Sunday, June 24, 2007

Times are good?

It is not really 24th June is it? Where did the month go?

For me it was/is a pretty good one. The pain from my shingles is starting to ease or I am just getting used to it, or both. The worst part is that I suffer from terrible ear aches from time to time and night time and early mornings seem to be the worst. Apparently this can go on for months

We fixed the lethargy I spoke about last time with a couple of bags of blood during my clinic session on 5th June. It seems some of the drugs I am on are causing anaemia. Lung function was great and continues to be. I am putting on a bit of weight and trying to keep around the 80 kilos mark so I have to say that if the rest of my 61st year continues this way, I'll be very happy.

On 12th June Great Southern Limited (ASX code GTP)announced that it had received an approach from a party expressing interest "in the future ownership of the company". Whilst nothing is certain, this announcement has raised much speculation. The share price had already been rising slowly from $1.98 on 20th April to $2.65 on the date of the announcement (Just how does the market know that a takeover bid might be in the wings? Or was it just a coincidence?) Anyway, since then we've seen the price improve to $2.94 so you can imagine, we're pretty happy at present. There's still no further word on what's happening on that front but speculation continues to run high. Hope the share price keeps going. We're still a long way from it's price just a year ago of around $4.00 but who knows what a prospective buyer of the company might pay?. It's all rather exciting.

At the same time there is the usual run to the end of the financial year for people to get their tax deductions. Great Southern's Non-Forestry projects closed on 15th June, but the High Value Timber and Plantations 2007 projects are officially open until June 30th so you can imagine that there is a lot of activity and nervousness around there at the moment. My daughter Jacqui effectively took over my role at Great Southern since I became too ill to work in 2005 and she is reacting exactly the same way as I did at this time of year. "Will I achieve my yearly target, and my bonus, or not?" As usual, much of the business will come in this last week so I don't think she need worry too much. We'll see.

On my own this fine Sunday afternoon. Janyne's gone up to Brisbane to go see a film with Jacqui and I'm here with Cindy who's sound asleep and snoring, do you believe, in her "bed" on the floor nearby. She's a delightful, intelligent, and often mischievous little dog, but we are both so glad to have her. I might take her for a ride in the Golf Buggy around the Hope Island estate later, before it gets too cold. I haven't seen all the new development of late.

Yes nights here have been very cool, around 8 or 9 degrees, but the last couple of days have been quite pleasant and sunny. It's the westerly winds that we don't like.

Just want say hello to Phil who hasn't been well for some time now but hopefully will be feeling better soon. Also to Rebecca who received some bad news health wise recently. We lung transplantees know what it is like to receive news of a terminal illness but once we accept it, we usuallly learn how to cope with it. For those of us lucky enough to receive a donor lung(s), bad news becomes good news. Remember, I was only one month away from being too ill to undergo a transplant. It just proves, there is always hope.

Bye for now. I'll try to give you an update next week but you know what I'm like.

Ben (and Cindy)

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hello Ben: I'm so glad to hear all the good news, and glad that you are feeling so much better. I have been quite worried about you. And Cindy is adorable. Thank you so much for your emails; I'll respond fully in the next couple of days. I met with the Lung Transplant Pulmonologist at Emory today. It was interesting and enlightening. I'm trying to absorb it all. Warm wishes to you and your family.
Rebecca