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 … Read the rest ... “To Feel Able”
PLEASE READ THIS FIRST – THIS POST IS NOT MEDICAL ADVICE
The following historical information is for interest only. It should in no way be thought of as medical advice applicable to any other individual. Medical science has moved on, and no two people have the exact same medical circumstances. I hope you find the information interesting, To see the “Introduction” to this series of posts, please click here.
Common abbreviations used by Trenna in this series:
AF – Atrial … Read the rest ... “Medical Records – Cardiology No. 2”
PLEASE READ THIS FIRST – THIS POST IS NOT MEDICAL ADVICE
The following historical information is for interest only. It should in no way be thought of as medical advice applicable to any other individual. Medical science has moved on, and no two people have the exact same medical circumstances. I hope you find the information interesting, To see the “Introduction” to this series of posts, please click here.
Common abbreviations used by Trenna in this series:
AF … Read the rest ... “Medical Records – Cardiology No. 1”
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 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.]
Below is the the eulogy delivered by Trenna’s oldest sister, Nancy Seckington-Baker at the celebration of Trenna’s life.
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 … Read the rest ... “Eulogy Part 2”
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!”
by Greg
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 … Read the rest ... “Marfan and Other Chronic Conditions – Things That Worked for Trenna”
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.
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 … Read the rest ... ““Please allow me to introduce myself…””
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”
Below is the eulogy I delivered at the Celebration of Trenna’s Life (her funeral). In due course I will do another post explaining what I wanted to achieve from the event and how friends and family helped me to organise it.
One of Trenna’s sisters, Nancy also gave a eulogy, as did Trenna’s friend, Helen. I will be publishing their words in the near future.
It is, of … Read the rest ... “Eulogy”
[GM: This recording of 9 April 2018 was the very first in a series of 24 recordings]
THM: The nineteen sixties were a decade of huge change for me and … for the world.
“…so my childhood was in some ways idyllic, in some ways terrible. I didn’t know the difference between the two”
My family had started to disintegrate. I began to have my own memories of my … Read the rest ... “The First Recording”
Trenna always liked to tell a story. She knew that her life story was interesting and that some people could find comfort in hearing how she coped with what life threw at her.
We had talked about it for a long time and in April 2018 Trenna asked if we could record her tales. We didn’t have a firm view on what we would do with them. A … Read the rest ... “The Kitchen Tapes”
This post is a simple one, but to Trenna and I the following was important.
In May 2017 Trenna wrote the PDF document that appears below. The formatting was as she wrote it on her iPad. The font size she used was large to help her read it.
The distinctive colour was to help her find it on her iPad when the document was minimised.
As far as I can … Read the rest ... “Living With Your Spouse”