The Underwood's Down Under!

Saturday, August 09, 2008

It's operation time ...

Nige has had a bad back for 6-7 weeks now. It's basically been bad since he got off the plane from his Europe trip. He's had physiotherapy and acupuncture on his back but this hasn't helped. He is now booked for an operation.

The time line goes like this:

Monday 28 July - Doctors appointment (follow on from physiotherapy and acupuncture sessions)
Friday 1 August - CT injection into the nerve to alleviate the pain (unsuccessful)
Monday 4 August - Doctors appointment
Friday 8 August - Neurosurgeon appointment
Tuesday 12 August - Surgery

Isn't that amazing! I know that we are private patients but it's still incredibly quick.

Nige has been diagnosed with a bulging disk in the lower back that has impinged the nerve. This is not going to get better without surgery. His x-rays look amazing! I'm amazed that he has been able to cope with the pain as well as he has. He's been off work (laying flat) and taking pain killers but it still looks incredibly painful.

After the operation, he'll be in hospital for 3 days. Then he should make a good recovery; even be able to get back on his bike.

Please send him your good thoughts ...

Monday, August 04, 2008

The weekend rollerskating

Some much needed refreshments at Rolloways

It's become a regular weekend excursion ... rollerskating! Anna and I really enjoy it. It's very good for the bum and thighs I have heard, and I need all the help I can get at the minute!

Nige is unable to join us as his back is bad at the minute. His CT injection hasn't helped and he's been referred to a neurosurgeon to look at the option of operating. He has a herniated disc that is pressing on the nerve in the lower of his back - ouch!

I'll keep you updated (now I know you are reading)!

Friday, July 25, 2008

I've been very lax at not updating ...

Huge apologies for not updating this blog for such a long time, I didn't think anyone was reading it any more! I have been corrected, hence this update.

We have had a great two weeks with Louise, Katy and Charlie staying with us. The weather hasn't been great as we are now in winter, but we had a couple of days where we could go to the beach. The children were very brave and did some paddling.

I have been very busy with work, just five more weeks of my contract left (not that I am counting).

Nige has an extremely bad back at the minute which is taking a long time to heal. He's been to the doctors today for scans, so fingers crossed that it's something that can be fixed quickly.

Anna has her own blog, http://www.annaunderwood.blogspot.com/ so please drop by and add some comments!

Here are some recent photos of us ...

Saturday, February 16, 2008

Back at school

Sorry I haven't posted for a while, but there's not much to report. Anna is back at school and luckily she got into the class that I wanted! It's a split Year 1/Year 2 class (which seems the norm here) and she's finding some of the work challenging but all good!

She has just won a "merit" for a piece of her work and it has gone up in the library on the Merit Board. We are so proud of her! At assembly she had to stand up and everyone clapped.

Anna's work posted on the Merit Board.

I was surprised that it wasn't a drawing!

Just thought that I'd add this from yesterday. As you may know, I work from home on the PC and this is where Max sleeps when I'm working! I can't say that it's the most convenient place, especially when he lays on the keyboard! Oh, please excuse the messy desk. It's strange but I hate the house being in a mess, but I don't mind my desk (it drives Nige to distraction!).

Sunday, January 27, 2008

The HOLIDAY!

We have just arrived back after our three week holiday. We had a week on the Gold Coast in Australia and then just under two weeks in a camper van touring the South island of New Zealand. It was amazing, and the two were very different!

The Gold Coast is renounced for its theme parks, surfing and beaches. It's here you'll find Surfer's Paradise, and the theme parks to rival those in the USA. It's takes four and a half hours by plane to get there. We stayed at the Sea World Resort and had day passes for Movie World, Sea World, Wet 'n' Wild and Dreamworld. We were well over theme parks by the end and ready for the change that New Zealand offered! However, Anna loved it and it was good to see a city that was thriving!

New Zealand is a three and a half hour flight from the Gold Coast (as you can see, Perth is well and truly the most isolated city in the world, there's no "quick" trip anywhere!). We picked up our camper van and planned to stay at a different camp site each night, travelling around the island. The first thing that struck us about New Zealand was how green and "British" it seemed compared to Perth. There were trees and flowers that we recognised, rain and the architecture was very similar.

Our plan for the trip was:
Day 1 - Christchurch - Dunedin (4.75 hours drive)
Day 2 - Dunedin - Te Anan (4 hours drive)
Day 3 - Te Anan – Milford Sounds (1.5 hours drive)
Day 4 - Te Anan - Queenstown (2.25 hours drive)
Day 5 - Queenstown - Wanaka (1.5 hours drive)
Day 6 - Wanaka – Franz Joseph (4 hours drive)
Day 7 - Franz Joseph - Greymouth
Day 8 - Greymouth - Kaikoura (4 hours drive)
Day 9 - Kaikoura - Christchurch (2.25 hours drive)

Of course, it didn't go to plan as the camper van broke down and we needed a new starter motor and battery (I won't bore you with the details but it meant an overnight stop in an area that we hadn't planned) and then I managed to hit the camper van and we needed to exchange it for another (oops ... thank goodness we took out extra insurance ... ). We therefore had to miss out the very top of the island.

We did fit in - horse riding, heli-biking (where an helicopter takes you to the top of the mountain and then you have a three hour biking descent down - just Nige on that one!), whale watching (saw a beautiful Sperm Whale and countless Dusky Dolphins), a boat trip on Milford Sound, penguin and seal watching, the luge and a gondola trip up a mountain!

Overall, it was a fantastic holiday and I'm already looking at the next trip ...

The Gold Coast, Australia

Arriving on the Gold Coast