LineaLanoie's Weblog

And now here I am, home from work, working on supper before I head up to the hospital to sit with my aunt again.  Last night I had a good time with my aunt.  She was fairly confused – was not sure why she had to stay in the hospital when it was much better at her home.  She was very lonely, feeling as if all her independance had been taken away from her; not only that but she couldn’t find her teeth and her hair was not presentable.  We spent a good hour and a half just talking and having devotions together.  She just needed someone there.  Hospitals are lonely places even when you are too sick to leave. 

At least there was an hour and a half when the IV was not pulled out and when she did not put herself at risk of falling again from getting out of her restraints.

The last time I had to be in hosptial I don’t know that I was any more patient.  Shades of things to come for me?  Restraints and frustrated children looking after their stubborn independant mother in a slightly demented state.  Payback for sure!

Yesterday morning, just after I got right into the part of a filling where your pretty much have to keep on going till it is finished, I got two phone calls right in a row.  Would I please take a call from Carolyn.  Then a few minutes later, would I take a call from Abbeyfield, the house where my auntie lives.  I knew something important was happening.  It was very frustrating to not be able to take the calls right at that moment!

My auntie had fallen and was in quite a bit of pain.  They wanted the go ahead from me to call the ambulance.  You see, ambulance services are not a covered service under our provincial health care and they were not sure about the cost and all.  Well, there wasn’t much choice really.  You can’t just pack someone up when they are in pain from a likely fracture and have them sit in the seat of a car.  And it did turn out that she had a fractured hip. 

One of my auntie’s good friends from church, Carolyn, was there and rode with her to the hospital in the ambulance and Sharon and I joined her there as soon as we could.

Today the hip was repaired – pinned I believe.  Tonight I went up to see her a little while after she got back up to her hospital room.  She looks surprisingly good for what she has just been through for a person of her age – which I will not tell you because she might be sensitive about that sort of information.  She may be a little confused but she still possesses a lot of spunk.  This is the aunt that was always my heroine when I was little.  She is totally full of love, has always cared so much for others, is sometimes taken advantage of but keeps on loving others anyway. 

…is not always very exciting. 

This week has been full of commitments – practice, small group, board meeting.  And there is always work.  Nothing out of the ordinary really. 

And this week I have been fighting a cold.  So, at night I take my dose of cold medicine and hit my bed a bit earlier than usual.  And a bit of antihistamine knocks me out pretty good.  Weird dreams when I take the stuff too.  I am very glad that I have continued to function through the week, though.  One of my assistants has been home sick all week.  She got a touch of pneumonia I guess. 

Now the week is almost over.  Tomorrow I will do a big bridge prep.  That will take most of the morning – three teeth to prepare.  The trickiest part is getting preparations that all draw (in other words all the sides of the prepared teeth must be just about parallel – no undercuts to prevent the finished rigid crowns from seating) and the impression must be perfect.  That is pretty much it for the days work although there always seem to be little surprises thrown in – emergencies and such.

Saturday, I head down to Saskatoon for a course.  It will be worth a few continuing ed points but should also be sort of fun.  It will be on the use of French in medicine (and dentistry).  And it is free, so that is a plus.  I see a fair number of French speaking patients so it will be a good refresher.  And maybe it will help keep my French current.

Communication:  one of the meanings is “to transmit or reveal a feeling or thought by speech, writing, or gesture so that it is clearly understood”

Clearly that doesn’t”t happen all the time when I am involved.  I guess I jumped the gun and read in my mind the end of his sentence.  Bad idea. 

So I remain ignorant of the actual statement he was in the process of stating. 

And you might be able to tell that I don’t feel too good about it all. 

Can one blame these kinds of miscommunications on male hormones?  ‘Cause I’m not having PMS!  I suppose that would be a lame excuse.

In any case, we have lived together long enough to know we had better make up and move on.  And reading the compline together each night sort of forces us to do that.  Especially the part where we confess “Almighty God, my heavenly Father: I have sinned against you, through my own fault, in thought, and word, and deed, in what I havedone and what I have left undone.”  I guess those could just be rote words but that is not where I want to go.

We seem to be getting past the holiday slump.  I love vacations but for some reason this last one as hard to recover from.  Maybe it should have been longer.  Maybe it should never end – I could go with that!

Anyway, the group of women I meet with met again for the second time since vacation.  We started reading Donald Millar’s book Searching For God Knows What.  I think this one is going to be the right fit for us.  We read the first chapter and shared some good thoughts. 

Then we sat around and shared where we are at in terms of needing prayer.  I guess this is just as much fun as reading and discussing – sharing where we are at spiritually, what areas we need prayer in for ourselves, our families and friends.  Followed by a good discussion on the power of healing prayer.  Coming off a chapter in a book where we are reminded that there are no formulas with God – he is not our genie in a bottle where if we say the right things, incant the proper prayers he will come forth with the answer we want – was a good springboard for discussion.

Today was a long day but an all around good one.

Well, last night was kind of different.  We went to the District Medical Society’s “Christmas” party.  They always hold it in January after the holiday rush is done.  Maybe that just prolongs it in some ways. 

The event was “Love, Ukrainian Style”, an interactive dinner theatre.  If you have lived on the Canadian prairies, you have likely been invited to one of these – but the real thing.  This was constructed to be a bit more funny but was slightly accurate anyway.  Lots of emphasis on booze.  Vodka shots if you got caught with the “Kryska”   The first to get caught was one of the Muslim doctors.  He declined.  I don’t think he’ll let any of his daughters marry Ukrainian boys!

I just had to watch out for this rather good looking character who kept hitting on Leo.

All in good fun. It was good for a few laughs and the meal was good old Ukrainian style.  Cabbage rolls, ham, turkey, little meat balls and a mushroom cream sauce that I haven’t had since one of my professors invited my dental school class over for a special Ukrainian dining experience.

I see that it looks like I am repeating myself.  I thought the Friday post had disappeared – it had disappeared, really.  And then I couldn’t get onto this site for awhile this morning – some glitch that LT corrected for me.  So I had no idea it showed up here so I rewrote this stuff about our night out.