Category Archives: Day to Day

By yesterday afternoon I knew that I had a big cancellation this morning.  My staff tried their darndest but – well, it remained an empty slot in the schedule.  So instead of stressing about sitting in the office with no patient, I decided to use this time to start packing for our trip to Mexico on Thursday.

So, I am still at home at the late hour of 9 am!  And I am mostly packed except that somehow I have misplaced my bathing suit.  It was used last at the cabin over the  Christmas break to go hot tubbing – and not by me – so it is around somewhere.

The weather in Tijuana is supposed to be warm – about 20C and for us northerners that is warm enough to sit by the pool.

Leo has been anticipating this trip for over 6 months.  Lap band surgery will be done and he will spend time with the doctor there picking up some skills on filling these bands for others from these parts that have had this procedure in the past – and future.

I will lug along my laptop and books and get work done on the essay that is due shortly for my course.  To me that will also be relaxing – a bit at least.  Reading  is one of my favorite ways to relax.  Writing essays ranks a bit lower on the pleasure scale.

So, Leo is in the lead up time to his surgery next Friday.  This morning he went to get his lab work done so I was told last night not to bother bringing him a cup of coffee in the morning.

I remembered that I did not need to be sure he was up early but forgot about the coffee.  One nice cup of coffee down the drain.

And if you are curious this is what he will be having done.    Not in Toronto though.  We are off to a special centre in Mexico.

We are in the midst of another winter storm. This one is bringing plenty of snow and very cold, cold freezing temperatures. With the wind chill it will be about – 54 C tonight.

That is about as cold as I need as a reminder of the “good old days” of my youth when it seemed as if these temperatures were more common. Maybe that is just because in those days I walked to school – both to high school and up to university. I can still remember the wind coming around the arts building like in a wind tunnel and walking against it the last part of the way to class.

Anyway, with all the snow our snow blower is going to begin to earn its keep tonight. I wonder how frozen I will get running it – or if Massa will die of hypothermia in my place.

I wonder how much Massa must miss the Congo on days like this. He will need hot tea or soup tonight!

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UPDATE

Yep, I got home and Massa was already there running the snow blower, the driveway almost cleared. Then without coming in to warm up he shovelled the areas the snow blower could not reach and cleared off the front deck. From spending his Janurarys at +30 C to -30 C in two years. And he hardly ever complains.

I’m driving down to Saskatoon for the day – a CE course of Medical Emergencies by the guy who wrote the book on them. Should be good.

And then I get to spend the night with grandkids (and my own kids too of course).

That was an interesting way to start a morning. Not highly recommended but definitely different than my typical Sunday morning.

I woke up this morning around 4 feeling a bit weird. My heart was fluttering around without its usual regular rhythm. I lay there for a bit expecting things to settle back into a regular rhythm but after I hadI waited lying there for about 30 minutes, it was still fluttering away.

I nudged Leo and he reached over and took my pulse. Yeah, I had some extra beats. He turned over and went back to sleep.

Well, I wasn’t getting much sleep so I got up to make the morning coffee since I was awake anyway. Having made that decision I decided that maybe tea would be healthier so I made both and sat down for quiet cup. Heart is still racing away. It is hard to relax when ones heart is not beating a regular rhythm and especially as it seems to be getting no better and maybe a tad worse.

By the time I went upstairs with a cup of coffee for Leo, I was feeling very light headed and a bit breathless. Leo checked me again and then said, “I will take a quick shower and then we are going up to the hospital.” When Leo comes out with a suggestion like that, I take him seriously. I really am not feeling well.

By the time we got up to the hospital of course my heart had settled back into its regular pattern. Not a blip out of place. But I have something or other that has moved to the left or right or somewhere on the EKG and I get lots of questions about did I ever have chest pain. Women can have silent heart attacks but I sure do not remember any particular pain or other symptoms that would seem to indicate that. My O2 saturation was low so they put me on Oxygen for a bit, did a few tests that all came back OK and then let me go home. I will probably have to wear a monitor to check the old ticker out more but for now all seems well – just a bit tired.

So here’s to the afternoon nap!

Today was just one of those days – nothing special.  Just routine.

Get up (slowly) eat, go for groceries.  Deliver the coffee cups to the church.  Put away groceries at home.

Clean off all the counter tops in the kitchen so I could take pictures at the request of the people who made and installed them.  ( looks rather nice in the kitchen with uncluttered counter tops.

Practice.  I can now play the Brandenberg Concerto No. 3 page 1 in less than 30 minutes.  Gee, I could perform an hour concert with less than three pages of music!

And then reading.  I have lots of reading to do for my paper.  And it is not always easy to read this stuff without falling asleep.  So I did that too for awhile.

Made supper, went up to the hospital to visit a friend.

Didn’t do much else and soon it is time to end the day.

I wish more of my days passed at this pace.

New around our house – Leo is on a low/no carb diet in order to get ready for lap band surgery.  He is doing so well that I may try it too.  I could stand to lose a few pounds.  Leo is following the South Beach diet.  The purpose is to shrink his liver so that the surgery will be easier.  He also stands to lose about 20 pounds in the process.

 Yesterday I traveled to Saskatoon for an appointment with my spiritual direction supervisor.  It was a good meeting.

I also used the opportunity to spend time with three of my kids there.  Patrick and Amanda and I went to lunch at Moxies.  Wow, have they redone their decor since I was there last.  Very posh.

Then to a very unposh but utilitarian recording studio to see Christian.  He is drumming for Josh Palmer and they are recording a disc.  They got a grant or something so they are working with a professional recording person and have been able to upgrade some of their equipment.  It was fun to listen in.  I was in the sound booth.  What an incredible mixer!

Then off to see Rachelle and Ronin.  Asen was studying at his place.  Took Rachelle out for an early supper.  By that time I could feel my cold begining to make my head ache and my eyes water.  Went to her place and crashed on her bed for an hour before driving home.

The ride home was god.  The roads were pretty clear.  The sky was also clear and out there in the middle of nowher, away from the city lights, they sparkled beautifully in the sky.  My headlights were so dim though that I had to get out and wash road gunk off them to see my way home.