Hi Lyn,
It's still early here in the US and weekends are a little slow, but you'll be getting some helpful hints and answers soon. I love your sense of humor, but I wouldn't expect anything less from an aussie. I spent a little over 2 weeks in Australia this past February and have developed a deep affection for Oz and it's people. I did visit the "other" island, but we won't go there. Just kidding, of course, I really enjoyed both and will always have fond memories of that special vacation.
Although my experiences were different than yours, I can address the neck issue. It WILL get better. You should be doing exercises and you should know about lymphedema. The exercises were given to me by my physical therapist who was also a lympedema specialist. There is a great deal of information on the site about any issues you might have, so learn how to use the search engines by reading the first forum with Brian's post.
BTW there are several members from Australia and one from Melbourne in particular, that I know of. I just sent her an email to let her know you are here and asked her to look you up on the forum. While in Sydney, I met and had dinner with another member who lives just outside of Sydney. I'm sure you will be hearing from some of them soon. If you need some inspiration about returning to work after surgery like yours, I have a friend (also an OCF member) who returned to motivational speaking after a similar situation that you find yourself in. Check out
www.evagrayzel.com Never saw anyone write about the "chopsticks" idea in the 2.5 years I've been here. sounds like a very helpful hint.
Good luck and I hope you are feeling better soon.
Jerry
