Regular readers: I’m sorry this one has taken so long to appear. The website was broken and I was having trouble fixing it. I’m not sure why it is working now, but, on with the story…
It was maybe 8pm by the time we got word that Andrew Hodge was on his way. The team of doctors and nurses that were now constantly surrounding Trenna started moving her bed to the lifts to take her to … Read the rest ... “Trenna’s Heart Valve Replacement – Part 2”
Trenna and I liked to record information about our holidays. Below is the travel diary Trenna kept on her iPad of a trip to the North Island of New Zealand from 11 November 2016 to 22 November 2016. The only time we went there, and our last overseas trip together.
It was a trip that turned out like nothing we were expecting, due to an untimely and devastating earthquake. I have written a brief account of … Read the rest ... “New Zealand North Island – Tren’s Travel Diary”
By Greg
Being a carer can be like being on a roller coaster, it can be fun, and thrilling, and downright scary. Sometimes it’s all those things at once. And once you are on it it can be very hard to get off. But then again, sometimes you don’t want to get off, you just want it to go on and on as long as possible.
In this Post I will try to pass on some of my experience gained … Read the rest ... “Carer things that worked for Greg – the good, the bad and the ugly”
Special Note: I had this Post finished and ready to publish on 21 December 2023. And then the tragic news of a mass shooting in Prague came through. I have therefore held back the story for a couple of weeks out of respect for the people who lost their life.
23 May – 4 June 2012
Wed, 30 May 2012 17:35:16 +0200
Hi Nance and Barb,
Hope all goes well with u both.
We have been in Prague … Read the rest ... “We’ll Always Have Prague – and the China Lady on the Wall”
Photos played a very big part in Trenna’s life, especially in later years as her mobility decreased. She spent hundreds of hours sorting, scanning, dating and captioning photos stretching back to her very earliest days.
I therefore take quite a bit of time and care in choosing the photos I use on the site.
Below is a gallery of all the photos I have used so far. I have also created a page that displays all those photos. You should … Read the rest ... “All Photos Published on the TrennaMahney.com Website”
by Greg
The holiday season is upon us, so I thought I’d do an entertaining friends post.
Trenna absolutely loved mixing with people, and she loved good food. And lunch time was the ideal socialising time for her.
First thing in the morning she was often stiff and/or sore from the night, and her morning drugs had not had time to take effect. In the evening she was often exhausted from the activities of the day. Lunch time though, … Read the rest ... “How to Stage a Trenna Lunch – with recipes”
Intro by Greg, the rest by Tren
Below are Trenna’s notes of a 4 day break we had in 2015. We had booked a house just outside the small but delightful town of Bridgetown, in the South West corner of Western Australia. It is about a 3 hour drive from our place. Oh, and Bridgetown can be cold!
I’ll tell you up front that the story is not a remarkable one. It reminds me of a Japanese movie or … Read the rest ... “A Few Days in Bridgetown – 2015”
by Greg
Regular readers will know that I have recently returned from a holiday. I went to the UK, with a side trip to Budapest. The whole trip was great.
Whilst away I checked and approved comments submitted to the website, but didn’t write any new posts. That worked fine, my spirits were high and I was busy every day. I also kept a bit of a journal … Read the rest ... “Kangaroos Having Fun”
By Greg
This story took me longer to write than perhaps any other, but it was a tale I wanted to tell.
Trenna’s birthday has recently passed so obviously I started thinking about her. One thing that came to mind was the time she spent with our neighbour Terry, near the end of Terry’s life.
Terry, her husband Neil, and their young son Jason moved into the house on the corner, two doors up from us … Read the rest ... “The Craft Group and Caring for Terry”
Letter by Tren, Intro and Background by Greg
If you read The Kitchen Tapes series on this website you will find out a lot about Trenna, including that she experienced quite a lot of bullying at high school, primarily because she looked different to other people. Her thick, coke-bottle glasses didn’t help at all.
Then in 1974, when Trenna was 17 years of age, Optometrist Nick Humphry prescribed some rigid (hard) contact lenses and they transformed her … Read the rest ... “Thank You & Au Revoir Nick”
By Greg
You may have noticed that we have just passed the 50th anniversary of the birth of hip-hop.
It wasn’t an anniversary that was on my radar, in fact, neither Trenna or I were big fans of hip-hop. We didn’t dislike it, it was just that there was a lot of other music around. That is until hot one afternoon in December 2013.
Each year Perth has an international festival. And each year I … Read the rest ... “Trenna & Public Enemy – 50 years of hip-hop”
The name on the file was “Bronchitis” but it was so much more than that.
Trenna died nearly three years ago and, maybe as a coping mechanism, I have been enjoying telling people of her achievements and of events in her life. She did a lot.
But occasionally I remember something, or I see something that reminds me of what she went through, and how at times it was so, so hard for her.
I recently saw a file on … Read the rest ... “Chronic Illness – The Straws Accumulate”
By Greg
This post has a connection to the Menu Diaries series. If you aren’t familiar with the series, a good place to start would be HERE.
Some of the items and practices I discuss here are mentioned in the series of posts in which I explain some of the mechanisms Trenna used to cope with her Marfan’s Syndrome. That series starts here.
As I have explained a few times, meals and their preparation were central to Trenna’s … Read the rest ... “Tales From Trenna’s Kitchen”
… And the Original Reason For the Trip, Concluded
By Greg
I hope you have enjoyed reading the Japan Travel Diary, and the photos I added from our trip.
Once we returned to Perth Trenna set about writing an email to our friend Wayne, who had shown us around one afternoon, and with whom we had a very enjoyable evening meal in Yokohama.
Trenna loved seeing Wayne, who she had a soft spot for, and set about writing some Haiku … Read the rest ... “The Japan Travel Diary – Part 5 – Seven Haiku”
The first part in this series is HERE.
We arrive back in TOKYO @ 9:05pm. Walked down stairs to Marunouchi Line (M17), boarded train (M14) Kokkai-gijidomae Station, walked 435m to Capitol Hotel room # 2715 next to our previous room but interior layout in reverse! Confusing!
When Greg went to pay for our breakfast (as this time it was not part of the package) there was a bit … Read the rest ... “The Japan Travel Diary – Part 4”
To read Part 1 of this series, click HERE.
Checked out Capitol Hotel before noon! 7 nights accommodation plus 2 hamburgers – total ¥367,223 (AUD$4,215.11)
We were able to leave our larger red bag here – FREE!
We walked, carried & pulled 435m+ from hotel exit to Kokkai-gijidomae Station (M14) to Marunoucchi M line, 3 stops to Tokyo Station (M17). Take lift 1 floor, go through ticket gate, up … Read the rest ... “The Japan Travel Diary – Part 3”
To see Part 1 of this series, click HERE.
Chilli Con Carne not so good for brekky. Wayne had sent the train stops to get to Tokyo Tower. 11:17am set out and bought metro tickets. ¥170 each.
(Roppongi-itchome) train station.
1:05 pm meal at the serve yourself and weigh it place. (Organic House deli and cafe) ¥935
1:38 pm Starbucks tea and coffee whilst looking for Tokyo Tower ¥810
We came across a little park where … Read the rest ... “The Japan Travel Diary – Part 2”
Intro by Greg, Diary Mainly by Trenna, But Bits by Greg
If you want to go straight to the diary, click here.
The Japan Travel Diary (which was done entirely on an iPad) itself doesn’t have an Introduction. I just wanted to set a bit of context and to let you know what to expect.
By the start of 2015 we knew that Trenna’s brother’s oldest … Read the rest ... “The Japan Travel Diary – Part 1”
By Greg
This story was inspired by the picture above, which Trenna had captioned “Us, happy and relaxed @ Crowded House gig”.
One thing I wish Trenna and I had done a little more of together was attend concerts.
In the 1970s and some of the 1980s Trenna and I had, seperately, attended concerts by a LOT of international acts. However, once we were together, for many years we tended not to do that.
That changed in 2010 when … Read the rest ... “Crowded House – Happy and Relaxed”
By Greg
If this post interests you there have been three others on this topic. All with things that Trenna tried to help her or my life as we coped with her multiple medical conditions.
I don’t think for a moment that every tip or anecdote will be useful, but I certainly am hoping that people living with chronic illness or … Read the rest ... “Marfan and Other Chronic Conditions – Things That Worked for Trenna – Part 4”