A List of All The Posts that Are Categorised as Having Medical Content
One of the aims of this website is to share Trenna’s many interactions with the medical professions.
She was a great note taker, not only capturing the relevant facts, but often also the human interactions- good and bad – that are part of the system. Some of her records of medical procedures are actually quite funny.
You’ll also find here tips and tricks that Trenna used to help her get by with multiple chronic conditions. Some may be useful, some not, hopefully they are all interesting, and they all reflect in some way, Trenna’s life.
- The Recce-Vite
A little bit of fun is better than none by Greg 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 designed to be a short outing that was interesting and enjoyable, but which had a minimal impact on her body.… Read more: The Recce-Vite - The Wellington Earthquake
By Greg Business Class Travel – It’s Not For Everyone 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 wasn’t feasible for Trenna to stay at home unassisted – it was just too hard. Plus, she had loved the… Read more: The Wellington Earthquake - “Please allow me to introduce myself…”
About This Site and About Trenna Mahney By Greg Mahney A quick note before you start. If you have read the “About” page of this website you can ignore this particular post as the contents is the same as on that page. If that’s you, just scroll down. About Trenna You will learn a lot about Trenna as you go through the material on this website. However, if you aren’t already familiar with Trenna here is a quick primer to give you some context to what you find on the site. Trenna Helaine Seckington was born on 11 September 1957… Read more: “Please allow me to introduce myself…” - Marfan and Other Chronic Conditions – Things That Worked for Trenna
by Greg A Need to Cope with Life This is a list of some of the strategies Trenna adopted to try to cope with life and her many medical issues. She didn’t have a specific list of these items. This is just the things I remember us trying. I’m expecting (hoping?) that this post might be helpful to people living with chronic disease, and their carers. But of course everyone’s situation is different. For most of her life she was able to reduce the impacts of many of her medical issues by managing them carefully, following medical advice, and quite… Read more: Marfan and Other Chronic Conditions – Things That Worked for Trenna - Moshing With Black Sabbath!
By Greg and Trenna Reliving the Experience 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 embed a PDF of her writing as it appears in her iPad. A few things to bear in mind as… Read more: Moshing With Black Sabbath! - Eulogy Part 2
Below is the the eulogy delivered by Trenna’s oldest sister, Nancy Seckington-Baker at the celebration of Trenna’s life. Eulogy Greg has shared his story of Tren’s story. He has stressed I have 5 minutes. We have endless, wonderful stories of our sister Trenna. A truly life WELL LIVED. However those stories are for another time and place. I am here to say how incredibly thankful and grateful that we have had Tren with us in our life for 63 years. (As Greg has told you Trenna was 2 years old when our mother passed away.) Our mother was 37… Read more: Eulogy Part 2 - I am Stuck
[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.] - The Kitchen Tapes # 6
Recorded on 15 April 2018 Primary School Days 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 House. The Great Sherbies Heist I went to East Vic Park Primary School. I made friends there. One of my best… Read more: The Kitchen Tapes # 6 - Number Nine, Number Nine…
This Kitchen Tape Recorded on 21 April 2018 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. Sleeping Arrangements That leads into the rooms where all the girls slept. In all, there would be 14 or 15 girls who could stay there… Read more: Number Nine, Number Nine… - Things That Worked for Trenna -Part 2
Strategies and tips used by someone with a degenerative condition and chronic illness By Greg Things Trenna and I Tried, That Worked in no particular order 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. Coloured Lever Arch Files (although there are electronic filing alternatives now) As you will find out by going through this website, Trenna was a great record keeper. She was starting to move to a more electronic way of keeping records… Read more: Things That Worked for Trenna -Part 2 - A Trip to the Psychiatrist
By Greg & Trenna This wasn’t the first time that it was suggested that Trenna might need to see a psychiatrist. See also this anecdote from when she was a child. The recent post “The Key to Happiness and Fulfilment” got me thinking of a visit to Trenna’s cardiologist, which ended up turning into a trip to see a psychiatrist. Here’s what happened….. It was Monday, 12 June 2017 at 9:30am (actually from about this point we never made appointments, for anything before 10am) and we had an appointment with Trenna’s then cardiologist Dr Susan Kuruvilla, at the Cardiovascular Institute… Read more: A Trip to the Psychiatrist - Introduction to The Medical Records
Introduction by Greg, all the records are Trenna’s work unless specified 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 iPad. Either typed by her, or by talking to the iPad and it converting it to text. Unfortunately her poor… Read more: Introduction to The Medical Records - Medical Records – Cardiology No. 1
And Cardioversion 2012 GM: The first document is this series is simply called “2012“. I suspect it is a summary compiled from hand written “Doctors Notes” from several different visits. This is what it says: “ALL CONSULTS 15/8/12 ME: How often do I need LFT test? DR: 3 monthly ME: Currently do INR fortnightly 11/7/12 ME: If I go back into AF, do I take a higher Amiodarone loading dose? DR: No! Have cardio-version 27/6/12 ME: Overnight Cardio-version AF 32 days. Fixed 26/6/12 ME: was on loading dose Amiodarone 200 mg 3 x p.d. in AF reduced to 2 x… Read more: Medical Records – Cardiology No. 1 - A Rug for Jack and Jade
by Trenna and Greg 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. So what am I talking about? 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 she would crochet a rug as an act of love, and as a gift to Jade and the new bub.… Read more: A Rug for Jack and Jade - Medical Records – Cardiology No. 2
Cardiology Appointments in 2013 First, notes from the 4 consults and one cardioversion in 2013. In case you haven’t figured it out, Trenna would start the document with the first consultation but then add each new one to the top of the document. So in this case, the November appointment is described first, leading to the February one at the end. Cardioversion in 2013 Here is another typically Trenna wry description of a cardioversion. 2014 Cardio Consults Here is the info from 2014. Trenna doesn’t seem to get too many answers to her questions at the March appointment. - To Feel Able
Weekday Routine 2016 and 2017 Intro by Greg, and then Trenna Among the documents on Trenna’s iPad there are two called “Weekly Routine”. One is labelled “2016” and the other “2017”. It is actually not quite as pernickety as it seems. In this post I will reproduce both of them. In them Trenna goes into immense detail about times she intends doing things and what looks like a very strict routine. It is actually not quite as pernickety as it seems. Firstly, Trenna was fully aware that from day to day she never knew what life, or her body would… Read more: To Feel Able - Medical Records – Cardiology No. 3
A Woeful Cardioversion A Slightly Better One 2015 Summary Previous Posts in This Series The first articles is here. The second is here. - Blepharitis & Conjunctivitis
Medical Notes From Trenna’s iPad 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 of info) Blepharitis (blef-uh-RYE-tis) is inflammation of the eyelids. Blepharitis usually affects both eyes along the edges of the eyelids. Blepharitis… Read more: Blepharitis & Conjunctivitis - “SCOLIOSIS BODY MIGRAINES”
Introduction by Greg and then Trenna’s words, with only a little editing The inverted commas in the title were in the original document. A “Body Migraine” is a Trennaism. In this case the term she used to describe this set of symptoms. Introduction This is another post that I am including mainly for the benefit of those with musculoskeletal issues. That of course incudes those, like Trenna, with Marfan Syndrome. Trenna’s words below were on her iPad. It looks like she started writing it in 2017 but she never finished it. Looking at the original, which I’m NOT posting, it… Read more: “SCOLIOSIS BODY MIGRAINES” - Medical Records – Cardiology No. 4
Tales of 3 Cardioversions in 2015 2015 Cardioversions Continuing the disclosure of Trenna’s stories and records of things medical… Trenna has quite an interesting story about the personalities in this next cardioversion, and also discloses how much she is charged. First Cardioversion of 2015 Second Cardioversion of 2015 And here is her report on the second cardioversion of the year, her 7th ever. Towards the end she says she is going to show the rebates to the bill that Australians get from Medicare, and from, for those who have it, private medical insurance – in our case HBF. She never… Read more: Medical Records – Cardiology No. 4 - Medicinal Cannabis
By Greg What This Post is About and Who is it For? Recently I was reading a Marfan Syndrome Facebook Group post. The person was asking about people’s different experiences with pain killers. A really important issue for Marfans. I gave a reply which, among other things mentioned medicinal cannabis (MC). I then got some other questions about our Australian experience. This post is based on my reply to them. If you aren’t in the market for MC there is still some interesting stuff here, but I wouldn’t blame you if you just skipped this post. I previously mentioned cannabis… Read more: Medicinal Cannabis - First Aid & Home Remedies
By Greg then Trenna Introduction This post comes from another document on Trenna’s well organised (of course) iPad. All I’ve done is cut and paste the original document into the main body of this post. I’ve also inserted a PDF of the original document as it appears on the iPad. I hope you find it either useful or interesting – or both. Greg FIRST AID & HOME REMEDIES MUSCLE or JOINT PAIN/ INFLAMMATION Consider Heat or Ice. Heat helps soothe stiff joints & relax muscles. Cold helps numb sharp pain & reduce inflammation. CONJUNCTIVITIS 20/4/15 Use hot salty water wipe… Read more: First Aid & Home Remedies - Medical Records – Cardiology No. 5
Three Cardioversions in Less Than a Month! What Are These Cardioversions and What Does it Mean? I’m continuing the publication of the documents Trenna wrote to record her medical procedures. Here are three more “stories” of cardioversions. To refresh your memory, cardioversion is a procedure, done in hospital to correct irregular heartbeat – Atrial Fibrillation (AF) in her case. A cardiologist performs the brief procedure once the patient is anesthetised. They stick a couple of paddles on the patient and zap them with a pile of electricity. If it doesn’t work they zap them again. From what the cardiologists told… Read more: Medical Records – Cardiology No. 5 - The 23rd Kitchen Tape
Recorded 20 June 2018 The Brown Towel Caper 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 time we’ll move on to your first employment but we’ll see what happens. THM: I’m a bit befuddled with where I am… Read more: The 23rd Kitchen Tape - “Better than sex” – Earl Grey and Other Favourite Drinks
By Greg As I hope you know, one goal of this website is to get you to know Trenna a little better. So, I thought I’d provide some insights into the things Trenna liked to drink. Spirits Cine Cellars and Tia Maria It would have been 1986 or 1987 when I first met Trenna, and it was in a downstairs bar called Cine Cellars near the corner of Hay and Barrack Streets in Perth city. She would regularly go there on a Friday night with workmates from the nearby HBF. One of her main drinking mates was my friend Evo.… Read more: “Better than sex” – Earl Grey and Other Favourite Drinks - The Menu Diaries No. 12
March 1993 Somerville Movies, PM Keating Re-elected, and the Swimming Pool is on the Way 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 presume we were doing something that wore us out, and jaffles were all we could do for dinner. Tuesday, 9 March. Ghee Rice. I don’t recall that so it didn’t make it onto the regular list of dishes. Apparently it is nice, but Trenna probably didn’t persist with it for… Read more: The Menu Diaries No. 12 - Trenna’s Marfan Exercises
Intro by Greg, iPad Wisdom From Tren Pain relief and the hope of maintaining some sort of body condition were the two main motives for Trenna doing exercises. When she was able she would walk and exercise daily, and she was very disciplined at it. In the last two years of her life it was very hard to do much physical exercise at all, and I think she quietly grieved her decline in fitness. There are about a dozen iPad documents that describe various exercise routines. I have chosen two for today’s post, and they appear below. The exercises would… Read more: Trenna’s Marfan Exercises - Medical Records – Cardiology No. 6
The Last Three Cardioversions Introduction Trenna had 14 cardioversions in all, all performed in Hollywood Hospital in Perth’s Western suburbs. They were performed to “shock” her heart back into rhythm and whilst at first they worked pretty well, and lasted quite a while, by 2016 they were becoming increasingly less effective. Eventually Trenna and her cardiologist agreed that it was pointless continuing with them, and that Trenna should try just living with atrial fibrillation (AF). Trenna managed, that is to say she stayed alive another 4 and a half years, but really from this time onwards her decline in physical… Read more: Medical Records – Cardiology No. 6 - Marfan and Other Chronic Conditions – Things That Worked for Trenna – Part 3
Coping with Marfan Syndrome, Heart & Lung Failure, Visual Impairment, Chronic Pain and a Few Other Problems 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 her or my life a bit more bearable. As with the others, the tips and tricks won’t work for everyone but hopefully… Read more: Marfan and Other Chronic Conditions – Things That Worked for Trenna – Part 3 - Marfan Weight Gain
Advice Trenna Got on How to Put Weight ON Regular readers will know this, but…. although I mention several specific brands in this post I do NOT get any financial or other benefit from them. I name them just to help you understand what I’m talking about. If you find this post useful or interesting you might want to check out three other posts: Marfan and Other Chronic Conditions – Things That Worked for Trenna; Things That Worked for Trenna -Part 2; and Marfan and Other Chronic Conditions – Things That Worked for Trenna – Part 3 . Marfan People… Read more: Marfan Weight Gain - Marfan and Other Chronic Conditions – Things That Worked for Trenna – Part 4
Coping with Marfan Syndrome, Heart & Lung Failure, AF, Visual Impairment, Chronic Pain and a Few Other Problems By Greg Introduction 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 disability will be able to pick up a tip or two, or perhaps be inspired to think of alternative solutions,… Read more: Marfan and Other Chronic Conditions – Things That Worked for Trenna – Part 4 - 1988
Introduction In Trenna’s iPad she has written summaries of each year. As you will see from what she has written she has gleaned the information retrospectively from a wide range of sources. As I reproduce them on this site I’ll take the opportunity to clarify and expand on some of the stories. Trenna wrote these summaries (and there are many of them) to help her and I recall our many experiences. It was probably another preparation she was making to tell her story, or knowing her, making it easier for me to tell her story. I have pasted below her… Read more: 1988 - 1989
This is the second in a series of posts which reproduce from Trenna’s iPad her summaries of years. The first in the series is here. She has left out a few months, which was probably just a case of her not being able to get around to finishing it. I have taken the liberty of adding a few bits and some photos. Trenna’s Words and Greg’s Comments 1989 REFERENCE SOURCES: Our meal calendar Our memories Photos from Family + friends. Greg’s work diaries My personal diary My gardening diary Dates we purchased items Medical visit & procedure dates FEBRUARY 89… Read more: 1989 - Chronic Illness – The Straws Accumulate
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 her iPad that was named “Bronchitis”. I was expecting it to have perhaps a few notes about the condition, treatments… Read more: Chronic Illness – The Straws Accumulate - Thank You & Au Revoir Nick
Letter by Tren, Intro and Background by Greg First, Some Background 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 appearance, her self esteem, and her life. Trenna was forever grateful to Nick for those lenses, and she kept coming… Read more: Thank You & Au Revoir Nick - All Photos Published on the TrennaMahney.com Website
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 be able to find that page using the menus at the top or the bottom of any page on the… Read more: All Photos Published on the TrennaMahney.com Website - Carer things that worked for Greg – the good, the bad and the ugly
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 from many years as a carer. To be clear, I am using the term “carer” to mean an unpaid person… Read more: Carer things that worked for Greg – the good, the bad and the ugly - Trenna’s Heart Valve Replacement – Part 1
By Greg I thought some readers of this site may find this story interesting. In it I tell you about Trenna’s surgery to have her aortic heart valve and ascending aorta replaced. I intended it to be a stand alone story, but it turns out the memories of those times are still pretty clear in my mind, and a lot happened, so, here is Part 1 of what has turned out to be a two part story of medical success – and medical misadventure. CAUTION: If you or someone you know is facing this sort of operation and you are… Read more: Trenna’s Heart Valve Replacement – Part 1 - Trenna’s Heart Valve Replacement – Part 2
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… To the Operating Room 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 the OR. I tagged along. We went to whatever floor it was and everyone halted in a sort of anteroom… Read more: Trenna’s Heart Valve Replacement – Part 2