The joys of medical appointments
Fish Tank – ED Waiting Room, Royal Children’s Hospital
Before I launch into my current interesting situation, I must say up front I think our public health system is a wonderful thing and we must protect it at all costs!
However, there are times when I wish I was just “going private” and this is one of them! Yes, we do have private health insurance but right now the gap would be a bit beyond the budget, besides we’d probably end up at the RCH anyway.
Mr O Jnr 2 has a bit of a problem with his feet and/or lower legs. He tends to fall over his feet and walks with both feet at almost 45 degree angles (inwards). Dad says “But he was born like that”. I think we can improve the situation. When he was playing soccer, he would be limping badly by the end of the game. He denies he is in pain, but he must be to be limping, I think. If he has lived with this all his life, he would know no different, I guess.
Anyway, I consulted our GP (general practitioner) who suggested he be assessed by an orthopaedic specialist at the Royal Children’s Hospital. I asked whether we needed a referral. No, was the response, so I called the RCH. No, I needed a referral. OK, back to the GP. Got the referral and some x-rays!
On February 22 I faxed the referral to the RCH and hoped I wouldn’t lose the x-rays before we got an appointment. 
On March 8 I received a text message telling me I would be advised when we were allocated an appointment.
By today, May 15, I was starting to wonder if we had been lost in the system. Well, that wouldn’t be unusual for us, would it? 
I was prompted to follow up as the patient mentioned to me his lower back was hurting. THAT may have more to do with school bags and books, but it did remind me to follow up.
I called the hospital. They advised they had rejected the referral, sending it back to the GP for more clinical information – on March 8! The same day I received the text message. OK, seemed odd, but I then called the GP, wondering why I hadn’t been notified. The GP’s office advised the only letter they have is dated March 6 and advises the referral is being processed. Now, I think a perhaps an 8 could look like a 6 on a scanned copy (they scan all correspondence onto the patient’s file), but never mind.
For Schools and School Librarians
Here are the Schools Catalogue Information Service (SCIS) listings for both the eBook and the paperback editions of Love versus Goliath! Both editions are available from Wheelers Books. If you know a teacher, please spread the word! 
First the paperback:
Love versus Goliath paperback listing
Putting your LIFE out there
A few weeks ago I wrote about writing a memoir when the memories are fresh.
That was before the physical books arrived for distribution. The eBooks are somehow not quite as real, I understand why some of our readers waited for the paperback, the physical book. Even our Mr O Jnr 2 fanned the pages in front of his nose and said, ” Oh, the smell!”
The Managing Director of my employer bought a book yesterday. Many co-workers have also bought copies. Even my local bottleshop bought a copy. As I said in my previous article (link above) it is scary. I am the same person these people knew yesterday. I haven’t changed, but there are things in the book they did not know about me. For 40 years I rarely mentioned my parents both committed suicide. Now it is “out there”. Will people think it is hereditary? For the record, my GP tells me I am past the age for that to be a risk! Just in case you were wondering!
You see, some days I feel strong. Proud that I’ve had the strength to put it out there, to tell it as it really is.
Other days I feel scared. Today was a “scared” day! What will people think? Will they think less of me because I was driven to the point of wanting to drive my car through the doors of the Melbourne DIAC building in sheer despair? Or will they understand? Will they feel it?
The glamour of being a one woman band
To the traditional publishers who turned me down, may I just say I hate you. I am sure there is something to be said for you guys handling all the damn paperwork/packaging/postage!
This self-publishing gig is damn hard work, you know.
You, dear reader, may remember I had a little glitch with generating my invoices for advance orders. I forgot a minor detail: the INVOICE NUMBER! OK, so sending out invoices is OK once you get that minor detail right, but then one has to keep track of who has paid. Create a spreadsheet to keep track of the GST (who invented THAT anyway?) and the postage collected.
Box of Books
Today’s processing started with getting a co-worker to help me lug four cartons of books to the car. Each book weighs almost half a kilo, so muscles are needed.
By the time I left the office I had already autographed 11 copies of the book.
Stopped off at the store to buy a marker and a pen. Stopped at the post office to buy the padded envelopes and the boxes for the multiple orders. This meant lugging a half empty (luckily) carton into the post office to make sure I picked the right sized boxes. Naturally, the closest car park was half a block down the street.
Got the boys to haul the cartons out of the car.
I am a woman of calibre
Well, well, well: I’m a woman of calibre. How nice for me! I don’t earn that much, but the rest of it fits!
I never got a cent of paid parental leave. I didn’t get a baby bonus either, or a first home owners’ grant. I did earn a degree and damn hard work it was too. Readers of my memoir already know my parents both committed suicide when I was 15. I left school. I earned my degree working full-time, studying part-time and raising two kids. It was bloody hard work. I did Year 12 part-time over two years before I started the degree and missed medicine by 3 marks. I never did Year 11 at all.
Melanie
Personally I have never believed in paid parental leave, but I’ll come to that. The baby bonus was just stupid. Here we are with a massively over-populated planet and we started paying people a bonus to have a baby while China has a one baby policy. W. T. F.? Billions of us on this planet and we started encouraging people to produce MORE of us? Not only encouraging, but PAYING! The mind boggles.
Paid parental leave? No. I believe in parental leave, most definitely. I think it is a wonderful thing if companies incorporate child care in their employment policies, as a number of companies do. I support flexible hours for parents and working from home.
If human rights is not something you think about, I invite to read Dr George Venturini
Dr Venturni has an impressive legal bio. He has started a new series of articles on Independent Australia looking at “the history and reasons for Australia’s current unfair and illegal refugee policy”. I invite you to click on the picture below and read Dr Venturini’s excellent article.
Dr Venturini on Independent Australia
ME time! Lovely nail polish!
Everyone needs “me time” and today after the shopping I took some!
I lined up some new nail polishes which a very generous supporter has sent me as a gift! A much appreciated gift!
Nail Polish
Now I agree, maybe nail polish and laptops are not the best combination in the world – can you imagine nail polish spilt into the keyboard? Doesn’t bear thinking about, does it? Read more 
