Spring?? is here!

Well, I think there are a few uniquely Canadian signs that spring is here. First one is the "running of the maple syrup". Yes folks, it is really an event up here. All over the newspaper there are articles of people strapping on their snow shoes to go and get some of that famous maple syrup. Actually, it sounds like a lot of fun, and yummy too. Of course, being from the south, we think Aunt Jemima invented maple syrup and never knew your could just go out to a tree and get it yourself. Is there any real maple in the stuff we get at the store anyway? Guess we will have to get some "fresh" maple syrup this year!

The other sign that spring is here is the Brier. Sponsored by Tim Horton's! Who else? The Brier, for those of you from south of the US/Canadian border is the men's curling championship. Don't you feel smarter already? We had the pleasure of joining friends for dinner and to watch the Brier on Sunday evening. They were getting us back for making them watch the Super Bowl. Dinner was fabulous!!! And we did see the end of the curling. Ontario lost unfortunately. Our friend knew some of the players personally. Can't say I knew anyone playing in the Super Bowl personally. Riveting game and an enjoyable evening. I really am a sports junkie!

Spring is officially here according to the calendar. I just hope that Mother Nature listens up and things get a little more like spring. The "big melt" is on these days. I think we had a whole week of temps above freezing during the day. The mountains of snow are down to hills of snow and no snow at all in some places. I can see spots of grass in my back yard, it really must be spring. The unfortunate thing about being above freezing though is that the precipitation takes the form of rain now and not snow. Snow is much prettier, I think. I see tulips in the stores and people are getting a little antsy for spring so it must be time! Bring it on! I can't wait to see the first blooms of the next season.

Travel as Therapy

Over the last few weeks we have been out of town every weekend. This was all planned before the skiing accident. "To go or not to go?", that is the question. I made it to and from Rachel's shower and felt much better when I got home, maybe another road trip will help just as much.
TJ and I went to New York City to meet friends of ours from our Columbus,GA days. It has become an annual thing and so much fun! We got to see "Wicked" on Broadway. Excellent! Ate out and had great food and wine. We did a walking tour of Greenwich Village food places and restaurants. So informative and yummy. My walking was labored but I pushed myself and tried to keep up with Rick, aka Speedy. I could not keep up. It was great to be in above freezing temps with no snow or ice anywhere to be seen! We all had a great visit and have vowed to do this next year too.
Back home and TJ is going to Montreal for work. He asked if I wanted to go. Since I have not been anywhere lately! OK, I am such a fool. We head to Montreal for a couple of days, with the dogs in tow. They were so happy! Talk about snow! Our friends who we stayed with have even more snow than we do. They also have 3 dogs of their own, so there were 5 dogs at their house. They got along surprisingly well too. Montreal seems like a very nice city and I think I would love to visit again in warmer weather, in better health so I can do some sightseeing and shopping. I am tired of being on the road though and the thought of going home and just repacking is not making me happy. The only think that makes the next trip worth the trouble is sun and warmer weather!

Home for a day and then off the San Diego! What a LONG flight from over here. The palm trees, sunshine and warm air were sooo worth it. We were surrounded by Canadians at the Buffalo airport who were fleeing the tundra for March break. I was glad to be one of them. I definitely understand the need for "March Break" now. We had a beautiful visit with Kirk and Mary Kate. MK gave me some much needed physical therapy help for the arm and the knee. I trust her and hope this all helps.

Back home and here for a while! It feels good to unpack and do laundry and watch the snow melt. We missed a monster snow storm while we were gone. Yippee! Now the big melt is on. It could take a month for all the snow to go away though. Everyone here is hoping we set the all time record for snow in a winter. Only 9 cm. to go.

In retrospect....it was good to be forced to travel. I think if I had sat around here and tried to get well I would have gone crazy first and might not have healed as quickly as I am. Still not 100% but it has only been 4 weeks. Taking your mind off the pain and inconvenience is helpful. It doesn't hurt to be surrounded by family and friends either. Now we are home until the grand baby arrives. Time to do some stuff around here and regroup for the next adventure. Who knew life would be such an adventure when we got here? Maybe a little too much of an adventure, eh?

Gimpy and the Pregnant Lady

I had one week to heal as fast as I could because I had was planning to go to Rachel's baby shower in Madison the following weekend. How fast does one heal from surgery and hitting a tree? The mind was definitely willing but the body is another thing.
I will say that I felt better every day. Better than horrible is good but not great.

Friday, Feb. 22 I headed to Madison, by myself. Arm in a sling, gimping along with my bum knee. Exhausted and dealing with my suitcase, the picture I was bringing for Rachel's gift and my bag/purse. OH JOY! The red silk sling did the trick and people gave me a wide berth.

It was so good to spend a weekend with my girls. Well, worth the pain of traveling. Rachel and I just visited, went to dinner and then picked Kelly up that night. Madison was covered with snow and most sidewalks were sheets of ice still. Yeah, the pregnant lady and gimpy trying their best not to wipe out on the ice, picture that.

As attentive as TJ had been at home, and he was very attentive, having the girls around was great. I had Kelly and Katie to do my hair and Rachel and I went and had our nails done and got pedicures. I had someone to button my pants, yeah, think of all the things it takes two hands to do. Like putting on a bra! TMI but it is true! Being around the girls was very therapeutic.

The shower on Sat. was so nice. They did a great job and Rachel got some very nice gifts. It is starting to settle in that there is a baby coming. The nursery is so cute! Rachel had a great time after the shower putting everything together. She is going to be a good mother. Anyway, it was fun to watch the sisters put stuff together from my vantage point on the sofa. I was not much help in this activity.

I am amazed when I stop to think that in less than 2 months I will be back here and holding a grand baby in my once broken arm. That should make it all better for sure! I can't wait to fall in love with this baby. Can't wait to see Rachel and Matt as parents. It is such an exciting time.

After a weekend of much walking and being around people and just trying to function I was feeling much better. I think being pushed is helping. The flight home was very smooth and not nearly as painful as the one there. I got home early on Monday and the dogs were happy for the company again.

One week until the next trip. I need to rest! I also need to clean my very neglected house. Yikes! Isn't house cleaning covered by the Canadian Health Care system?

Part 3

Friday! Feb. 15,2008
TJ finally got back from Newfoundland. Yes, did I mention that while all this was happening, my husband was on a business trip? He finally got home and to the hospital.
Valerie headed back to Houston, I'm sure she was glad to get out of that hospital. I had planned to show her so much more than just the ER at the hospital! We were going to have a great week. Best laid plans....
So....today they will do the surgery. We think.
Another day of no food or water. I did not even need pain meds for the day. I was walking around little by little trying to work my hurt knee and get out of the bed I had been in for 3 days.
Finally, at 7pm TJ and our nurse Lydia inquired in the O.R. and they said it was time. If I could have jumped onto the operating table I would have at this point. Anyone who know me knows that hospitals, needles, surgery, any of it is definitely not my thing but I wanted to get going and get home!
Turns out I am very healthy. All the blood tests, EKG, and whatever else they needed to know about me before operating says I am healthy. Good to know.
Don't remember the surgery, duh. Remember the room spinning when I was coming out of the anesthesia.
I knew it would hurt more after the surgery for a while than it did before. I was right. But I am on the road. I got to eat! Slept like a baby with all the meds. The over the elbow cast is gone and replaced with a soft stretchy ace bandage and some gauze underneath over the incisions.

I went home Sat. morning, as soon as they would let me! Not a moment too soon.

Part 2

Thursday morning, day 2.
Wake up, we have a room/ward for you!
We should be able to do your surgery today, so you can't eat or drink anything until after the surgery.
My friend Valerie held a vigil at my bedside all day, bless her. I was in and out of consciousness all day. My mouth felt like the Sahara Desert. I was put on a saline drip to hydrate me but it did nothing for that thirsty feeling all day.
I did feel truly blessed all day though. My phone rang and rang. I had visitors all day. I don't really know many people here and still I had more visitors than everyone else in the ward. Talk about a pick me up. They have no idea.
Lying in a ward with people better and worse off than you can be humbling. The lady next to me was facing a huge life decision, whether to have her foot amputated or to opt for reconstructive surgery and face possibly a lifetime of operation after operation. She was a very nice and interesting person who was facing so much more than I was. I will be fine after this, she has a life changing decision to make. I had no place to complain.
All day they kept saying, surgery maybe after 3, surgery maybe after 6, well, surgery around 9. At 9, they came and told me two emergencies had just come in and there would be no surgery today for me. Whaaaaaa.
Can I please have some water and food? OK, until midnight and then nothing because we will do surgery tomorrow.
Valerie could go home now and I slept fairly well that night after the water and sandwich and yogurt. Best meal I ever had!

Canadian Health Care, experience 1

We arrived at the hospital, on the busiest day in 5 years. No kidding, the news crew was there to document this. It was in the paper the next day too. So you know what that means. Waiting and plenty of it.

Another interesting point is that since we have only lived here for 3 weeks we do not have a Social Insurance Number, which is apparently your key to the excellent health care up here. We have interim insurance and therefore have to pay up front and get reimbursed. The looks we got though when we said we did not have a SIN card were priceless.

High and low points, from what I can remember....

-having my makeshift splint removed and the coat and my favorite fleece removed was painful, I let them cut off the turtle neck and long underwear and sports bra. Yes 4 layers of clothing had to be removed! Painful!!! And all done in the privacy of the hallway in the triage area! "Sir, could you please turn the other way we need to get this lady's clothing off and there are no rooms to do it in."

-X-rays, this will only hurt a little. Don't believe them.

-slopping on the plaster and splint that would hold my arm for the next 3 days unbeknown to me at that point. From my hand all the way up and over my elbow to my armpit.

-We will have to do surgery, you broke both the ulna and the radius. We will put in a couple of plates and you will be fine. There are no rooms or ORs available now.

Nurse," should we just send her home and let her come back for the surgery?"

Doctor,"there is no way she can go home! She will never make it through the night, she will be in too much pain and then you need to consider any bleeding."

Thank you Doctor!

"Where can we put her? We don't have any beds." Find someplace!

So I spent the night in the ER triage area on a gurney between a woman with a dislocated ankle who cried all night and a lady on the other side who coughed all night. Thank goodness for the morphine. I only cried once and could not be heard over the others.

So I guess the only high was that the doctor would not send me home and made sure I at least had a bed and pain medicine. Or was that a low too?

An Otherwise Perfect Day or Crash

It all started so nicely. Valerie was here from Houston. It had snowed all day the day before. We decided to shovel the driveway and enjoy the blue skies and decent temps. We had a blast, no really, we did. We shoveled and chipped away at the giant chunk of ice at the bottom of the driveway. We were successful too. Only after we had completely cleared the driveway did the beloved snowplow drive by and dump a fresh load of street snow at the end of the driveway. I'm sure it was Valerie and I's beautiful smiles that convinced the driver to back up and plow away the deposit he had just made. Yippee!

Valerie said, "we should go skiing." I said, "really, do you want to?" She said, " Yes, can we?" I said, "Yes, let' get moving and go." So we did. The drive was beautiful. The snow was crisp and clean. The sun was shining. We got to the hill and rented our skis and set out to enjoy the day after eating our pb&j sandwiches for lunch. We had a great time. We high fived each other on the lift at our genius for choosing to ski instead of go to downtown Toronto and see the city. The slopes were fresh with snow, not too many people and we could not have been happier. Then, while going down a gentle alley way to the lift, CRASH.

I caught an edge and tumbled, out of control, out of bounds, into a tree. OUCH!
Valerie no where in sight, me knowing at that moment I had broken my arm cried pitifully, "help" "help". A very nice young, 16ish, boy stopped and asked, "Are you OK ?" "NO." Next skier stops and helps get my twisted leg out of the ski, that did not pop off like they are supposed to. Long story short, I got to ride in the toboggan behind the snowmobile wrapped like a pappoos.

Valerie drove me to the hospital where would begin yet another adventure in another posting.