May, 2006:

I know some people who have a real fear of hospitals. I can’t say that I’ve got a fear of them. I’ve visited lots of people in various hospitals.

Of course when it comes to me having to be the patient, that’s a different story. I’ve never been booked into a hospital in my almost 43 years of life. No broken bones, no bits removed, no bits added. Sure I’ve been to see doctors, even specialists once or twice, but I’ve never been to hospital for a ‘procedure’.

That’s all about to change this Tuesday. It’s only a day procedure but I’d be more than happy if it was decided that it wasn’t needed. I wouldn’t say that I’m terrified but I’m probably only about two or three notches calmer than terrified.

I’ll be having the pleasure of a tube being stuck down my throat so that a doctor can have a bit of a look around inside my stomach. They might even scrape a few bits off to check them out. I have a suspected stomach ulcer. It hasn’t caused me any problems for a number of weeks but it decided to remind me of the reason for my hospitalisation at around 3:00 a.m. today. I woke up with nasty pains and knew that sleep was over for me. (Which explains why my previous post was published around 4:30 this morning.)

I mentioned some details here and here but as I said some time ago, “One thing I know for sure is that I will not let this or any other health issue stop me from living. You probably won’t get a lot of updates because I refuse to focus on what’s wrong with me when there is so much good stuff happening in life. I learnt many years ago that people don’t want to hear anyone’s full medical history repeated over and over but that some folks are interested enough to know how others are going. I just wanted to let you know how it’s going for me and now I’ll return to normal blogging.”

I also said at that time, “The paperwork I received for the endoscopy tells me that I’ll get an injection that will make me drowsy and disoriented. I’m also likely to have very little recollection of the hours surrounding the procedure. Excellent. Now that I’m officially freaked out please tell me the good news. I’m looking forward to getting this thing sorted but I have to admit that I am not looking forward to going to hospital. I’m not looking forward to having a hose, complete with camera, shoved down my throat. I’m not looking forward to wearing one of those lovely hospital gowns. I’m not looking forward to handing control of my wellbeing over to some people I’ve never met. Yes I’m a wimp but knowing that doesn’t make it any easier.”

Posted by Rodney Olsen

Technorati Tags: Stomach Ulcer – Pain – Endoscopy

I mentioned a couple of posts back that Pauline and I went along to the opening night of West Australian Ballet’s latest production, A Midsummer Night’s Dream on Friday evening. His Majesty’s Theatre in Perth is such a wonderful venue and our seats were only about 6 rows from the stage providing a very good view of the performance.

Choreographer Chrissie Parrott did a tremendous job of using dance, staging and technology to breathe new life into Shakespeare’s classic tale. Her use of humour in the telling of the story was quite astounding. I had the great privilege of chatting to Chrissie on-air during my morning radio programme on 98.5 Sonshine FM yesterday.

The dancers were magnificent. They made moves that would be impossible for most of us mere mortals look effortless.

Now I suppose that I should admit that I’m not really an expert on ballet and that I’ve only ever been to ballet performances a handful of times. It’s just not my thing. Having said that, I do enjoy widening my horizons and I don’t mind an occasional evening witnessing the skills and grace of these amazing athletes.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream was preceded by the Don Quixote Suite which was performed in a more traditional style.

The evening was tinged with sadness. Just moments before the dancers were set to take to the stage, news came through that musical director, Dobbs Franks, had been involved in a serious car accident. He is still in a critical but stable condition in hospital. Due to his absence the West Australian Symphony Orchestra was unable to accompany the dancers. Both performances utilised CD soundtracks.

Afterwards we were guests at the opening night soiree at the Hilton Hotel. It was a black tie event which drew many local VIPs and featured a live jazz band. The gathering had opportunity to thank all those who had worked so hard to bring the ballets to an appreciative Perth audience.

Posted by Rodney Olsen

Technorati Tags: Ballet – A Midsummer Night’s Dream – Sonshine FM

By putting our Fly Buys points together with our Frequent Flyer points it looks like our family will be able to head across the country for a couple of weeks later this year.

At this stage we’re planning for the first two weeks of October. We’ll spend a few days in Melbourne and a few in Sydney. I’d love to catch up with some bloggers in both cities. I’m thinking about finding a coffee shop in each city and seeing who can turn up on a particular evening.

If you’re in Melbourne or Sydney would you like to catch up? I know it’s some months away but I figure if we start planning now we may be able to organise something.

Posted by Rodney Olsen

Technorati Tags: Holiday – Family – Bloggers – Sydney – Melbourne

Imagine this scene. Hundreds of eager fans, dressed in their finest, are waiting for the doors to open on Friday night, opening night for the latest offering from the prestigious West Australian Ballet. (More on the ballet itself soon.)

Ladies are wearing divine evening dresses, the men, mostly black tie.

There we were in the middle of the crowd with people close by in all directions. None of us could move more than a few centimetres as we all waited for the ushers to open the doors into the theatre.

Even though the finely dressed connoisseurs of the dramatic arts are packed in like sardines, some decide that they should shove their way towards the head of the queue. With all seats already assigned we couldn’t actually work out why they needed to jostle to get closer. I’ve been in more polite queues at the footy.

Just then, it happens. With nowhere to go and no way to avoid it, someone decided that the excitement in the air wasn’t enough. They added their own little something to the air. It was silent but it was deadly. I suppose it just shows that even posh people get gas and sometimes that gas just has to go somewhere. I just wish it wasn’t there. Of course in a crowd like that they probably realised that no one would ever be able to tell who was responsible.

Posted by Rodney Olsen

Technorati Tags: Ballet – Queues

If you’re at all romantic, you’ll love this story from local blogger, Connell Maskrey.

It’s going to be one of those stories that I’m sure will be passed down from generation to generation in the new Maskrey family.

Posted by Rodney Olsen

Technorati Tags: Love – Romance – Care Bears