Cataract Surgery

Give me back surgery any day and I'll deal with it. Threaten to come at my eye with a scalpel and I'm a total wuss. When my optometrist told me that I had a cataract and that he was pretty sure that it was a very aggressive one, I hoped against hope that he was wrong. He wasn't. The cataract was first diagnosed in July 2011 and I had to have it out on June 26 (happy birthday to me)! The very thought of this surgery made my stomach tie itself up in knots. Graham kept assuring me that I would be "too happy" to care what was happening. He was wrong too.

As it turns out, I was very relaxed, not happy, but relaxed. Jamie and I walked into the hospital at 8:00 am and we walked out at 9:30 am!!!!. The surgery took about 10 minutes and the only thinhs that I was aware of was the water that was constantly bathing my eye throughout the procedure and the occassional feeling of pressure.

Now, if I could only get rid of these damn eye drops.....they just seem to go on forever. Still 3 more weeks of them!!!!!

The Christmas Quilt

I am a terrible Nana. Last October I decided to make a Disney Princess quilt for Alexandra for Christmas. The cross-stitch part was quickly finished, but as I was starting to put the quilt together, mom asked that I come to Florida to see her. She was in the hospital and was feeling very poorly.

Anyway, we did come home from Florida and celebrated a belated Christmas with the family. Feeling terribly guilty, I gave Alex the picture of the finished quilt as her gift. Surprisingly, for a 3 year old she did not appear to be upset. She took the picture home and hung it over her bed.

By the time we were sorted out from Christmas, I received a very long awaited phone call and went in for my back surgery. To make a long story short, Alex finally received her finished quilt on May 27!! She loves it, but, I truly regret making her wait so long.

Check out the slide show.  (photos courtesy of Deb).

My Piano

I started taking piano lessons when I was 5 and I took them until I was 17. I was never very good at playing, however, I worked my way through the Royal Conservatory program passing my Grade 8 Piano and my Grade 2 Theory. This was at a time when achieving these 2 milestones actually gave me a Grade 13 credit. My lessons were taken on my grandfather's piano....a Hammond, I think in a solid oak body. That piano weighs a ton!!! 

Since I can remember, I have been told that the piano would be mine someday.
As we moved around when I was young, I recall the piano having to be taken apart in order to move it. My sister reminded me of a story the other day. We were moving from 1 house in Erindale to another. The piano was in the basement in the house that we were moving out of and it had to be dismantled to be moved (I was devastated to see "my" piano in a million pieces). When we got to the new house, the mover carefully laid all the pieces out on the floor, looked at me (Knowing how upset I was) and said "I hope that you know how to put this puzzle back together because I'm not sure that I do". Needless to say, I burst into tears and my sister, Linda (who was paying close attention) burst into gales of laughter.

Today that piano is being moved again. It is indeed now mine and I am sitting here waiting for it to arrive. Linda texted me at 8:30 this morning to let me know that the piano was on the truck and the truck was pulling out of the driveway. It is, at most a 4 hour drive between my mother's house (it is still hers until the end of May) and mine.......it is now 2:30 and .....no piano.
I know that it will arrive, safe and sound, however, I have visions of my sister having asked the movers to stop and dismantle the piano on the way just for my reaction. Linda, I would burst into tears again, then I would kill you.

Come on piano, I can't wait to have you in my house. 

How Death Can Heal

Since my mother died in February, it is amazing what has changed in my life for the better. First and most important, my sister Linda and I have reconnected. While we haven't been exactly estranged, we certainly had drifted very far apart. It feels great to talk to and/or text her almost every day (I still hate texting on my Blackberry by the way). This is a relationship that I have really missed and am extremely glad that we have come together again.
Secondly, I have reconnected with 2 good friends that I allowed to slip away from my life. Boy have I missed the 2 of you Lynne and Sylvia.
I intend to make sure that I nurture these relationships for the remainder of my life. I cannot imagine my life without these people in it anymore. Thank you to all 3 of you for being a very special part of my life.

Mom

On Valentine's Day, as I wrote previously, mom was air ambulanced back to Ontario. She spoke to the customs agent when the plane landed in Orillia. Somewhere between the airplane and the hospital (knowing that she was back on Canadian soil), mom peacefully stopped breathing. 

Mom was 83 years old and she's been ready to die since before Christmas, so, as much as I will miss her, she is at peace and she is no longer fighting the illnesses that have plagued her since she arrived in Florida.

I'm so glad that we were able to get her back to Canada where she wanted to be and where she wanted to die. 

Rest In Peace, mom - we will all miss you.

Our Mother

Mom left early for Florida this year - she left before Christmas. Somehow I think that she knew that this would be her final year in the "Sunshine State". Since her arrival she has been in hospital 4 times (and she headed south this year and apparently the last 4 years without and health insurance!!!!)

Last week we made the decision to try and get mom strong enough to bring her home on a commercial flight with a medical escort - I feel like I have spent almost all my time in the past week on the phone. Our intent was to bring mom back to a retirement home and we were able to find a lovely, brand new one in Richmond Hill. No, it is not particularly close to any of her children, however, it is central to everyone - children and grandchildren. Best of all as far as I was concerned is the fact that my mother's best friend since she was a very young girl lives there. Can you imagine being able to ,make this difficult transition with your best friend!!

Unfortunately, yesterday mom's health started to slide backwards and we made the decision to air ambulance her back to Ontario. As I write this, she is in the air, on her way. She will be admitted to Soldier's Memorial Hospital in Orillia for a medical assessment (we are all hoping that this will be a short-lived hospitalization). Again, hopefully we will be able to transfer her to the Retirement Home and let her get on with her life.

I Survived

A week and a half ago I had my second back surgery and what a difference from the first. This time I actually remember my time in the PACU (Recovery Unit), although that may have something to do with the fact that I was there for almost 7 hours! Unfortunately, my BP was a constant issue throughout my admission. I routinely have low blood pressure - my normal BP is around 90/60. When you would think that someone's BP should be going through the roof - serious pain for instance, my goes lower - as low as 60/40. No wonder they worry. Despite my BP, I survived. Hated my entire hospitalization though - my roommates were quite inconsiderate (they included a screamer and a lady who liked her visitors 20 at a time).

I had my surgery Friday afternoon and I was home by noon on Monday. Quick you might say, however, you truly do heal faster at home. Now I am able to wander the main floor at will. I am able to make my self simple meals. I am able to stand for longer and longer. Sitting - not so much!. Graham will be heading back to work this Sunday and I think that I will be okay - I have a couple of friends who are retired and have offered to help me out any time. I have other friends, who still work, but have offered to help out inany way they can - I'll be fine.

The best part of all of this - I'll be back at work by the time I originally expected to have my surgery

My Back

For 11 months now, I have been in a lot of pain. Since my last back surgery in 2007, my degenerative disc disease has been creeping up my spine to the point where my next 2 vertebrae (L3, L4) no longer had any cushion between them - I had bone rubbing on bone (no wonder it hurt!!)

I had to wait until this past October to see Dr. Bailey, my orthopaedic surgeon (aren't I lucky that I was already 1 of his patients - new patients at the time were having to wait until next summer to get an appointment). Silly man asked if I wanted him to fix the problem - a no brainer as far as I was concerned. The dear man told me that his wait for surgery was about 1 year, however, because He hadf operated on me previously, I would only have to wait about 6 months. On top of that, we would only receive 2 - 4 weeks notice prior to my surgery.

So...... here I am thinking that I probably have 3 - 4 months left to wait for my surgery when my phone rings this past Monday morning. It is Dr. Bailey's office. They have had a cancellation - would I like it. I didn't care when it was, the answer was YES!!! Imagine my surprise - the date is this Friday - 27 January.

So, I am madly scrambling to get everything in order before Friday. Graham was only able to give his company a few days notice (and because of that only feels that he can take 1 week off). I'm not quite sure how I'm going to manage the second week after surgery - hope that I'm mobile enough to be on my own!! But, the bottom line here - I should be back at work by the time that I originally expected my surgery. 

To My Son

My ex-husband and I were lucky enough to raise 3 amazing children. My children are all grown and have left the nest and started lives of their own. My son, Ryan has started his own family - I am a Nana to 2 wonderful grandchildren.

Today I want to talk about my amazing son. As I said yesterday, last Monday, I had to go to Florida, fast. Ryan (who lives and works in the east end of Toronto) dropped everything at work, raced home, packed a bag and headed for London, leaving his family behind and not sure whether or not he'd be home for Christmas with his family. This wonderful man has supported me, run errands for me, let me cry on his shoulder and just generally been the rock that I needed to get me through this past week. Ryan, Krista and Jamie - I love you all more than words can ever say. Ryan, you are a rock, you are one of my rocks and I don't know what I would have done without you this week. Thank you and Merry Christmas.

My Family

Like everyone else, I have a family. Also like everyone else, my family is dysfunctional. What I do have though are some amazing people in my family.

I have to start with one of the most amazing ladies that I have ever met - my daughter-in-law, Deb. Six days before Christmas, this awesome lady very kindly lent me my son back for a family emergency. On Monday, Graham was on the road and I had to go to Florida - fast. Not knowing whether or not he'd be home for Christmas with his 2 little ones, my son, with his wife's approval dropped everything to take me to Florida. Because I'm waiting for back surgery again, going anywhere is a challenge. Going to Florida was a mountain, however, a mountain that Ryan and Deb managed to help me get over.

Being home with your family for Christmas is one of the most important things in the world to most people and it was important to me to make sure that Ryan got home to his family for Christmas. Hence, the next amazing person in my family - my husband, Graham. This man spends at least 5 days a week on the road driving his big rig (a job that most of us wouldn't do if our lives depended on it). Having arranged for a much needed week off over Christmas and having arrived home late Wednesday night, Graham hopped in the car on Thursday and has driven down to Florida to help me get over the mountain so that Ryan could go home.  

Ryan is on his plane home and Graham is almost here, so Merry Christmas and Happy Yule to all - I hope that you are as blessed as I am.

Snail Mail

For those of you who follow my dgtr-in-law, Deb's blog, you will know that my grandson, Austin just found the joy of writing and mailing letters. He has written a letter to his Grandpa and was writing a second letter to a mystery family member. The very next day after I read that blog post, imagine my excitement when I reached into the mailbox and found an envelope addressed to Nana & Gramps. Yeah!!!!!! we were the mystery family members.

I eagerly opened the envelope and found inside 2 delightful pictures from our granddaughter Alex. Apparently she too has found the joy in surprising people with snail mail. The beautiful pictures are now proudly posted on our refrigerator and we are proudly sure that we are the first to receive such wonderful artwork from Alex.

We will be equally as delighted when and if we receive snail mail from Austin, but, in the meantime, what an amazing and delightful surprise!!

Long Time, No Hear

Bet you all thought that I had fallen off the earth - no such luck. I realize that I never finished the raccoon story - Jamie and I took him out to the Circle R Ranch and released way at the back of the property where there are only deer and raccoons. The hope was that another raccoon family would adopt him (apparently they do that).

Next on our family agenda since I last wrote - my baby, Jamie, is getting married next summer. Over the next months I will keep everyone up to date on the preparations. She is marrying a wonderful young man named Scott who treats her like a princess. They are currently living in Windsor while Scott finished his lastryear of university and Jamie works.

As for Graham and I, Graham is still driving, however he is now driving a roll-top -- NO TARPS!!!!! He is also now driving for a company out of London which is so much easier that Kitchener.

I finally saw my back surgeon, Dr. Bailey this week and I will be having back surgery in about 6 months.He will be fusing the next 2 vertebrae up - L3-L4.

I'll try not to be such a stranger in the future. In the meantime, here is a picture of the happy couple.