncomfortable and I’ve had several very late nights recently.

25 March 2003: Well, Mike’s still not had the operation. His doctor told him that he wants the operation to go ahead, but his boss recommends that Mike should remain on the antibiotics for the time being. It’s been a long day, and all I want to do is go to bed, so I’ll write more of the days events tomorrow.

26 March 2003: Mike’s finally home, he was let out this morning.

He’s had all sorts of fun and games at the hospital over the past twenty-four hours. After I left Mike to go to college last night, the nurse realized that she had mislaid one of his medical charts. Mike told me that she asked him if I’d picked it up by mistake, and then said that she’d contact me and tell me to return to the hospital with it. The only thing was that she found it shortly afterwards.

Mike had to go for a scan at one point, and when he returned he found his dinner waiting for him. He had the option of having either salmon and salad or lamb in plum sauce. He’d chosen the lamb, but made a point of saying that he didn’t want any plum sauce with it. When he returned to his ward, he found he’d been given the salmon and salad instead. He told the nurse that he was given the wrong meal, and what he actually wanted. The nurse turned round and said that he’d received what he’d asked for – the salmon looking item on the plate wasn’t salmon at all! At that point, Mike got up and went to McDonalds.

This morning, Mike wasn’t happy with the head nurse. She came round, checking that the patients hadn’t had any bedsores. She thought Mike’d been in for twenty-four hours. His admission date was on a slip of paper on the wall behind him, in clear handwriting – Mike wasn’t too happy that she’d said that. Mike still has to have the operation, and has an appointment early next week about it.

I'll do this last snippet in a slightly different format I think: At around 7.05 p.m., on 28 March 2003, our train pulled in to Steve’s town. Steve met us at the station, he’d brought Andrew (his stepson, aged around nine or so) and Ben (aged around two) with him. Mike and Steve caught up on their news on the way home, while Ben pointed out passing streetlights to me. Got to Steve’s place, and was introduced to Kylie and Nick (aged around ten months to a year old). On 29 March, we had a barbeque. Although Mike fell asleep pretty much straight away, I had problems. In the end, I gave up as I heard the burglar alarm go off, and then Nick woke up crying. Went out and sat in the living room and talked to Steve as he tried to get Nick off to sleep again.

Once we were all back in our rooms again, Ben woke up. He wanted to watch Bob the Builder. So Steve went out in to the living room again and put a video of Bob on to appease Ben. I ended up getting up again, as I figured if I stayed in bed I’d just toss and turn and wake Mike up. Last thing I remember was going back in to the bedroom again. I must have fallen asleep, because I woke up again to hear Ben crying. He wanted to watch Bob the Builder again, and neither Steve nor Kylie wanted to get up and put it on. After a while, Nick woke up and started crying.

On 30 March, Mike and I decided to go and take a few photos of the area. In the end, all seven of us went in Steve’s land rover. After a while, Steve decided to take us up a dirt track. As it had been raining the night before, the track was rather boggy and one of the vehicle’s front tires got stuck. So I remained in the car with Ben and Nick while everyone else bundled out to find sticks and the like to try and help get it unstuck. I think Steve ended up using his car jack in the end, I can’t remember. I do remember Ben getting rather frustrated and wanting to get out after a while. Nick was very quiet through the whole thing.

On 31 March, after packing up and getting ready to catch our train back, Mike decided to take me to a local pizzeria for tea. The pizza we had was soaked in oil. Mike ate practically all of it. Then he complained about how much he hated it. When I pointed out how much of it he’d eaten and that it couldn’t have been that bad, he replied by saying he was hungry. Got home around ten p.m.