My sinus operation is taking place at the Kilmore District Hospital where, by chance, my father grandfather and great grandfather all drew their first breath. I myself, attended high school in this small, central Victorian country town and remember the austere bluestone façade of the original building but I know nothing of it’s reputation today. It is only that I was referred to a specialist here twelve months ago by mum’s GP that I am here and not having my operation done in Melbourne.
On our first meeting, Dr Michael Wilson struck me as a gruff old fellow who liked to get straight to the point. It was this no-nonsense characteristic which informed my opinion that he would a surgeon I could rely on to get this job done.
And now I’m dressed in my pre-op gown, ready to go into theatre and he’s asking me if I have brought the film from my CT-scan. I inform him that I’ve been overseas for all of the past twelve months and delivered the film to him the last time I was here. He goes back to his office to make a more thorough search. I believe he may have returned just as I went under the anaesthetic, film in hand.
The next thing I know I’m in post-op being asked how I feel. Sleepy is the short answer. Two nurses are watching on as my blood pressure drops dramatically. It stabilises at around 50mm Hg. They ask again how I’m feeling and I tell them I’m feeling fine. They tell me I must be in good shape as most people become disoriented with that low a reading.
Once my blood pressure reading returns to normal I’m moved to the ward where I will stay overnight for observation. For the moment though my nose feels fine and I’m fed endone at four hourly intervals, with supplementary doses of panadeine at the two hour mark, to make sure it stays that way.
My room-mate is an 80 year old man called Jack who took a fall at his home a few weeks previously. His daughter, who is his main carer, unfortunately suffered a heart attack at the same time and he is now stuck in hospital until he can make suitable arrangements to return home.
I sleep poorly, with nursing staff checking in at two-hourly intervals, but my vital signs remain normal. Doctor Wilson flys through at around 10am and, as is his way, has no time for small talk.
“You probably feel fine right now”, he informs me, “but you will likely start to feel congested during the recovery period, which is normal. The most likely thing that will happen is that your nose will continue to bleed but you want to prevent that and and the simplest way to prevent it is to do nothing but rest for ten days. And try not to blow your nose. In a couple of weeks you’ll be singing my praises and calling me the most fabulous surgeon you’ve ever met!”
He goes on to remark that he doesn’t know how I managed to go so long without surgery as the polyp in my left nostril had completely filled up the nasal passage.
I tell him I’m hoping to head back overseas in two weeks. He sees no problem with that but says to call him a couple of days prior. And with that he is gone.
Graeme has a morning client in his clinic, so its about 11 am before he comes to pick me up. We pick up some painkillers and head back to his place.
I take the doctors advice and rest up for the next week. The panadeine forte which has even prescribed contains codeine, which is great for sleeping but makes me feel disoriented and light headed during the day. It’s not a good drug. I switch to ibuprofen after a couple of days and find I can manage the pain quite well. I sleep for an hour or so most afternoons and read the excellent, True History of the Kelly Gang by Australian author, Peter Carey.
A week after the operation, I have managed five days of no nose bleeds and I hazard a walk to the shops. It’s a little over a kilometre round trip and causes no undue disruption. I’m able to complete the full ten day rest period then it’s time to head to Melbourne to do all my catching up before flying back to Indonesia.
I’ve been eyeing Wednesday the 9th of March as my likely return date, given it gives me time to complete the five day quarantine period in Bali before flying back to Lombok in time for the Indonesian Moto GP. Australian budget carrier, Jetstar, is almost certain to resume direct flights from Melbourne to Denpasar on the 14th of March and are offering exceptionally cheap fares but that won’t get me back to Lombok in time.
The guesthouse is pretty much fully booked with a small number of beds available on selected dates over the weekend. These will most likely be snapped up in the days leading up to the event. It will be the first time in two years the guesthouse team have been fully tested and it’s important that I am on hand ahead of time to support them.
By the end of February Indonesia is beginning to report a decrease in daily case numbers of covid. In an effort to boost tourism, the government has reduced the quarantine period from five days to three. Singapore Airlines is one of the first carriers to recommence daily flights to Bali and I’m able to get a flight out of Melbourne on the evening of the 8th with a 2 hour stop-over ahead of a connecting service into Denpasar. I should be in my hotel shortly after midday.
That’s the plan, anyway. But as we all know, nothing can be taken for granted in the age of Covid.
Graeme has offered to drive me to Josh’s place. Josh and Dimi will be at work but I have the code to their keypad entry lock and will drop my things before catching an Uber to the bar.
As we’re driving to Melbourne, Graeme gets a call from Kiyoe’s daughter, Yuna. Yuna can’t get hold of her mum as Kiyoe leaves her phone switched off when she’s working and she has news to report. She was out with a friend over the weekend who has now come down with covid. Yuna has just taken a rapid antigen test and is also covid-positive.
While her friend is quite unwell, at this early stage, Yuna is presenting as asymptomatic. Graeme checks that she has enough food on hand and other necessities as required to self-isolate. She says she does. Yuna lives on campus at Monash University in Melbourne’s south east and has someone on-site she can call on if she needs anything delivered to her apartment.
After a few false starts I manage to gain entry to Josh’s new property. It is sparsely furnished but has very good bones, with original timber floor boards in the front part of the house and a large living area at the rear, leading to an outdoor terrace. Josh and Dimi have had to spend a bit of money straight off the bat, redeveloping a section of floor which was uneven as well as a mini-makeover in the bathroom and kitchen. It’s money they would have preferred not spending and has meant living in a work zone for the first few months, with tradesmen traipsing in and out, or not, as covid restrictions tightened and eased but ultimately it sets them up very well for the future.
And while they are both very busy, walking into and out of meetings with sales reps and event organisers as they endeavour to welcome me back, I can see they are both in a very good space. Their bottle shop manager Jack comes and says helllo and we have a quick chat. Jack was invited to buy a share of the business after I sold my share back to Josh, Caleb and Penny. He’s been an integral part of the business since it’s early days and now owns a small part of it. I’m very pleased to see the win-win mentality my son has been able to employ in his first business enterprise.
Before having to excuse himself for an important meeting, Josh sorts me out with a very exotic-tasting barrel aged stout and I am sitting at one of the outside tables in front of the venue when Graeme calls. He’s just received a call from Kiyoe, who has reminded him that she spent the day with Yuna on Sunday, meaning we are all, potentially, covid carriers.
As today is Tuesday I wonder whether Kiyoe has had enough time to become infectious and whether my fleeting contact with her will be enough to catch the virus. Kiyoe and I have been in the same room together only a couple of times since Sunday and while we were at opposite ends of a large kitchen-dining-living area for most of that, we did, in fact sit down and eat dinner together last night. So the most likely answer to both questions is, who can say for sure and only time will telll.
This presents me with multiple dilemma’s, which I need to address systematically. Firstly, should I be staying with Josh and Dimi? I will need to update them as soon as they come out of their meeting and gauge their thoughts. As they are both working every night until the weekend I was actually going to go down to Deidre’s tomorrow and come back to their place for the weekend. But that is no longer an option. I call her and as it happens she has a prior engagement to attend tomorrow evening and it was not really going to be convenient to have me over anyway. I tell her that Graeme, Kiyoe and I will be testing ourselves daily and if none of us have tested positive by Friday I will come down and spend a night then.
Next, I need to call Robbie K as we have organised lunch for tomorrow. Robbie, as I may have already mentioned, thinks the Omicron virus is overrated and he’s already caught it once, so it’s not an issue for him. We have roped in a third starter for lunch, our mutual friend Nick. I leave a message on voicemail when he doesn’t take the call and offer him the option of a no-show.
Finally, I need to call Tom who I am going to catch up with for dinner shortly. He too is unfazed but I mention my concern about going to eat out in public and he suggests we simply order in. So far, so good.
Josh and Dimi are also sanguine about the situation. They will be out of the house most of the week anyway and don’t think, if it came to it, physical distancing would be an issue. Josh even says he’d be more than happy to take a week off his busy schedule due to covid-related complications.
So the only remaining concern is having to reschedule my flights and accomodation if I do test positive, which will also mean not being in Lombok for the weekend of the Moto GP.