Thursday, January 31, 2008

"Spidey"

Everyone in Australia has a nickname. Usually it is a shortened version of their first name, sometimes with an "o" or a "y" added on the end. For example: Kaz, Dave-o, Nicky. My nickname is "Spidey". It makes sense.
Once again, the doctor tells me to surf at my own risk. (He knows this is getting old!)New skin continues to grow, and most miraculous of all: the hole in my leg has all but disappeared as new tissue has grown up to fill it!(You can't really see it in the photo, but trust me!)The "good" news: no skin grafts required and a pretty cool scar that will look like a cigar burn. The "sad" news: no crazy body shots out of my leg to amaze crowds at parties!

Construction Sites

In the Country...Jas and Matt are renovating a farmhouse in the Otways, about a 15 minute drive from their present house near the beach.
They have a gorgeous piece of property with really great views of the surrounding farmland. They also have a paddock where their 2 llamas will live once they are ready to move in.Matt and his workshop.
And in the City...My roommate Chris and I visited the construction site of his new boutique apartment in Elwood, 5 minutes away from our flat in St. Kilda, which he rents.He hopes that we will move in to the new place by April. The new apartment is off the back of a renovated heritage building.

Monday, January 28, 2008

My Australia Day

I spent the Australia Day Long Weekend in Lorne with Jasmina, Matt, Chris and Angela. Lots of time was spent on the beach with water lapping my ankles. Some beach highlights: Early mornings on the beach tossing the ball to the dogs, Zephyr and Emerson while Jasmina surfed.

Watching Matt and his Balinese friend, Kammung surf some small glassy waves at Cumberland River Mouth. They are really good surfers and make cutbacks look easy.
We had fantastic weather all weekend!A note about the food for those of you who are interested: we enjoyed an Aussie BBQ on Saturday night complete with the choice of BBq’ed Lamb, Chicken and/or Sausages(Snags)! Aussie beer and wine was enjoyed also.

Selling Australia Day

Australian Ad Campaigns can be pretty funny. This is one of my favourite print ads for Australia Day:

Friday, January 25, 2008

Irish Birthdays

Susan and I joined Marianne in celebrating her birthday at a dinner in the CBD. We met at "The Italian", 2 lanes down from the coolest lane in Melbourne: ACDC Lane. We were joined by more Irish ( Joanne and Yvonne) some Aussies (Heather and Allia) and a Brit (Rose). It was a fun evening of good food and drink, even better stories and big laughs!

Thursday, January 24, 2008

More Healing Required!

So, my goal for getting back in the water was the Australia Day Long Weekend. That's this weekend. ...and Dr. Cheah, my friendly surgeon in Footscray, put the big kibosh on that plan! (However, taking the good with the bad: he also gave me a recommendation for a really good Vietnamese noodle house near the train station!)As you can see, there is some new skin growth, and I don't know if you can tell by the photo, but... the tissue in the wound itself has grown up a lot from the bottom. It's still an open wound though, so there is still a risk of reinfection if I spend three days surfing. (Yeah, I know. Duh, Paola!)Fair enough! I will not soak my leg in seawater this weekend. Fingers crossed for next week! Me and Monica, the wound nurse.

Sunday, January 20, 2008

I like living in St. Kilda because....

Reason #2. I have my choice of FOUR European cake shops just down Acland Street, around the corner from the apartment. People come from all over to sample a Vanilla Slice, a Lamington or a Fairy Cake.Note: At least one of these cake shops is not living up to its high acclaim. I had to resort to “freshening up” a Vanilla slice in the microwave after taking a bite! Sadness!

Thursday, January 17, 2008

The Doctor Says...

I can’t surf for at least another week, maybe two. That’s sad. School is fast approaching, and it would be cool to have whole days on the water…but not yet.However, I am healing well, and you can see that there is nice, bright and healthy pink tissue in the place of nasty, black necrotic tissue. Yep, there’s still a cavernous hole in my leg. I can’t drink alcohol because of the antibiotics, but if I could, there's enough of a trough there that I might consider doing a half shot of Jagermeister out of my leg!
When I see the doctor next week, he’ll be able to say whether or not a skin graft or just plain stitches will close it up. The new dressing is some interesting, space-age healing paste/putty with kind of a second skin- type bandage over top. (For the medical community out there, they did tell me what it was, but I promptly forgot.Sorry.)

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Ball Kids are Cool


**They are well-protected from the harmful effects of the sun with caps, long-sleeves and big sunnies.
**They appear to be impervious to heat. They never let anyone see them sweat.
**They are speedy and professional.
**They tend closely to the needs of the players, offering them cold bottles of water and official towels to mop up sweat not absorbed by stylish sweatbands.
**They can throw, bowl and catch those tennis balls like nobody's business.
**They communicate in tennis semaphore. Picky sidebar: Damn the man in the Gilligan hat in the corner. I should have snapped the shot when he went to get a beer.

A Day at “The Tennis”

Australians love to attend sporting events like “the Cricket” and “the Footy”. The city is really charged now for the Australian Open. Now, I don’t know from tennis, and God knows, there has been at least one brave soul who has tried to teach me how to play…but let’s face it. I’ve got poor hand-eye coordination. That’s the solemn truth. I don’t think I’ll ever play, but after a full day spent watching some of the world’s best play some great tennis here in Melbourne….I’m hooked. I’m a fan now.
The day was a gorgeous 31 degrees, and I decided to find a sunny seat (they all were!) in the stands of Margaret Court Arena and watch Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia play Vania King of the USA. Daniela won and progressed on to the Second Round. She was OBVIOUSLY the crowd favourite. Perversely, I decided I'd cheer for the American. I was one of about three people who did!

You know, here's what I think...not to put too fine a PC point on it, but it's gotta be TOUGH playing a match against a tall, blonde, beautiful Slovakian when you're a petite Asian-American. The crowd kind of forgets that you're a world class tennis player too, and it could be anybody's game.... and there you are: an Underdog simply because you are an American without the long blonde hair AND you DON'T have long legs "up to HERE"! (Imagine a level somewhere around your shoulders, regardless of your height!)
Aussie Aussie Oi Oi Oi!!!
With Australians like Leyton Hewitt, Peter Luczak, Rob Smeets and Chris Guccione playing on Tuesday, the Aussie Fan population was out in all their glory!
Check out the luck of the draw! My ticket to the 7:30 p.m. game at Rod Laver Arena turned into a fantastic double bill! Even with an upset tummy and a bum wrist respectably, both Roger Federer and Venus Williams won their First Round Matches, and I thoroughly enjoyed myself up in the nosebleed section!
Cutting edge interviews on the court after each match demanded the athletes answer these pressing questions: "I've notice the size of your earrings. Do they bug you? Where did you get them?" AND "Where does "Fed" spend his vacation and what do you do on vacation?" Hard-core sports journalism this is not!Venus (in all white) in play against Zi Yan.
Roger (in all black) about to make short work of Diego Hartfield. At the end of the day, I didn't get to see the yobo Greek fans get pepper sprayed, and, as t.v. commentary isn't heard in the arena during a match, I didn't get to hear the t.v. commentator's assessment of Venus' bum. It's okay...I didn't miss out! I heard all about the bad stuff today. Perhaps not everyone has good times at "the Tennis". I sure can't complain!

Saturday, January 12, 2008

The Healing Process

District Nurses come every day to check on me and change my dressing. I am learning to clean and redress my wound. Today, Chris hung around to watch and check out the gore…and provide some moral support too, I guess.Apparently, it looks much better and new healthy tissue is starting to fill in. Today is the first day I have been able to bring myself to have a picture taken of it. This is just after I've taken the dressing off.

The View from Here

I’ve been confined to the apartment …sorry, “flat”… with my leg up for the last three days. I’m not really a good patient, so I’ve gone on little missions to the shops and the video store. I even rented crutches at the chemist’s downstairs thinking that they would make me more mobile. Yeah, THAT lasted one day. I got “crutch burn” under my arms and they’ve sat by the door since!

Thursday, January 10, 2008

Note to Self #7

Thoroughly check your bed linen before settling in for the night! White-tail spiders like to hang out in cool, dry places.
....Also, do not hesitate to crush and kill on sight.

It wasn't ALL bad...

Despite spending a fair chunk of our visiting time in hospitals and emergency waiting rooms, I DID have a good time seeing Sheila, Sue and Finn, and meeting some of their friends.
Two views of the main floor toilet at Sue and Sheila's place. As you can see, their home has a fun beach hut theme.













On Saturday morning, we all went to the Red Hill Market on the Mornington Penninsula. It was crowded with holidaymakers. There was a ton of kiosks displaying wines, homemade jams, jellies, fruits and veggies, and arts and crafts. It was a warm day, and the fresh squeezed lemonade juices and frozen mango pops seemed the most popular refreshments.
On Sunday, it was a stroll in the Dandenong Mountain Range. These are pictures along the LyreBird Trail near Ferntree Gully.And by the way, who DOESN'T love the place name "Ferntree Gully"?

Tuesday, January 8, 2008

The Spider Bite

Warning: Not for the Squeamish!
The pics show the progression of my Spider Bite infection over the course of 5 days. It’s not pretty to look at…so if you have a weak tummy…skip this posting!
Watching telly the evening before I go to the St. Kilda “Super Clinic”:

Chris: “So, you’re saying your leg hurts and it’s painful to walk on?”
Paola: “Yeah. I think I should maybe go to a clinic and get a doctor to look at it.”
Chris: “Ya think?!”



Having dinner Friday night at Sheila & Sue’s:

Sarah: “It looks like a volcano…”
Corri: “Are you really going to squeeze it?”
Paola: “Well, the doctor said I should…”
Sue: “Sheila would do it.”
Sheila: "Only if you want me to."
Paola: "Yeah. I don't know."



Sharing accident stories with fellow injured persons Saturday at Rosebud Emergency Room:

Paola: “….and so my friends brought their neighbour who’s a nurse over to give a professional opinion, and they convinced me to come to emergency and get this looked at.”
Ben, the JetSki injury guy: “Yeah look, that’s pretty full on. (points to my leg) You’ve got to take care of that.”
Paola: “Yeah…so what are you in here for?”
Ben, the JetSki guy: “Ah yeah…I had a jetski accident 5 days ago. Today I woke up with a swollen leg. I can’t walk, I have a fever and so I reckoned I'd come in to emergency.”


Signing in at the Emergency Centre at Angliss Hospital on Sunday, after a pleasant day wandering through Dandenong forest trails and a eating a yummy lunch with Sheila, Sue and their friends, Sandra, Linda and Kevin.

Triage Nurse: “So why are you here in Emergency today?”
Paola: “Well, I’ve got a spider bite that’s infected.”
Triage Nurse: “Can I take a look at it?”
Paola: “If you want to…it’s pretty hideous.”
Triage Nurse: (after looking at my wound) “Wow. O.k. I need you to know we’re admitting you now and you will be here for at least a few days.’




Assorted reactions to the wound site over the next two days:

“Hey! That’s a beaut!”

“I’ve lived in this country for 45 years, and I’ve never seen a spider bite the likes of that.”

“Welcome to Australia!”

"Well, at least you'll leave with a souvenir."

"White-tail was it? Yeah, good thing it wasn't a Red-back."