Marty’s misadventures with doctors dentists and other stressful things.
My keyboard has been firmly closed for the last 5 weeks or so. Mostly, but not entirely because of the unexpected adventures of Marty mayhem with numerous medical specialists and other officials.
Best laid plans and all… Marty (Martin Lloyd) was planning to visit his daughters and our granddaughters in NZ for two weeks prior to flying to the Philippines via Sydney.
We were Gold Coast based at the time. I had planned for us to stay at a nice hotel and go to Bamboo Basket at Portside Brisbane the night before he was to fly out.
About 5 days before said scheduled departure date, Marty came down with the flu.
He was still too sick to visit the doctor to get his travel COVID clearance certificate the day before his planned departure. Collectively we rescheduled his doctor’s appointment, his flights and cancelled the hotel booking. It was a combination of me finding the respective phone numbers and dialling, Marty croaking ‘I have no voice’ with limited vocal capacity, handing the phone over to me to make the required changes.
By Thursday evening, I had a tickle in my throat. I woke up Friday feeling fine, and with that a sense of relief. Meanwhile Marty spent all day asleep. This was a good thing, as I had things to do and I am not that good at sympathy, especially when it comes to man flu. This is a little unfair, as Marty has always been brilliant when I have been sick, especially when I was knocked out with the flu for a crazy 6 weeks a couple of years ago.
Friday evening, Marty was clearly making a good recovery and started complaining of a toothache, and I was rapidly coming down with the flu. Remember, I am not good at the sympathy thing. I said something along the lines of, ‘We will see what it is like in the morning’.
I gave him a neat whiskey. One for me, one for him. Perhaps there was another one for me and for him.
I went to bed with a packet of tissues and a small waste bin. Not happy.
Saturday morning the flu had a firm grip on me and Marty was feeling much better flu wise. Unfortunately, this was replaced by an increased toothache. In case you didn’t already know, Marty has a full-on phobia of dentists, as well as needles. Unfortunately, this tends to require that he be fully knocked out for pretty much all dental procedures. We tried to get hold of his dentist; they were closed. I couldn’t believe I did not have his mobile number. We spent 2 hours trying to find a dentist on the Gold Coast that could practice with anaesthetic. No such luck.
I phoned my dentist, who had seen Marty on a previous weekend emergency.
Cooparoo Family Dentist agreed to see him and to fit him in to their Saturday morning schedule. I was too sick to go, and Marty promised me he could go on his own; after all, they were not going to do anything aside from just make an assessment.
When it came time to leave, he couldn’t find his motorbike keys…
Talk about the subconscious sabotaging the dentist visit. An emergency phone call was made to a friend (Karin Engel). ‘Can you take him?’ I asked. To make the appointment on time, it would have required her to leave immediately to pick him up. She couldn’t come straight away, but could come in an hour and suggested I ask the dentist to reschedule if possible. I did and they did. Just as I was about to fall back into bed, Marty lowered his trousers to reveal a 6 x 3 cm lump in his groin with the words, ‘What do you think this is?’ I nearly had a heart attack. I grabbed the camera and took a photo. I fell back into bed and Marty hopped in the dinghy, took an Uber to Karin’s place and she drove him to Brisbane.
It transpired that he had this lump for a few days, but was more concerned about the toothache. He was lucky to get to the dentist… Meanwhile, the lump had been burnt on my retina, and I wanted to throttle him.
I sent the photo to a friend who is a doctor with the apology of, ‘I’m so sorry to send this to you after hours. I am super worried.’ He replied, ‘No problems, looks like a hernia, get Marty to see his local GP about it’. With that I fell back asleep.
My sleep was broken by a phone call from Karin who had successfully delivered Marty to the dentist. Her call opened up with,
‘OMG, it is a real phobia.’
Yes, it is.
I was so grateful that she could deliver him and return him. Also, I was so very grateful my dentist who saw him on the weekend and had referrals made for him, together with the promise to phone the specialist first thing Monday to ensure he sees the specialist for a consult and then a procedure before his departure in 5 days. Amazing, truly amazing.
Meanwhile, the flu kept me in bed.
Before we knew it, the consult day had arrived. He very bravely took himself to the specialist. I was impressed.
The following day he was scheduled for his procedure. He had to get there by himself on the train. Again, this was big. Huge. He usually struggled to put his foot over the dentist door. Furthermore, because he was going to be knocked out, he needed a responsible adult to meet him and take him home.
Once again, I phoned a friend. This time it was Bill (Bill Fuller) who took on the role of responsible adult.
From my sickbed, I had booked in car parking in the City, adjacent to the dentist, for Bill.
Marty had about 5 hours post recovery before he had to see his GP for his Travel COVID clearance certificate.
Bill kindly picked him up in Brisbane CBD and drove him to Stafford for his GP consult, feed him lunch and hung out with him while the effects of the anaesthetics wore off.
From there, Bill tag teamed with Rob Brown to take him back to his place after his GP appointment. Rob works near the airport. Somewhere in the days before, I had suggested Marty stay with Rob overnight and go straight to the airport. I was still curled up in bed with the flu.
He sensibly did this.
We got through the week with the amazing help of three wonderful friends. Marty boarded the plane for NZ, and I went back to sleep. He had a wonderful time playing with his daughters and their families. The videos calls and photos with the grandchildren made my heart sing. He looked so happy.
