Eumundi Voice Issue 113, 20 March 2025

THAT'S LIFE!

The best laid plans

It’s a well-known line from Robert Burns’ poem: “The best laid plans of mice and men oft' go awry” and now, 225 years later, it’s still true.

I had a long-standing plan to have a shoulder rotator-cuff repair in December, so I could recover during the wet season, while wearing an immobilisation brace. Hubby Kelvin, would be on hand to help me cut up my dinner, get dressed, remove and fit the brace daily and drive me to the hospital and physio. All good, all planned well in advance.

The surgery went well, the hospital at Noosa was great, and I returned home for 6 weeks of wearing the brace, which Kelvin said made me “look like a trussed turkey” … so much for empathy!

That was when things started to “go awry”. A few days after I returned home, it was raining, and hubby said he was going to “bring the bins in” from our long driveway. You guessed it … he slipped, came back into the house as white as sheet, saying, “I think I’ve broken my arm”.

The ambulance paramedics were fantastic: calm, professional, and administered the very welcome pain control. Off to Nambour for further treatment, then Sunshine Coast University Hospital the next day for the metal plate and 7 screws.

So, we were both out of action. One with left arm in a massive sling contraption, and the other with the right hand in a sling. The kitchen bench was festooned with pills. It was all only bearable by good friends who took my brace on and off each day; and took us shopping, to hospital and doctors’ visits for the many weeks when neither of us could drive.

Simple tasks become a moment of hilarity. “You hold the grater and I’ll move the carrot up and down.”“You hold the fridge door open and I’ll get the veges one at a time.” Chops and steak? No problem, one of us would hold it up, the other cut with kitchen scissors into long pieces we could stab with a fork. Opening cans and soda bottles was nearly impossible until we worked out how to use a wooden spoon as a lever, and one of my mum’s arthritis aids. Hanging out the laundry was a symphony of two, onearmed underachievers and a mouth full of pegs. Sleeping sitting up was a challenge, as moving the affected limbs was an instant, painful wakeup.

Now, after the 6 weeks are over, it’s a joy to drive again, take fewer pain medications, and count down the days until the next physio appointment. We are so grateful to have access to high-quality medical help from paramedics, hospital staff, orthopaedic surgeons, radiographers, fracture clinic specialists, physiotherapists and friends with cars and time.

Now we have a new plan: only move the bins when it’s not been raining. Ruth Hickey