Choir was enjoyable on Thursday night with the return of our new choir director, Raelene. She is in Perth for a couple of session with us, then back to Melbourne for daughter duties.
Our China lesson with Gary Sigley focussed on an area of China that we haven’t been to yet, which served to make us want to go there (Dali). He is doing some socialogical research into ‘Mountain Changers’ – city people choosing to go to live in the area to escape the rat race and enjoy the clear, healthy climate.
We had lunch at Mercy Hospital, then a long wait to see Stephen’s specialist. He asked about a particular medication which is being used by a friend of his for pain management. Stephen was hoping that he could be on a similar 100mg dose per day. Turns out he would need to take 300mg 3 times a day, 900 mg in total. A third MRI (MVI) had confirmed that he didn’t need a blood thinner for the blood vessels in his brain, that leaves him where he was before with a choice of taking it for his Atrial Fibrillation. He chooses not to take it.
If not taking the medication he would have to have a full 12 months seizure free before she would be willing to allow him to drive. He has chosen to accept the ban rather than go on more medication. He is already used to using public transport and going shopping in our nearby shopping centre with a trolley.
The specialist said that often young people do not accept being banned from driving and will ‘doctor shop’ to try to get around it. She seemed to appreciate him being reasonable. They discussed the recent case where a man killed a motor cycleist whilst having a seizure. Unfairly, the man faces gaol over the death, even though it was a first seizure and he had not idea of what had happened.
That has implications for us in terms of going anywhere that involves a lot of driving, including towing our caravan. I can, of course, tow the caravan. I’m so glad we did our trip to the Eastern States last year. At least we have had that holiday, even if we might not be able to do that type of trip again. Because even if Stephen is driving again we might not feel comfortable about him towing the caravan. He has always been the main driver and I am feeling the strain of picking up the slack.