SOME RESPONSES TO MY ROUND ROBIN CHAT EMAIL … For your
(private) interest.
From: Athanasou Nick (RTH) OUH [mailto:Nick.AthanasouATouh.nhs.uk]
Sent: Friday, 4 November 2016 3:31 AM
To: Andrew Byrne
Subject: RE:
It was very kind of you to ring me directly and I am grateful for you circulating news of my book to others in our year.
Nuffield Department of Orthopaedics, Rheumatology and Musculoskeletal Science
Department of Pathology
Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre
Oxford OX3 7HE
Tel: 01865 738136 Fax: 01865 738140
email: nick.athanasouATouh.nhs.uk
nick.athanasouATndorms.ox.ac.uk
Sent: Friday, 4 November 2016 3:31 AM
To: Andrew Byrne
Subject: RE:
Andrew –
It was very kind of you to ring me directly and I am grateful for you circulating news of my book to others in our year.
I appreciate your occasional emails (and photos – I am glad I am not in any of them) about our Sydney Uni year. I have been out of the country for more than thirty years and maintained contact with very few from that time. In one of your past emails you mentioned Henry Harris whom I met a few times at Oxford; he went through Sydney High and Sydney Uni) and was Regius Professor of Medicine at Oxford – by the way, he hated Sydney Uni medicine.
I don’t know if you (or others) would be interested in this but I will be launching my latest (fiction) book in Sydney – details below. It has a medical theme, by the way, and is dedicated to Henry Harris Even if you can’t come it would be great to catch up.
I was such a truant at Sydney Uni – I didn’t want to do medicine but my mother said she would kill me if I did not – she never joked about such things. I tried to do Arts/Medicine but the Commonwealth Scholarship wouldn’t cover the period. All of which would indicate that I began from a very low base. I did not like the course but to be honest I didn’t give it much of a chance to impress. Our clinical teachers were more impressive than the university ones.
I have not kept in touch with many in my year, only Minas Coroneo, whose notes I used to photocopy, and Jim Markos (ditto when Minas was unavailable). Greg Aroney who went to the same primary and high school as me was curiously never a close friend.
Thanks again for the call. I look forward to seeing you next month.
Regards.
Nick
Professor N. Athanasou
University of OxfordNuffield Department of Orthopaedics, Rheumatology and Musculoskeletal Science
Department of Pathology
Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre
Oxford OX3 7HE
Tel: 01865 738136 Fax: 01865 738140
email: nick.athanasouATouh.nhs.uk
nick.athanasouATndorms.ox.ac.uk
Brandl & Schlesinger take much pleasure in inviting
you and your friends to the launch of
Palindrome
a new novel by
Nick Athanasou
to be launched by
Vrasidas Karalis
Sir Nicholas Laurantus Professor of
Modern Greek,The University of Sydney
Thursday 8 December 2016
6 for 6.30 pm
CCANESA BOARD ROOM
The Australian Archaeological Institute at Athens
Madsen Building (F09)
The University of Sydney
From:
(entrance through King Street)
RSVP:
From:
Steve&Jan Hure [mailto:stan588ATbigpond.com] Jan
Eriksson
Sent: Tuesday, 20 September 2016 12:30 PM
To: ajbyrneATozemail.com.au
Subject: RE: Syd Uni Med 1978 small talk ...
Sent: Tuesday, 20 September 2016 12:30 PM
To: ajbyrneATozemail.com.au
Subject: RE: Syd Uni Med 1978 small talk ...
Dear Andrew,
Thanks for the small talk. I enjoyed reading it.
I am another retiree from general practice.
These days, as a volunteer, I read news from the papers and
produce programmes on the local Radio for the Print Handicapped (Radio1RPH)
including a ‘Healthy Eating’ programme.
Couldn’t quite get away from helping to keep the population
healthy!!!
I did some of the embroidery on the blanket gifted to little
Princess Charlotte by Tony Abbott.
I belong to the local guild and was asked to be one of the team
of four to work on it.
Janette(Jan) Eriksson
From: Stephen Jurd [mailto:stephenATjurd.net]
Sent: Tuesday, 20 September 2016 12:14 AM
To: Andrew Byrne
Subject: Re: Syd Uni Med 1978 small talk ...
Sent: Tuesday, 20 September 2016 12:14 AM
To: Andrew Byrne
Subject: Re: Syd Uni Med 1978 small talk ...
Andrew,
Thanks for the lovely, newsy email.
SJ
From: Judy Stokes
[mailto:istokesATbigpond.net.au]
Sent: Tuesday, 20 September 2016 9:17 PM
To: Andrew Byrne
Subject: Re: Syd Uni Med 1978 small talk ...
Sent: Tuesday, 20 September 2016 9:17 PM
To: Andrew Byrne
Subject: Re: Syd Uni Med 1978 small talk ...
Wow Andrew. The tulips are fantastic!
Lovely to hear from you and have an update on our peers.
Good to read all about them.
I noticed the 50 year reunion for some
Sydney uni alumni and they wrote a book about their peers! Fantastic.
We keep in touch with Di. Philpott, Ann
Pike, Ingrid Rieger, Suzie Tait, Annabelle Farnsworth, the Glanvilles, Jon
Wood, Bernie Haylen, Penny Druce, Mal Robilliard, Lesley YEE and LYN McKenzie..
Among others... Old friends. It's wonderful!
And now that many of us are semi retired we
have more time for get togethers etc as long as we give enough notice! As
everyone seems to be busier than ever with new freedoms.
Feel very blessed!
Good to "hear your voice".
Only 18 months to our next reunion?? Gosh
40 years!?!
It would be wonderful if you had the energy
and wherewithal to be the head honcho again (with a bit of help from your
friends!)
With very best of wishes
Judy (and Ian)
From: Ian Cook [mailto:i.cookATunsw.edu.au]
Sent: Tuesday, 20 September 2016 7:22 PM
To: Andrew Byrne
Cc: suzannataitAToptusnet.com.au
Subject: Re: Syd Uni Med 1978 small talk ...
Sent: Tuesday, 20 September 2016 7:22 PM
To: Andrew Byrne
Cc: suzannataitAToptusnet.com.au
Subject: Re: Syd Uni Med 1978 small talk ...
Dear
Andrew,
Lovely
to hear snippets from our alumni! It seems we are all getting closer to
“sucking the marrow” in different ways as we contemplate retirement.
Congrats
to Mike Freelander – a gutsy move at this stage in his career but Lord knows,
any ally in the medicare arena is worth having. We wish him well.
Life
seems to good for you in the Southern Highlands – and doesn’t keep you away
from the Opera.
I’m
working 6 mths and sailing (with Cathy) 6 mths each year. As I write I’m
perched at Sea Cloud’s helm literally sailing into a glorious sunset on the 3rd
night of a passage from Mallorca to Gibraltar. In the space of 2 hrs this
afternoon we spotted dolphins, whales and turtles. The plan is to exit the Med,
head to Madeira, Canary Islands and then an Atlantic crossing to Caribbean in
November. All a little daunting but we’ve been planning for it for some years
now and we’re not getting any younger. Photo attached.
Also
as we speak Suzanna Tait (nee Rosenthal) is hiking in the Pyrenees with husband
Paul a mere 200 or so kms north of our current position.
Our
very best wishes,
Ian
(&Cathy) Cook
Ian
Cook
SY Sea
Cloud
Int.
Mob: +44 7872 225 358
From: Gerry Lister
[mailto:listergerryAThotmail.com]
Sent: Tuesday, 27 September 2016 5:02 PM
To: Andrew Byrne
Subject: Re: Syd Uni Med 1978 small talk ...
Sent: Tuesday, 27 September 2016 5:02 PM
To: Andrew Byrne
Subject: Re: Syd Uni Med 1978 small talk ...
From:
Chris Hindley [mailto:phe_hindleyAThotmail.com]
Sent: Friday, 23 September 2016 5:21 PM
To: ajbyrneATozemail.com.au
Subject: Sydney Uni Small Talk
Sent: Friday, 23 September 2016 5:21 PM
To: ajbyrneATozemail.com.au
Subject: Sydney Uni Small Talk
Hi Andrew,
Thanks for keeping our medical year in touch during our
working lives. University years were
"the best" but I recommend retirement as being just as
enjoyable.
Please keep up the great work.
Chris Hindley
-----Original
Message-----
From: Bernard Haylen [mailto:bernardAThaylen.co]
Sent: Monday, 19 September 2016 3:20 PM
To: Andrew Byrne
Subject: RE: Syd Uni Med 1978 small talk ...
From: Bernard Haylen [mailto:bernardAThaylen.co]
Sent: Monday, 19 September 2016 3:20 PM
To: Andrew Byrne
Subject: RE: Syd Uni Med 1978 small talk ...
Hi Andrew,
Well done for updating the "Small talk"
Great to have a chat in Bowral.
Replying from San Francisco.
Is Tamara close by?
Regards
Bernie
From: David Farrar: dafarrarATdoctors.org.uk
[mailto:dafarrarATdoctors.org.uk]
Sent: Tuesday, 20 September 2016 2:59 PM
To: Andrew Byrne
Subject: Re: Syd Uni Med 1978 small talk ...
Sent: Tuesday, 20 September 2016 2:59 PM
To: Andrew Byrne
Subject: Re: Syd Uni Med 1978 small talk ...
Nice to hear from you. Hope you are well. I continue to be impressed by your boundless enthusiasm for the Class of '78. How goes Addiction Medicine?
I have returned from the US and am living in Brisbane. Working as a locum GP all over Australia; recently Mareeba (near Cairns), Leeton, Coolum Beach on the Sunshine Coast, Adelaide, and Kingaroy (where Joh Bjelke-Petersen is still revered!). Now working in Hobart for 6 weeks and then Perth in November for another 6 weeks. It's a great gig and a fabulous way to see the country after years away. Professionally and personally I have never been happier. Australia beats the US hands down on so many levels.
Thank you for all the cheery news about our '78 colleagues. Margaret & Peter Malcolm (and you) may know my sister, Ann Parker, who is a GP in Bowral.
Best wishes,
David
From: Ingrid Rieger [mailto:ingridriegerAThotmail.com]
Sent: Tuesday, 20 September 2016 5:17 AM
To: Andrew Byrne
Subject: Re: Syd Uni Med 1978 small talk ...
Sent: Tuesday, 20 September 2016 5:17 AM
To: Andrew Byrne
Subject: Re: Syd Uni Med 1978 small talk ...
Hello Andrew! Still doing your good work
keeping us all up to date ! Well done! I had imagined also retiring by now but
instead have somehow managed to become the Head of Department of Newborn Care
at RPA. So not exactly relaxing! ** still swimming !
Xxx Ingrid
From: Minas Coroneo [mailto:coroneomATgmail.com]
Sent: Monday, 19 September 2016 11:57 PM
To: Andrew Byrne
Subject: Re: Syd Uni Med 1978 small talk ...
From: Minas Coroneo [mailto:coroneomATgmail.com]
Sent: Monday, 19 September 2016 11:57 PM
To: Andrew Byrne
Subject: Re: Syd Uni Med 1978 small talk ...
Dear Andrew,
Thank you for the update - great to hear
all the news and to see what everyone is up to.
I guess time is flying but I am just
gearing up to help build an new institute as part of the redevelopment of
Prince of Wales (as the tramline nears Randwick).
We have had mostly good news:
1. Got a gong on Australia day: Australia
Day Honours 2016: the full list
No big news, to this lot - it is in the
general division but given all the battles I have fought with the health
bureaucracy, I thought it should have been a military AO!
2. At the end of last year I received a
Distinguished Ionian award (for charitable work on Kythera). The fun part of
this is you need up on a postage stamp!
Not sure how these things happen but I had
very little to do with it!
Not at the opera much, sadly but spending
some time in NYC and have a place in Tribeca on the top of an old sugar
warehouse. Mostly on business - have had a few inventions commercialised and
our older daughter has based her business there although has just opened her
forts store in London.
Beautiful tulips - I am still a Tiny Tim
fan!
Best,
Minas Coroneo
From: Ingall, Timothy, M.D., Ph.D.
[mailto:tingallATmayo.edu]
Sent: Monday, 19 September 2016 11:12 PM
To: Andrew Byrne
Subject: Re: Syd Uni Med 1978 small talk ...
Sent: Monday, 19 September 2016 11:12 PM
To: Andrew Byrne
Subject: Re: Syd Uni Med 1978 small talk ...
Andres,
I have
seen many rattlesnakes in Arizona and can attest to the fact that if you don’t
harass them, they won’t harass you. On one occasion, I was standing next
to a small lantana bush in a friend’s yard, and after about 15 minutes, Pat
looked down and saw a rattlesnake curled up under the bush. I obviously
hadn’t disturbed it too much because it just sat there unperturbed until a
fireman from the local fire fighting station came out with a snake hook, put it
in a bucket, and released it into the nearby desert.
Our
desert golf courses often have large natural desert areas throughout the course
with signs in some areas stating ‘Rattlesnake Habitat’ with the implicit
understanding that if you go into those areas you do so at your own peril.
On one occasion while playing golf at one of these course, my ball was
about 10 metres away from the edge of the fairway and I thought that there was
little chance of seeing a snake in the middle of a hot day. Anyway, I
tried to play a shot off the desert hard pan, but only managed to hit it about
5 metres towards a small bush. As I started to walk to get the ball from
under the bush, I saw that the golf ball was lying right next to the head of a
rattlesnake that was curled up under the bush. Needless to say I let the
snake keep the ball, dropped a new ball back on the fairway and played on!
Cheers,
Tim
PS ..
Earlier in the week there was an item in Col 8 about treating snake bites by
compressing the limb with a tight bandage, rather than with a tourniquet
I contributed an item that included the reason why a compression bandage should
be used instead of a tourniquet, and also wrote that avoiding a snake bite was
better than having to treat one. I then added that most snake bites occur
because the person who is bitten has stirred up the snake, and gave the
information about the ED physician colleague who came up with the formula that
calculates a score that correlates with the likelihood of being bitten.
He works in the county hospital in Phoenix that not only is the major
toxicology hospital in the Valley, but also treats people without health insurance.
Thus, they get a lot of uninsured red necks who get bitten by snakes and
need treatment; hence the formula!
SMH
15/9/16: In Arizona, many rattlesnake
bites (C8) are caused by people provoking the snake by poking them with sticks,
says Tim Ingall MB BS, PhD (University of Sydney) Scottsdale, Arizona. "An
emergency medicine physician friend in Phoenix has developed a 'rattlesnake
bite index'. The formula calculated by assessing the following variables in
each patient: blood alcohol level; number of tattoos; and number of teeth. The
formula is (blood alcohol level x number of tattoos)/number of teeth."
A few
years ago, my son sent me a funny joke about red necks that goes as follows:
Question
— ‘What is the last thing a red neck hears before he dies?'
Answer
— ‘Hey folks, watch me do this!’
From: Jimbo Markos [mailto:jamesmarkosATbigpond.com]
Sent: Tuesday, 20 September 2016 12:24 AM
To: 'Andrew Byrne'
Subject: RE: Syd Uni Med 1978 small talk ...
Sent: Tuesday, 20 September 2016 12:24 AM
To: 'Andrew Byrne'
Subject: RE: Syd Uni Med 1978 small talk ...
Andrew
How nice to hear from
you and your recent interactions from such a colourful cohort of our mob.
I picked up on your
reference to the Coca Cola sign at Kings Cross.
As you know, this has
been topical lately.
I heard about it from
Eddie Howe, who knows I collect Coca Cola memorabilia.
So I looked into the
bidding, thinking I might make an offer for my preconceived bid of $200
increasing to a max of $1,000 for one of the letters.
I was most interested
in little C because the 2 large C’s were just too long to fit into my 6 metre
square collection (called Jim’s CocaColaSeeUm)!
To my chagrin, I
noted the starting bidding surpassed my limit on the first day, and that little
C was also the most popular.
I was not surprised
then to see the final bidding reach about $10,000 for each, with over $18,000
for little C and over $100,000 for all 8.
It was for a very
worthy cause, which perhaps you have some peripheral association with.
Anyway, nice to hear
from you and hope you are keeping well, as I am.
Regards
Jim
From: Phil Jeans [mailto:p.jeansATgastrotract.com.au]
Sent: Monday, 19 September 2016 5:02 PM
To: Andrew Byrne
Subject: RE: Syd Uni Med 1978 small talk ...
Sent: Monday, 19 September 2016 5:02 PM
To: Andrew Byrne
Subject: RE: Syd Uni Med 1978 small talk ...
Thanks Andrew for
this update. I’m still working as a Upper GI and HPB surgeon in ACT and hope to
keep going a few more years if health permits. I sometimes stop at Bowral for a
break on the drive to Sydney and back...a great spot. You do a fantastic job of
keeping us all connected.
Phil Jeans
From: David Baines [mailto:baines.eastwoodATbigpond.com]
Sent: Monday, 19 September 2016 9:30 AM
To: Andrew Byrne
Subject: Re: Syd Uni Med 1978 small talk ...
Sent: Monday, 19 September 2016 9:30 AM
To: Andrew Byrne
Subject: Re: Syd Uni Med 1978 small talk ...
Dear
Andrew
Many
thanks for the update. I have been on long service leave from the Children’s
Hospital at Westmead since April 2015 and will retire in early November when my
leave is completed. There are many people I will miss at the hospital – but not
all! I am content to be leaving this behind now and look forward to a different
life while I am still young!!?? healthy and vigorous… I am having a great time
getting involved with my eight grandchildren – much more involvement than with
my own three sons, according to Lorraine! Motorbike riding and maintenance,
sailing and catching up with old friends keep me busy as well. I will continue
with a private eye list one afternoon a week for another year – I had planned
to leave anaesthesia altogether but I have been with this ophthalmologist for a
long time and he was keen for me to continue with him for as long as possible.
I have also managed to continue with the overseas’ cardiac trips, going to Fiji
and Tonga in 2015, Rwanda this year (Fiji was cancelled due to the cyclone) and
hopefully will return to Fiji (and maybe Tonga) next year, although I will then
have to give these up after 2017, as I guess I will lose the skills (and
confidence) as I am not doing this work here. I have also been doing a little
medico-legal work which is interesting. Lorraine and I have met up with Chris
and Kerry Needs a number of times over the last few years, with Mike and Sharon
Freelander when Mike was not campaigning….Chris, Mike and I were at Concord
together as students and spent a lot of time together in those days. Chris and
Kerry have returned to Sydney from Port Macquarie, although Chris is still
visiting Post Macquarie while also practicing here. I definitely don’t envy
Mike his new career at this stage of his life, although I do wish him all the
best of course. We have another luncheon planned for later in the year so
hopefully will catch up with how he is going.
Best
wishes
David
A/Prof
David Baines AM FANZCA
From: Chris Fenton [mailto:chris.fentonAThospitalofhope.org]
Sent: Monday, 19 September 2016 10:50 AM
To: 'Andrew Byrne'
Subject: RE: Syd Uni Med 1978 small talk ...
Sent: Monday, 19 September 2016 10:50 AM
To: 'Andrew Byrne'
Subject: RE: Syd Uni Med 1978 small talk ...
Thx Andrew-appreciate
all the news.
All good with me.
Chris
From: Bin Jalaludin [mailto:b.jalaludinATunsw.edu.au]
Sent: Sunday, 18 September 2016 10:04 PM
To: Andrew Byrne
Subject: Re: Syd Uni Med 1978 small talk ...
Sent: Sunday, 18 September 2016 10:04 PM
To: Andrew Byrne
Subject: Re: Syd Uni Med 1978 small talk ...
Thanks Andrew - good to hear from you as always.
Jal
From: hal rikard-bell
[mailto:halnmogsATbigpond.com]
Sent: Monday, 19 September 2016 7:33 PM
To: Andrew Byrne
Subject: RE: Syd Uni Med 1978 small talk ...
Sent: Monday, 19 September 2016 7:33 PM
To: Andrew Byrne
Subject: RE: Syd Uni Med 1978 small talk ...
Hi Andrew,
Luv ya updates, and felt the need to add
to .....
In response to apropos of nothing,
Some country updates, from Bathurst
Still country GP-ing, but
no obstets now that there is an interest in a winery =- = in
orange -=- every family should have one as, I tell jim
wall
Still bridge, skiing, same
wife circa 1972, who takes me on cycling holidays ( -= - sri lanka -had
it’s road terror moments)
Succession planning is still the topic of
our ilk. Opera when on country tour, or if David Mortimer (brother-in-law) has
a special event on offer .
Mark Henschke’s daughter is now
local in Orange base hospital, so Mark pops in to visit prn, and still
teaching +++. Aren’t we all -=- and it is Sydney
uni students who have changed somewhat I contend.
Great letters from dave eisinger, dave baines, Alan
Granville, etc who has a farm nearby.
All the best to those who
missed the Bx winter winery tour and will now look to the 'Orange food
& wine week’, or the ‘cool climate wine show’. I’d love to show
any interested parties the way around.
Hal rikard-bell
Video of Lisa Cottee doing a ‘Fred Hollows’, literally in NE China
cataract operations. Amazing!
From: Suzanna Tait
[mailto:suzannataitAToptusnet.com.au]
Sent: Sunday, 9 October 2016 4:09 PM
To: 'Ian Rewell'; 'Ian Cook'; 'Andrew Byrne'
Cc: ian.rewellATbigpond.com.au
Subject: RE: Syd Uni Med 1978 small talk ...
Sent: Sunday, 9 October 2016 4:09 PM
To: 'Ian Rewell'; 'Ian Cook'; 'Andrew Byrne'
Cc: ian.rewellATbigpond.com.au
Subject: RE: Syd Uni Med 1978 small talk ...
Hola !!! Jeez
you guys.....So much happening all round ! we have been thinking of you
Cookie and Cathy esp as we were quite close to where you were in Spain. Glad to
hear the passage went well but assume you are now on the bigger Atlantic
crossing
We re just back from
northern Spain , both with a slight weight gain which was unavoidable when we
found wine cheaper than water, coke and beer and the food was good as well with
copious amounts of olive oil and entrée cheese size enough cheese to feed a
family for a month and wine tastings at the bodegas in La Rioja
Spain was fabulous
although we don’t need to see another golden altar for a while . loved the Guggenheim in Bilbao
We came home via
London to visit Toby and Ellie and our new granddaughter Sophia. We both
went straight back to work but I think I am beginning to prefer holidays more! Paddy
and Adriana’s baby is now 9 weeks away so very excited to have a new
grandchild on home soil. All is going well there .
Stretchie I saw
you on Friday when Susan was driving you on River road in the morning , I was
just in front of you, waving , you looked very comfortable !!
Anrdrew are we having
another mini reunion or are you gearing up for the big one ?? hope all is well
with you
Love to all
Suz xxxxxxxxxxx
From: Ian Rewell [mailto:ian.rewellATbigpond.com]
Sent: Sunday, 9 October 2016 2:38 PM
To: Ian Cook; Andrew Byrne
Cc: suzannataitAToptusnet.com.au; ian.rewellATbigpond.com.au
Subject: Re: Syd Uni Med 1978 small talk ...
Sent: Sunday, 9 October 2016 2:38 PM
To: Ian Cook; Andrew Byrne
Cc: suzannataitAToptusnet.com.au; ian.rewellATbigpond.com.au
Subject: Re: Syd Uni Med 1978 small talk ...
Dear all
Stein and Cathy- was
wondering where you were as had not heard from you- please contact us
when you are back. (Susie Williams came to visit yesterday- Craig was
playing golf at RS)
Taits- ditto- hope you
survive the hike
For myself- having
“retired” at end of 2014 and then spent 6 months in UK and Europe, including
Gallipolli centenary dawn service, Ashes tests at Lords and The Oval and 2
Rugby World Cup matches at Twickenham and Cardiff- plus catching up with the
Cooks in Mykonos- I have been cajoled into re-entering the workforce “helping
out” for 4 days a week- 1 at Wollongong and 3 at St Vincent’s- so Andrew if you
are in the area under the Coke sign please give me a call!
Grassby- emyall777ATbigpond.com
Taff Hughes- will
advise
Ian R
NEW MESSAGES SENT
SINCE MAIL-OUT:
Sent: Tuesday, 1 November 2016 6:11 AM
To: Andrew Byrne
Subject: RE: SOME RESPONSES TO MY ROUND ROBIN CHAT EMAIL . For your interest (privately).
To: Andrew Byrne
Subject: RE: SOME RESPONSES TO MY ROUND ROBIN CHAT EMAIL . For your interest (privately).
Sorry not to have
responded before now.
I went down to 4 days
per week in April, and have handed over line admin of HammondCare’s doctors to
other managers, and have gone back to a principal focus on patient care,
specifically cancer rehabilitation, where we have opened the first specific
unit of its kind in Australia, at Greenwich Hospital. Marilyn has transitioned
in July from being Head of an High School to consultancy work in secondary
school education, so our lives are in late-middle-life change.
The weird time for this
email is not due to insomnia, it is currently due to my jet-lagged status, as
I’m at a Rehab meeting in Chicago, where our oldest son Daniel and his family
are currently living while he completes at PhD in NT Greek studies. Marilyn is
flying over to join me, as we speak, and the three grandchildren here are
looking forward to being thoroughly spoiled in consequence. I’m staying at the
conference hotel, while Marilyn is braving one of the kid’s beds for a couple
of days..
We did go to see tulips
at Bowral (Corbett Park) on the Monday of the long weekend, as well as visiting
some other old friends that day, which was a great day on all counts, in
consequence.
All the best,
Andrew
A/Prof Andrew Cole MBBS FAFRM
Chief Medical Officer, HammondCare
Conjoint Associate Professor, UNSW
P: (02) 8788-3900
F: (02) 9731-1235
From: Maureen Corrigan [mailto:beach8025ATbigpond.com]
Sent: Friday, 4 November 2016 10:21 AM
To: Andrew Byrne
Subject: Re: Blogspot and your emails
Sent: Friday, 4 November 2016 10:21 AM
To: Andrew Byrne
Subject: Re: Blogspot and your emails
Dear Andrew
Thank you so much for your emails and
blogspot. I really enjoyed reading what everyone is up to. It is wonderful that
you keep putting things together for us.
I should have thrown my updated info in
earlier but here it is now.
I retired from working in the wide world of
health in 2006 because of my multiple sclerosis. I am having a great time
travelling like I have never travelled before. I have said more than once that
getting MS was one of the best things that happened to me. Now I can follow my
other passions and find new ones. My MS is stable and my mobility decline has
stopped. I had my 100th infusion of Tysabri last week and it has been so good
for me.
My travels on my mobility scooter have included trips to Antarctica, Greenland, Iceland, the Svalbard and the Arctic, Israel, Malta, Norway etc etc. I also found a new passion of writing. I did write regularly for the Victorian Government Office for Disability for several years until they closed their website for review. I try to promote travel and getting out and about for persons with a disability to just the gear and get out there.
My writing progressed to writing a book, my
first. It was published in June this year - Unexpected Rewards: Travelling
to the Arctic with a Mobility Scooter - available at www.vividpublishing.com.au/enexpectedrewards
It is about one trip I did to Norway and
the Svalbard Arctic, the first one with my new small collapsible mobility
scooter. It is also about my MS, my story that took a while to diagnose.
I am not long back from another trip to
Germany and leave in a few weeks for Hong Kong to cruise via Vietnam and
Thailand to Singapore. There have been so many funny things happen to me while
I have been using my mobility scooter. More funny times than when I travelled
without one! I am writing short stories now of funny and interesting events
traveling with my mobility scooter.
Please keep up your good work Andrew and
thanks again
Maureen
(Maureen T Corrigan)
