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”
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”
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
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”
By Greg
If you find this post useful or interesting you might want to check out two other posts: Marfan and Other Chronic Conditions – Things That Worked for Trenna; and Things That Worked for Trenna -Part 2.
As the name suggests yet another instalment in a series of posts that tell the things Trenna tried in an effort to make … Read the rest ... “Marfan and Other Chronic Conditions – Things That Worked for Trenna – Part 3”
For an introduction to what these Menu Diary posts are about, please click HERE. And for the reasons why you really should read this series, please click HERE.
Monday, 1 March. Spaghetti Jaffles (closed toasted sandwiches) with lettuce. Hmmm! – that doesn’t sound very typical. I’ve looked in my 1993 work diary and seen that I had the day off from work. I … Read the rest ... “The Menu Diaries No. 12”
GM: Today is Wednesday the 20th of June 2018. Trenna Mahney will be speaking.
Tren, we’ve talked a bit about your time at Girls’ Friendly Society in Adelaide Terrace? It sounds like an interesting period to do a bit more discussion.
[GM: phone call interrupts us]
I think we should look a bit more at this time at Girls’ Friendly Society. The sort of things you did. If we get … Read the rest ... “The 23rd Kitchen Tape”
Here is a page Trenna made about two eye problems she encountered.
Everyone is welcome to read the post, but it doesn’t contain any funny or poignant stories. I’m just trying to pass on some information Trenna accumulated in case it is of use to anyone else.
Maybe in the future it has historical benefit as well. Who knows!
In case you are wondering, according to the Mayo Clinic (who Trenna trusted for this sort … Read the rest ... “Blepharitis & Conjunctivitis”
To fully understand this post you are going to need to access the iPad document I have embedded above.
You won’t need to know much about crocheting, and you don’t need to read the whole document, provided you scan through the lot.
Well. Some time, probably in September 2014 Trenna and I received the wonderful news that one of our 9 nieces was pregnant – congratulations again Jade.
Trenna decided … Read the rest ... “A Rug for Jack and Jade”
I’ve tossed around in my head what to do with Trenna’s extensive medical records.
They mainly comprise the detailed notes she would make at the end of almost all consultations with medical professionals. At first she hand wrote them on A5 pieces of paper (actually hand written on the back of bits of paper that otherwise would have ended in the recycling bin).
Later she recorded them on her … Read the rest ... “Introduction to The Medical Records”
By Greg
This is the second part of this list. For the first part please click here.
I’m already working on part 3 as things we have done in the past pop randomly into my scone.
As you will find out by going through this … Read the rest ... “Things That Worked for Trenna -Part 2”
GM: OK, today is Saturday, 21st of April, 2018 and I’m with Trenna Mahney. Tren, you were going to tell us a bit more about Craig House, I think?
THM: Alright. The main house – I was talking about the kitchen and the back enclosed… well, I guess, in a way it was a bit of a pantry, where it had the fruit cupboard, and all that.
That leads into … Read the rest ... “Number Nine, Number Nine…”
GM: OK, today is Sunday, the 15th of April 2018, I’m with Trenna Mahney, and she’s going to continue telling us about her memories of her past. Tren, last time we were talking with you you were on your way to school …
THM: I was talking about that slightly in the future, when Helen had arrived, I think. But I should go back to when I first came to Craig … Read the rest ... “The Kitchen Tapes # 6”
[Note from Greg: I don’t think for one moment that when Trenna prepared this piece on her iPad that she just added a nice picture to the top. I think the fact that she is standing on an island (Staten), with the rest of the world behind her (New York City) is entirely deliberate and relevant.]
Looking through Trenna’s iPad I came across the document she wrote to review/record the Black Sabbath concert we went to along with a friend, Adrian. It was the first time I had read this piece since 2016.
It immediately brought back memories of a really fab night. I also found some of the turns of phase pretty entertaining.
I will put her writing below, in the main body of this post but also … Read the rest ... “Moshing With Black Sabbath!”
In November 2016 my then employer, Advocare Inc, gave me the opportunity to go to a mediation conference in Wellington, New Zealand.
Travel was becoming increasingly difficult for Trenna. Her eyesight was very bad and her pain management was not going well. We knew that the long flight from Perth in Western Australia to Auckland and then down to Wellington would take its toll.
On the other hand it really … Read the rest ... “The Wellington Earthquake”
Trenna became aware at some point around 2010 that she was getting out of the house less and less – it was often pretty hard. But she didn’t want to lose touch with the city in which she lived. And she wanted some recreation and a change of scenery.
So, she invented the “Recce-Vite”. She was using French words to describe a quick look around somewhere.
A recce-vite was … Read the rest ... “The Recce-Vite”