Back in the Mother City

The view this morning from Schalk's place

A quick update on the medical so far:    Tinus had a chest x-ray in South Africa on Wednesday which showed something on his left lung; he had a blood test done on the same day and on Thursday he had a CT scan, which gives a three dimensional picture of his lungs.  On Friday he had the bronchoscope – a procedure where they looked inside his lungs with a camera.  The blood tests and bronchoscope results both were negative – no TB.  The CT scan showed that the scar, which they now call a node, is about the size of a coke bottle top.   It also showed that the node is too deep to be removed with keyhole surgery therefore Tinus will have to have quite a serious operation. 

We will find out today only when he will be having the operation.  I am trying very hard not to think of the physical procedure but the fact that he will be getting an epidural during the recovery process to help with the pain draws enough of a scary picture.  It seems that he will have to stay in hospital for two weeks after surgery and then an additional four weeks recovery time afterwards.  He says he’s going to try his best to be out after ten days – he’s got a lot of work to do :D

Apart from Tinus this whole scenario impacts most on the children.  They have been accepted in all the schools in the UAE, so we can pick – but – they can’t attend school there without residency visas.  We still don’t know if we are going to be able to go back to Dubai.  It seems that the best option is to have them go back to school here - for the time being.  

When we drove away from the airport yesterday and I saw Table Mountain, It felt like I was lost and unexpectedly came across a landmark which I recognized, which showed that although I now know where I am, I’m nowhere close to where I should be.  This morning when we woke up and I saw our mountain again it felt a lot better.  I now know where I am, this is where I should be – for the time being.