Tired!

This week was quite hectic. The "highlight" of it was going in to Tamara Hospital at Tamworth to have a lump on my neck removed. The lump, called a lipoma, was fairly benign but it has been slowly growing over several years.

Tamara Hospital is a privately owned hospital and is far more pleasant than most public hospitals- the buildings are more freshly maintained and furnishings are more comfortable. Of course, the patients and their health funds are paying for this, so you expect a higher standard.

I've only had a general anaesthetic a couple of times in my life and I'm always amazed how quickly I become unconscious. One second I was watching the anaesthetist do his thing and the next thing I remember was in the recovery ward. I came to so quickly that my first thought was that they must have changed their minds and not done the procedure. But then I looked at the big clock in front of me and I realised I had been under for well over an hour.

So now 4 days later I am still finding my energy levels are a bit low, but mostly I'm fine. Today, we had a launch party for our bookshop and I found that interacting with people all day left me feeling quite tired. Then we had to move some furniture and the arm and shoulder on my right side are sore from working in such a way as to protect my neck.

I am thankful that mostly my health is very good.

The health system has been in the news lately because of the election. I am amused to see people in the suburbs of Sydney complaining about hospitals and waiting times. I wonder what they would say if every time they needed to see a specialist they had to travel 200 km each way as we do here in Narrabri. Or make an appointment nearly a week ahead to see the GP.

Country people have been really hit hard by the decline in the health system over the last decade or so. I hope that the politicians will take this seriously in the next term of Government, but I suspect they won't as most country people just keep on voting for the National Party even though they don't really do a lot for the people in the safe seats.


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