Jan Bliss RIP

My old friend Jan Bliss passed into eternal life on Sunday 1 December 2013.

I met Jan when I first started teaching at Patrician Brothers' College Fairfield. Jan was the ESL teacher. She would spend 4 afternoons a week working with me with 5D, as we attempted to get the boys to be able to read and write.

We had many good times with our old friends Brother Richard, Bill Parker and Pat Tighe. The weekend Staff Developments at the Sisters of Charity Wahroonga were memorable - Jan getting drunk on Bailey Irish Cream; Jan smuggling in more alcohol for us and hosting the drinks in her room; me passing her and Brother Richard off as being married so we could get into a club.

Jan was very passionate about anything she put her mind to. Her first love was teaching especially English. She worked extremely hard in developing a Spelling program. She had a great love of horses and fought Ryde Council to keep a trotting training track open. She had a long family tradition of unionism and support for the ALP.

After her retirement her health deteriorated. She had a knee replacement and suffered from blood clots, which lead to a series of strokes. She was then diagnosed with cancer. She seemed to be on the improve after treatment for all these things, but it would seem that she suffered from another series of strokes.

My Medical Update

Back in August I had a Gated Pool Heart Scan at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital. The results have turned out to be encouraging. My ejection factor is now at 41%, which at least buts me in the the "Below Normal" range, but certainly not on death's door.

I have seen Professor Kilborn again, and despite his best efforts and offers, have declined a defibrillator for the present. Given my improvement he doesn't want to see me again.

I still have to have an aortic valve MRI in about March, but Dr. Hendel has retired and the practice has been split up. So I will need to get Dr. Patel to recommend someone to me. Hopefully, this will be all pretty normal.

I will be seeing Dr. Patel in early January.

2012

Well, 2012 kept me somewhat "busy", mainly with doctors.

In the middle of the year I had an ablation at Concord Hospital with Dr. Michael Kilmore. That seemed to go fairly well, although a follow up visit revealed some problems with the aortic valve.

I was given number of tests, and referred to Dr. Nick Hendel, a cardio-thoracic surgeon at RPA. He ordered an MRI scan, and recommended that I really wait until at least March 2013  when I will have some more tests. "If it was my heart I wouldn't be doing anything." Dr. Patel has done some more tests and is sort of happy with my progress.

So things are on hold till at least March, and hopefully surgery is off the agenda. I have certainly been getting my money's worth out of Medicare.

Cricket went ahead as usual. Mackillop cricket was held at Leeton, and given that I had only just had the ablation I decided not to go. Anyway, at this stage the next Mackillop trials will be in Wagga Wagga due to the facilities in the larger city. 2013 will see ac change of venue for Eastern Suburbs and St. George to the SCG Indoor Cricket Centre, and Sydney and Sydney/Parramatta/Wollongong will be at Panania and/or Peakhurst. Patrician Brothers' College Fairfield were very good to us over the years, but time and people move on, and it was time for a change.

Jesus, The Teacher

Jesus, The Teacher

He never taught a lesson in a classroom...
He had no tools to work with, no computers, no smartboards, no whiteboards, no blackboards, maps or charts...
He used no subject outlines, kept no records, gave no grades,
and His only text was ancient and well worn.
His students were the poor, the lame, the deaf, the blind, the outcast...
And His method was the same with all who came to hear and learn...
He opened eyes to faith...
He opened ears with simple truth...
And opened hearts with love, a love born of forgiveness...
A gentle man, a humble man,
He asked and won no honours, no gold awards of tribute to His expertise
Or wisdom...
And yet this quiet teacher from the hills of Galilee has fed the needs,
Fulfilled the hopes, and changed the lives of many millions...
For what He taught, brought heaven to earth and God's heart to mankind.

One Solitary Life

One Solitary Life

He was born in an obscure village.

He worked in a carpenter shop

until he was thirty.

He then became an itinerant preacher.

He never held an office.

He never had a family or owned a house.

He didn’t go to university.

He had no credentials but himself….

Twenty centuries have come and gone,

and today he is the central figure of the human race.

All the armies that ever marched,

all the navies that ever sailed,

all the parliaments that ever sat,

all the kings that ever reigned

have not affected the life of man on this earth

as much as that….

ONE SOLITARY LIFE

Slowly, slowly

Yesterday, Saturday 28 April, I walked around to the Pathology Collection Centre opposite Auburn Hospital. Then, in a moment of what many may see as complete madness, I walked to Auburn Shopping Centre. I stopped for a while in the shopping centre. Firstly at Oporto for a quick snack, and then checked out the new Cincotta Chemist in the old Woolworths store. I then walked back home.

For those who wanted to put me out to pasture, this will be very bad news. I have always said I am not going to sit around waiting to fall off the perch. For everyone else, it is certainly a good sign. As I have said before, I am still a long, long way from being back to normal, but their are certainly signs of improvement.

2012 - Year of the Farmer