From Wonderful to the pits

I almost don't know where to begin.

I headed up to Port Macquarie on Friday to spend my brithday weekend with my parents.  It really was wonderful to see them both.

Mind you, Dad's new buzzed pate was a shock for sure.  He looks so different, but you can see his hair growing back.

On Saturday, my birthday, we spent a large part of the day holding our breath waiting to hear how Carole's surgery went.  early afternoon Rob rang to say that the surgery was over and Carole was back in the ward and it was a complete success.  We were totally overjoyed and relieved and headed out to dinner in high spirits.

We went to the Whalebone Wharf restaurant and had a really memorable meal.  I took the photos of the Hastings River as the sun set and enjoyed the local Pelican who we were told turned up every night the restaurant was open - not to beg for scraps, but because the restaurant customers fed the fish and the Pelican benefitted from this.  Dumb animal - I don't think so.

So we headed home feeling replete, happy and slept well.

I was heading home on Sunday afternoon, and in the morning Mum and I headed into town to look at the new Glasshouse Concert Hall which had controversially brought sown the local Council due to its considerable cost over-run.

Just before we headed off to the airport, Mum rang Carole to say hi and hope you are feeling OK.  Carole told Mum that the original news on the operation outcome had been wrong.  It turned out they were not able to do anything.  This was the worst possible news.  Having thought we had got the best possible outcome, to suddenly finding out the absolute opposite.

The oncologist is coming to see her today to discuss options, but my understanding options are few and far between.

It is impossible to find the right word to describe how I feel about the situation.  I feel shattered for Carole, Rob and all our families.  And I feel blisteringly angry with the hospital and the so called medical practitioners at Launceston General Hospital.  This is now the third time Carole has been told good news initially only to have them later tell her that sorry, we were wrong.

And to compound it with having to admit they took her off chemo for too long allowing the cancer to rebound and spread.  To me their behaviour is nothing short of unconscionable.

So today we sit and wait for the bad news to come.