Hello and welcome to the blog...and this will come as some surprise I'm sure, but I'm not feeling particularly enamoured of Mt Gambier today...but yet again it's not Mt Gambier's fault as such...as well as the various points I've covered in this blog about the Pariahtisation, etc, that I've been subjected to for trying to resolve some clearly critical issues like the St Martins Lutheran School Child Abuse Cover-up, I have had my own problems, particularly health wise...
Chronic Depression and Agoraphobia, etc, can have well documented effects on health, eg, poor diet, lack of exercise, etc, and indeed physical health can affect mental health, eg, being unfit can exacerbate many health issues including depression...and so it is that today I'm in a foul mood because of my own health issues, but even then it's not so much about me because these are issues of service provision, access, funding, etc in Mt Gambier and Regional South Australia...anyhoos, yesterday an old knee injury finally caught up with me, and it ain't purty...
Because there's no Public Transport on weekends or public holidays I was enjoying the 4km round trip to the local Woolies...beautiful day, walk the dog, knees hurting but they always do, it's all good...until I was about 1km from home and twisted my 'good' knee...just out and in again, just a bit, but a bit's enough...and then it did it 3 more times later at home here...and this morning was stiff and swollen...(yeah, but how was ya' knee? ahahaha-Ed)..don't laugh at your own jokes, it's tres naff...
In 1991 I ruptured the Anterior Cruciate Ligament in my knee playing Amateur League football and had a partial Arthroscopy in Adelaide...(what the heck is a 'partial Arthroscopy?-Ed)...it's where they remove the torn ligament and then discharge you...(so you haven't had an ACL in your knee since 1991...and is that standard practice to remove the ACL and then discharge the patient without doing a reconstruction?-Ed)...um, yes and no...every 'professional' I've spoken to has expressed a degree of surprise about the absence of an ACL and the non-reconstruction.
Starting about 4 years ago I sought help locally about my increasing knee problems (one sore knee means favouring it which then puts extra pressure on the other, etc)...several times since 1991 I've twisted my 'good' knee and it has increasingly been giving out, ie, it semi-dislocates then audibly crunches back into place...(ooo charming-Ed)...yeah, it's not great...it took over 2 years for me to get an appointment for an MRI scan in Adelaide (450kms away) for October 2012.
When I rang to confirm that appointment the day before travelling the 450kms for that basic scan, I was informed 1) that it was an appointment to get a MRI referral not an actual scan, but that 2) someone unknown had cancelled both that appointment and my concurrent Cancer Clinic follow-up that I also have to travel to Adelaide for and so had organised to have on the same day...(so someone anonymously cancelled both your appointments?-Ed)...yep...I tried to re-organise those appointments but eventually just gave up and have heard nothing from the Royal Adelaide Hospital or my local 'doctors'...
I have gone into particular personal detail because I am aware that my story is only one of many instances of people experiencing the same sorts of issues, eg, travelling to Adelaide only to have scans, appointments and even treatments cancelled, and who continue to delay, postpone, and/or even give up on trying to get treatments that are often still only available either in Adelaide or in Victoria, eg, Portland and/or Warnnambool...
It is great that more Chemo services are available at Mt Gambier Hospital, as was being spruiked on ABC Local Radio this morning, but that doesn't change the experience for the many people who still have to attend Adelaide for treatments or even relatively basic scans like an MRI...to her credit, the interviewee (Country Health SA?-sorry) did acknowledge this continuing need to travel for many services.
Everybody is keen to see what new services do eventuate at the $23m MG Hospital Redevelopment, but the gap between what is/will be available here and other services remains vast...(approx 450kms unless you go to Victoria-Ed)...yeah, well...point remains though that Mt Gambier is the largest Regional centre in SA and services an area that contributes a goodly amount of the states income, and yet we are continually treated like an unfortunate and irrelevant inconvenience by our own state government...(sure you're not just projecting your own position as an UII?-Ed)...ha, fair enough, something that Mt Gambier and I do have in common...
An Attempt At Balance: re yesterday's post, Brocky Horror Picture Show, the 'horror' bit is some slight hyperbole for the sake of utilising the cult movie reference...and another situation where I hope to be 'wrong' about the potential for ongoing Regional disaster...may I be bountifully eroneous in my assertationings and predictications...may Geoff Brock be half the Regional Saviour that he claims to be for that we may all prosper and grow fat on the fruits of his endeavours...(amen-Ed)...
Another Day In Mt Gambier: ...(guess what I am now...pop, screech, pop, static, pixellating, drop out, pop, squeak, get so damn annoying you change channel-Ed)...are you another day of Digital TV drop-outs after yet another weekend of frequently unwatchable ABC reception?...(correct, I am the supposedly technologically improved Digital TV signal that regularly drops out with a chorus of pops and squeaks, particularly when it gets a bit windy-Ed)...
Yesterday I tried to watch the repeat of 7.30 SA Edition and The Insiders, but the reception was so bad that I gave up on 7.30 and listened to TI on the ABC/BBC Radio...it is impossible to follow an interview when the picture freezes, pixellates, the sound drops out, etc, and whole chunks of questions and/or answers disappear...and last night I 'skyped' my child at Uni, and the bandwidth was so limited that all I could make out was a fuzzy smudge for most of our brief chat and the connection twice dropped out before self re-dialling...
Now don't get me wrong, these are amazing technologies combining to provide 'skype' type services, but we live in an age where this is a relatively basic form of communication, and one that barely works in Mt Gambier...perhaps it is one of those very trendy 'First World Problems' to complain about how your TV reception and computer connection aren't quite up to scratch...(my Chardonnay's not chilled correctly-Ed)...it's an Outrage...but this reception/bandwidth issue is a not uncommon reality across Mt Gambier and the South East...does one just accept that's how it's going to be and do the best one can, or get all Bolshy and arc up about it?...and then to what end?...
Tomorrow: Wind Turbines and Federal Politics
Not sure exactly what to title tomorrow's post but there'll have to be something about 'Hot Air' or 'Wind Going Up Somewhere'...you know the drill...(oh, so the worst pun you can think of between now and then-Ed)...onya...
And the Public Transport issue is highly relevant headed toward Easter and ANZAC Day when there will be no local Bus service 7 days out of 10...no service on weekends or public holidays...and I also offer my current hobblingness as a prime example of the sort of mobility issues that can make things like 'Park and Stride' really annoying...I was happy to walk 4km to the supermarket and back but now walking's not an option, I'm stuffed...and the 6kms to town and back is a distant dream...
And furthermore, I'd like to acknowledge that for all my bellyaching, I have been extremely fortunate in many respects with my health, particularly Dental Care, even though it's been largely by luck...I refer to previous posts about my lymphoma experience and dental treatments and particularly with the dentistry I basically fell from one treatment program to another in a manner that saved several teeth and greatly improved my overall dental health...but behind me are all the people in the same system who have not had my luck.
I am Nick Fletcher and this is my blog...cheers and laters...
Can I ask why you continue to live in MG?
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