Adding an update in case anyone wondered where I was: I came down to Meadows on Sunday to do some mead-brewing workshops, and was then heading down to Victor Harbour to do some nature walks, foraging and more brewing workshops. Partway through the journey I came down with a sudden and severe earache, with symptoms sufficiently alarming that the person driving me diverted to the South Coast Hospital, who diagnosed an ear infection which had suddenly spread into the bone of the skull. Apparently this can be life-threatening and they had no ear specialist at the hospital, so they sent me by ambulance to Flinders Medical Centre, where I had no desire to go , having known many people whose experiences there had been bad. The infection was an unusual thing for me, normally I am quite hardy.
So Flinders is the worst hospital in which I have ever been, says the person who has been in hospitals in Nepal, Borneo, New Guinea and Central Australia. Never again if I can help it. The place was dirty, cold, serves the extruded bland pap variety of hospital food, and the beds were gritty and contained some kind of biting insect. While I was out of my room being treated someone rifled through my stuff and emptied my purse. I spent a couple of days on intravenous antibiotics and heavy painkillers, cold, dirty and in pain. Finally was discharged into the care of a friend who lives at Victor Harbour, where at present I am lying in a warm clean bed in a quiet room with a view of her garden and the charming company of a kitten and her small grandchildren. I have oral medications and a warm place to recover for a few days before she drives me home. She just fed me a bowl of homemade pumpkin soup with lots of chopped parsley, and berries from her garden. Much better than the hospital food! So I will probably be about the Forum more for a few days while I lie in bed and recover enough to go home. At least there is a friend back home who will look out for husband until I return!
