Chapter 21
A true Blonde moment.
This week has been both physically and emotionally demanding for me. I am feeling very displaced… My surrounding are different and I find myself constantly driving back to the city due to Doctors or hospital appointments. I’m not enjoying this part of the woods just yet. Greg has been working up on top of kangaroo Point cliffs with the news crew so I have been commuting with him, but I finally had to drive myself home as he was working too late for me to hang around. I went back to dockside to collect our mail from the marina and ran into a few of our yachtie neighbours. After a great deal of story swapping I decided it was time to go home, I was exhausted and as I drove in the general direction of the many marina’s at Manly I noticed myself getting very hot, sweaty hot actually. I thought it was because I was lost and stressing a bit. I was in unfamiliar territory and my brain was struggling big time. Which marina is the boat at? I really couldn’t remember… I hadn’t paid attention… Nothing new I hear you all saying… I was having a momentary touch of blondness. After driving around in circles up and down the Esplanade looking for something familiar, I recalled a conversation I had back at Dockside as to the whereabouts of Kidnapped and I could see the car park. By this stage sweat was pouring out of me by the bucket and I was becoming increasingly agitated… But how do I get into this car park??? I stopped the car and just looked. I could see where I had to go but couldn’t find the drive way. It was then I looked down and realized why I felt so hot and flustered… There it was… The seat warmer set on 5… It’s highest setting and obviously designed for the depths of a European winter. I must have knocked the switch at some point. Thank goodness I wasn’t going crazing, I thought I was just getting flustered because I couldn’t find the entrance. After calming myself down and pulling myself out of the hysterics I was in I parked the car, got myself out of the frying pan my seat had become, and pulled myself together… I not only had the blonde hair, I had the moment to go with it.
The meeting.
With Greg up on the cliffs a lot this week, I got to meet some of his work collegues including Kay McGrath. Kay was a little quicker off the mark than Greg and she introduced herself to me. I was in awe, speechless in fact. I had admired this very popular Queensland news reader for a very long time. I didn’t know what to say to her. I never thought there would be a day that I didn’t know what to say to anybody. Thankfully she led the way, instantly making me feel like she was an old friend. During that week Kay made me feel very special every time we met. What a woman!!!
I have decided that this year I am going to finish things, things I have started and abandoned as well as new things. So with that, it’s time to get started, to finally get my dive ticket. It’s a good place to start as I’ve been promising myself I’d get it done for years. Greg rang around and found a Doctor that could do dive medicals, and made an appointment for the following Monday. It was then I thought it might be handy to have my ticket for when we went on the cruise. We got onto a dive school and made inquiries about course availability. I could get in to do my bookwork and pool dive on the weekend. But I needed my dive medical. No problem, piece of cake lets ring another Doctor that does these and get this train moving. We rang what seemed to be every dive doctor in Brisbane looking for a vacancy before the weekend but of course they were all fully booked. Then we finally we found one. He could squeeze me in on Friday morning, sweet!! We got there early, I was keen, I wanted to finally start the process to get legal… The forms were filled in and then I met the Doctor. He looked me up and down and then started asking question about my cancer treatment. He jumped on the net and started rubbing his chin… I immediately I knew this wasn’t going to be good news. I wasn’t going get the piece of paper I wanted. He summoned Greg to the room. It was like he didn’t want to be left alone with me, as if he feared for his safety. He didn’t have a yellow shirt on so he would have been fine. When Greg sat down he quickly started waffling on about air thingys and that I could burst my lungs due to the damage from the radiation treatment. What a load of horse crap I thought… I knew Greg thought it was a bit O T T too because he was quite short with him. With that we picked ourselves up and marched out extremely disappointed but I wasn’t going to give up just yet. I had decided to keep the Monday appointment with the other Doctor just in case this one got all sooky lala with me. Lucky huh!?? We did however research what the doctor was saying just to be sure I was in no danger and found no evidence that there was any risk whatsoever. Greg even contacted an organization in the USA that specialize in training breast cancer survivors to scuba dive and they hadn’t heard of any such problem either. This organization is called “Survivor Diver”. They are a group that facilitate corporate funding to provide training and basic equipment to breast cancer survivors. How awesome, I was thinking this would be a great group to belong to. Maybe we could start one up in Australia???? Anyway… Back to my point here. How dare a mere Doctor say no to me! Doesn’t he know Who I am?? Doesn’t he know I will just go elsewhere? Where there’s a will there’s a way I say… But the fact my new appointment was not until Monday meant that a dive ticket before the cruise was now out of the question. Monday came and I presented myself for examination and I got my medical certificate. This doctor saw no problem with the radiation treatment and happily passed me fit to dive. The next weekend I did my theory and pool dives, and I can complete the ocean dives on our return from the cruise. I was excited again.
The cruising Jewel.
Finally the day was here… Cruise day! The day we board the Pacific Jewel… After an early morning flight we arrived at the cruise terminal. I was so excited I was jumping out of my skin. The whole process of checking in was so civilized. We waited a short time before our boarding number was called and this was it… We were going on a Pacific cruise… I was screaming with excitement on the inside. We got to our cabin, unpacked, and explored the ship. What a ship… What a holiday this was going to be! This is one thing that everyone needs to do at least once in their life time. When we got back to our room we met our cabin steward Themis (pronounced Teemis). He was there to make our stay more enjoyable. We also had this beautiful plate of canape’s left on the small table in our room with a note attached. “Enjoy your cruise, from Lorraine” this was sent by an old school chum, someone I haven’t seen since leaving school. I was touched. I sat on the end of the bed humbled and shed a small tear. What a wonderful thing for Lorraine to do. Early on in the cruise we discovered Martini’s, Dry Vodka Martini’s to be precise, and these became the drink of choice for the entire cruise. We had two days at sea, a win on the pokies, wine tasting, bingo, glorious morsels of food, martini master classes and through it all copious quantities of these delicious liquid sandwiches. In the morning just after scraping ourselves out of bed, the phone rang in our room… It was Themis, and he had a card to deliver! It was another gift from Lorraine! This time a bottle of wine… Again I was touched. I know I keep saying this, but I really am lucky to know so many wonderful generous people that keep making their mark on me. The cruise continued to amaze and excite both Greg and I, right down to the last day when I won the $750 jackpot at Bingo. We decided to call the cruise the “Martini Cruise” and even had a shrine to the booze god on our window sill in our cabin. With over 50 Martini’s guzzled, over 150 olives eaten, a $2200 bar bill, dinner with famous peeps (Gabe and Mossy of “My Kitchen Rules” fame), and I lost count on how many food courses we inhailed, I can truly say this was defiantly a holiday to remember. Funny, we have already put a deposit down on another one.
Floods, Cyclones…..No problem.
Its back to reality and Greg is back to work. Away again only this time up in Cairns, right in the middle of a category 5 cyclone! What are they thinking??? Why is it that we want all the goss on what is happening up there? Isn’t it safer to be covering it from here? Although the crew were all safe where he was, one can’t help but worry. He was gone nearly a week this time. He’s been nicknamed “The Disaster Master”.
BTW… I finally got my dive ticket after completing my ocean dives. What an awesome experience it was. My final dive I was allowed to drive solo with Greg which made it even better… I can’t wait till we go on our next underwater adventure.
National BBBDay.
Finally it was time to meet the plastic surgeon. We arrived at Dr. Anthony’s office way too early (perhaps I was a little eager). I didn’t sleep much the night before as I was too excited and nervous all rolled into one. What if he says he won’t do a reconstruction on me, what if he says I can’t have one. All my worrying was about to be eased. As I walked into his room he introduced himself as Tony, shook my hand and patted Greg on the shoulder and said, “don’t worry mate, they all look the same after a while”. How sad that a man could think all boobs are the same. Anyway… I sat down in the big comfy chair and Dr Tony asked me what he could do for me. Without hesitation I blurted out, “see this one (pointing to my good boob) I want YOU (pointing at him) to make me one just like it and put it here (pointing to my chest wall). He laughed and asked if he could have a look. After another chest baring experience complete with a lot of tugging on the stomach, he announced, “ Yes!, I can do something for you”. I was so relieved, happy, scared and nervous. He showed us a series of photos and explained in detail what he would be doing… OMG, I knew what the procedure was and what was involved in having it done, I had seen a DVD of the whole operation… About eight hours in surgery, about six – eight weeks recovery time. But wait, there’s more… No, not a set of steak knives but a tummy tuck! Yes ladies you heard right, a tummy tuck! By this time I was starting to feel a little sick. It’s one thing to watch DVD’s and surf the net about what could happen, but it’s another being told face to face by your surgeon, the very man that’s going to take your belly fat and fashion it into a beautiful new mound of booby flesh. After giving us all the facts, showing us all the photo’s, delivering the worst case scenario’s Dr. Tony told us to go away and think about it. Laughing I said “you have got to be kidding, this is happening, you are doing this, when?”. Just quietly, I wasn’t leaving his surgery till I had a date. The receptionist gave us all the paper work including a breakdown of his charges (ouch), a little about the procedure, the hospital and what cost we have to pay up front and when a deposit had to be paid by… I wasn’t leaving till a deposit was paid either. Naturally, I asked for the first available date… That date was in May. It was arranged. Then Dr. Tony came out of his office and asked “WHEN???”. My heart dropped a little… Was he about to tell me no not yet?... “wait another month” he said. I can do that, after all what’s another month… Another month was everything, everything I tell you. I just want it done, done now, not in another stinking month. So we then changed all the appointments to the 22nd June. From this day forth the 22nd of June shall be known as National Bring Back Booby Day. I will also declare that day a public holiday, however, you will all still probably have to work and there will be no public holiday rates paid. So I guess there really isn’t a public holiday. Come on guys, this day is for me and my mind only, but I’m willing to share. After all the paper work was done and we ventured back into the lift, it hit me. OMG! Its finally going to happen… No more wondering if and when… I have a date and now I feel really sick. That’s not because I think I’m doing the wrong thing. Its because I’m relieved and excited because I will finally look like a normal woman again. I’ll be able to wear anything I want again. I won’t have to worry if anyone can see my fake boob. Sexy lingerie here I come!... But I am still scared…
My darkest hour.
On the 25th day of February, 2011 at 9am I received a call that I had been dreading. A call that I knew one day would come. The name on the screen said DAD. I said my usual excited “hello father” and was about to launch into “learn to charge your phone” but there was a strange silence on the other end… Hello??? On the other end was my brother Brad. Because Brad and I haven’t really spoken to each other since Mum passed away ten years ago I knew immediately that something was wrong, very wrong. He proceeded to tell me Dad had joined mum earlier in the night. I didn’t know what to think or feel, I was numb. I am an orphan at the age of 47… As time passed I realised that Dad is now at peace and happy with the one true Love of his life, My Mum. It was his time to go… He knew I was OK health wise and happy in my Life with Greg, and he knew we all loved him… Doesn’t stop me missing him though…
Alan Raymond Cutler
Born 20th August 1928 – Died 24th February 2011
Gone Fishing!
R.I.P.