hi all what a day medical dramas that effected the both of us today.

this morning Tina decided to inform me she had a medical issue that she has had for some time now. i had thought as much as she had replicated a demented dog scratting its ear for days on end! she admitted she thought she had had an ear infection and had been awake all last night. Therefore we found the phone number of the nearest medical center, and made an appointment which was to take place just round the corner, however we had to wait all morning for it.

we spent the next few hours wondering around town. Quite impressive as we had decided to give Delorous the morning off as she had done such a terrific job getting us to Whakatane. Shop after shop after shop, there was no way of getting out of shopping as there wasn’t anything else to do. The plastic cards almost melted due to overuse.

Whakatane is a lovely town right next to the ocean front with, (as i said earlier), loads of shops including a coffee shop every 10 meters or so. i swear everything bought, were from the same shops we have in Nelson, nevertheless i was told the items were different! one good thing though i found a great shop called Podium, where i bought a new pair of walking shoes in readiness for the kImberley tour in Australia. podium was not just a shoe shoip but also a clinic with Podiatrist within. Ha i thought, now i can get someone to look at the “itch” ive been having. unfortunately i could not get an appointment until next week! the man in the shop said they had a sister shop in Tauranga so he took it upon himself t0 call them and was able to make me an appointment for 5pm today.

As Whakatane is so big, i was totally disoriented to where we were in relation to where the car was. Oh i wish Delorous was with us! Anyway somehow managed to find the car park, and woke Delorous up, who assisted us to the medical centre.

Tina here – once we found the medical centre down a back alley i was sent in, the doctor looked in my ear and said ‘what is THAT? I have never seen anything like that before!’. Total freak out, OMG i have a bug growing and breeding was all i could think of, i didnt feel any better when she said its probably dead as she couldnt see anything moving – well thats ok then, not! Prescription later and the number for an ear clinic in Tauranga. I spent the next few hours thinking up all sorts of things that were in my ear and making myself feel pretty ill.

When we got to Tauranga i phoned up and got seen straight away,  laid down and the nurse sucked out a seed! Ha, all that panic for a little black seed of some description – well it could have grown into a flippin bush for all i know!  Relief, now for a few wines!!

Finally my (Roy’s) appointment. with the help of Delorous we found the shopping mall where Podium was. She is turning out to be such an assett to have around. In i went and explained about my itch. The podiatrist quickly informed me i had a couple of scratches on the base of my big toe, which had got infected. WOW what he cleaned out was disgusting. he performed what i could only call – “micro surgery” which took ages. i came out of the clinic, huge band aid on toe, with Tina laughing her head off, as it obviouly looked worse than what it was. All the while as i was going through surgerey,  and PAIN, Tina (as she was in a shoe shop), guess what – had bought a pair of shoes!!!!! Whoever thought about putting a foot clininc in a shoe shop was a genious, what a sales/marketing trick.

Both these medical dramas have put our plans on hold for a few days, so all we can do here, is to take it easy, lay on the beach, soak up the sun, drink wine and beers, eat chocolate to our hearts conent and just do nothing – awesome!