h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I think I am in h2g2. Everything works fine here.

Cheers!

Just for the record - I spoke to the mad boy earlier today. He's sounding more normal than he has for months, more like his 'real' self, but I don't think he's quite there yet. The doctors are saying that he should remain in Adelaide until June at least, and then be reassessed. Our delightful employers take this as meaning that he'll *definitely* return to work in Canberra in June. Our delightful employers are causing problems by taking this approach. If they had slightly more imagination, they'd know better than to badger him with details like this until he's well and truly recovered.

I've arranged to meet him for lunch, a couple of days after I get to Adelaide. It depends how he is on that occasion as to whether I see him again during my visit. But I think he is getting better. It will still be a long time before he's completely well, but there's more chance of a recovery now than there has been for quite some time.

Ivan.

That's good news - I had assumed that it was something that would always be with him. How has he been cured? Therapy or just medication, or did it go away on its own?

Either way, if he does return to normal, it will be nice for him to know that his friends are still there for him. It's frightening - even to an outsider - to watch how anyone with a stigmatised illness can lose friends just because of it.

My sister-in-law lost an awful lot of so-called friends when she had cancer. This puzzled me because (a) it is not infectious (b) She couldn't do anything about it and (c) surely people need friends in that situation more than usual. However, since recovering, she has become more difficult to get on with. Maybe if she was a friend, and not a relative, I might have kept her more at a distance, but this was some years afterwards, not during the illness.



I tried some of your Aussie wine this week, Ivan. It was jolly good, nearly as good as our Palatinate wines. It was a Shiraz. I put it on the mantelpiece to acclimatise, and as we had a roaring fire (snow outside) it got rather a bit too warm, but that only helped bring out the fruitiness.

Still, it tasted like the red wines used to taste here, so I can stick to local wines in future and not offend my conscience by buying foreign wines.

If I come to Australia, of course, I shall drink pints of the local wine. (Sorry - I'm not a beer drinker)

I'm not sure how the 'cure' has come about. I think it's probably a combination of medication and psychiatric care, helped by the fact that he's now in his home town and away from a lot of the unsettling rubbish that goes on in Canberra. I expect I'll find out more when I see him.

I think he has lost some friends, but that's because of some of the things he did before he sought treatment. These people don't necessarily know he's ill; they probably think of his actions as malicious rather than the by-product of a medical condition. It's not my place to enlighten them, of course.

I'm glad you liked the wine. Which winemaker was it from? A lot of Australian wines would be quite like the German product, as the wine business here was started by German immigrants in the 1840s. (Silesian Lutherans, for the most part, but there would have been some winemakers from the Palatinate as well.) If it was a wine from the Barossa, there would definitely have been German methods used. (One of the stranger sights in the Barossa - memorials for the 1914-18 war 'for King-Emperor and Country', covered in German surnames.)

Ivan.

hi there Ivan!

The operation is any day now, isn't it? Did you say the 22nd? Can't remember now and can't be arsed to sift through the backlog.

How is everyone holding up?



az

*joins in waiting for any news*

Hi.

The operation is on Friday 26 March. I go to Adelaide on Saturday - the start of a fortnight without hootoo .

I'll add more to this in about 10 hours or so, when I'm back at home... I actually have w*rk to do, for the first time in ages. Lousy timing, as my mind's not on the job.

Ivan.

W*rk!

Right, I'm back now...

I spoke to my sister the other day, just to find out how she was. I mentioned that I might possibly spend some time in Adelaide seeing other people, rather than hanging around permanently at her bedside like a figure in some ultra-sentimental Victorian engraving. She became quite vitriolic, called me some vile things, and had an anxiety attack. I had to grab my other phone and call Mum, telling her to go to my sister's house immediately.

I know the girl hasn't been totally sane lately, owing to stress, but I wasn't expecting that level of venom. The anxiety attack is just one of many that she's had in recent years. I hope that once she has her 'personal reset button' she'll have fewer of these attacks; she'll have less to be anxious *about*, surely. The whole business was vey unnerving. The girl seems to be OK now, at least. I'm not so sure about Mum. I'll have to assess that for myself on Saturday.

In other news, the mad boy has been in touch by email and our employer's version of instant messaging. He mentioned some of his symptoms and told me of situations that trigger irrational behaviour on his part. This was a bit worrying - but he's admitting he's ill, which is a great step forward. It's the first time he's given me any real details of what he's been going through. He's also admitted to some of the strange things that he's done. I think the outlook is good, but it will still be a while before he's completly recovered.

Now I just wish I wasn't so jittery about this trip home...

Ivan.

You know, I think you must be a very strong person.

It's all those rollmops I was forced to eat when I was a child . After that, anything is bearable.

Oh, I see... So far I have managed to avoid to eat any rollmops I've met. Perhaps that's why I am so insecure.

No, I think you're a strong person if you've managed to fight off rollmops throughout your life. And a lucky person, too.

<>

As I recall, you have been jittery before and have always pulled off the situation with flying colours. I have no doubt you will handle the situation with your sister and family just fine.

I understand your sister's initial anxiety but she may find after she is in hospital, after the op (how long does she have to stay in hospital?) that she is happier sleeping or watching tv than having to make the effort to talk to people. I'm sure you will play it by ear and do what is best.



az

As far as I know, the girl will only be in hospital for two or three days at the most. It's when they let her out that I'll be in for a bad time... She'll be convalescing at Mum's place, which is where I'll be staying, and she'll use every opportunity that presents itself for emotional blackmail. But I refuse to buy into it. If I'm there, I'm there. If I have arranged to go out for the day, that's what I'll do.

*thinks - must hold myself to this*

At any rate, I'll start a fresh journal thread when I'm back, and if I'm lucky it will be about nice upbeat things.

Ivan.

It is a good sign that madboy accepts that he is ill and even better, I think, that he has an awareness of his triggers. I'm glad that things have improved a bit there. As for family, there is no known method that will make that any easier. So, grit your teeth and try not to let the guilt sink in too far.


N

Hi Nadia!

Anyway. This thread's coming to an end... I have a couple of hours on hootoo, then I'll be offline until 4 April - for reasons you all know quite well by now. When I get back online I'll add a fresh journal entry with details of How Things Went.

Thank you all for keeping me company over the last few weeks. I really do appreciate it, and it has been a great help. Honestly.

So here's a token of my esteem. Enjoy!



(And there's more of that, of course.)

Ivan.

*settles in with *

Take good care of yourself. Umm, and the others too...