It's Friday Again!

Are you like me?  Completely and utterly thrilled that it is Friday and the weekend in near?  It's been a busy week, and I for one, am looking forward to a couple of days at home.

I have Canadian Diabetes coming to pick up stuff for the thrift stores on Tuesday, so I hope to continue to purge unwanted and unused articles of every kind to donate.  I still have a lot of cupboards and closets to get through so wish me luck.

In the back of my mind are several projects I would like to have enough time to consider.  One is a new pair of mittens - for me.  My double knitted mitts that I have been wearing all winter have finally deteriorated beyond the point of repair.  Too bad too - because they have been so wonderfully warm all these cold winter mornings waiting for the bus.  This morning I wore two pair of gloves (on of them wool) and my hands were freezing.

Another project I'd like to consider is finishing the replica of my wedding dress that I started last fall - made from my wedding dress for one of my old-fashioned fashion doll.  I have yet to source some high-heeled shoes for her, but my friend Eva has suggested Ebay - so there is another project for me.

And then there is the quilting project I started last fall.... remember that?  I barely do - but I have set it out so it is "in my face" - maybe, just maybe I can get inspired!

Whatever I do, no doubt the weekend will fly by as always, and I'll return to work early Monday morning, totally disgusted with myself for wasting so much of my weekend doing... well, a whole lot of nothing... but cleaning, laundry, cooking, surfing the Internet... well you get the picture!

Happy productive weekend all - don't forget to take some time for yourselves somewhere in the next couple of days....

A Friend in Need!

On Tuesday I had my 5th mammogram since my breast cancer 5 yrs ago.  Today it was a trip to the surgeon for the results and for my 6 month check up.  I see him every 6 months, but it is the visit close to the mammogram that always has me fidgeting and thinking about the return of cancer and just plain worrying if it's back.

For the past month or so I have been having some breast pain, I never told a soul, but knew I would be seeing the surgeon and having a mammogram, so let it go.  Dumb - I know, especially after having already had one breast removed.

My visit to the surgeon went well, he was extremely busy, and there was one woman about my age who came out crying, and somehow my heart just new she was the latest victim of this horrible killer of women.  She was alone, and had to wait for the nurse to give her the details of her surgery arrangements, so there she sat.  I couldn't walk past her without saying something, so I stopped, touched her on the shoulder and when she looked up at me, I told her that she was in the very best of hands.  She looked so scared, and I felt so helpless, but I walked on as I was being ushered to the exam room to see the doctor.

My mammogram was fine, and he found nothing to be concerned about with the breast pain.  So I got dressed and walked back out to the waiting room to get my parka.

The woman was gone, so I bundled up and left the office.

She was standing at the elevator, and when I approached, she came toward me.  She told me she had breast cancer, and that she was scared.  I told her that I had gone through the same thing 5 yrs ago, and that so far I was cancer free.  We talked a bit, I don't know if I helped her or not, but when she reached to give me a hug, I didn't hesitate a moment.

I didn't even get her name - But I will keep her in my prayers.  Could you please do the same?

Reminder - have yearly check-ups, push for yearly mammograms past 40 yrs of age, and please please please... do your breast self examinations... it could save your life.....

A Happier Day!

Music has always played a very special role in my life.  Over the years I have played many instruments, and sang in many choirs, and after taking voice training for a lot of years, I soloed many times at weddings, and other various occasions.

When I was a teenager I belonged to a youth singing group, and every year we did a variety show called "Showboat."  My voice trainer was also the artistic director for this show, so I had a lot of solos and lead roles over the years.  My voice was very suitable for folk music, and because I could also strum a guitar it seemed natural for me to perform songs such as Four Strong Winds; Where have all the flowers gone; The Green Leaves of Summer; Michael Row the Boat and many more favorites of the 60's and 70's.  It was the era of Peter Paul and Mary, The Brother's four; The Kingston Trio; Gordon Lightfoot, just to name a few.

Gary received an itunes card at Christmas, and last weekend he approached me with a huge smile on his face and handed me his ipod to listen to an album he had purchased off itunes.  It was the Golden Anniversary CD of The Brother's Four.  Yes - I did say Golden Anniversary - this year marks their 50th year of entertaining audiences around the world with their special blend of voice and acoustic instruments.  It's fabulous - let me tell you - I play it over and over, singing every song right along with them, - I can't seem to get enough of this wonderful album.

If you like folk - good honest to goodness folk - you have to check it out.  I guarantee you won't be able to sit quietly and listen - they will have you humming, or plain out singing right along with them.

If you read my sad story yesterday, I must tell you that little Churchill is back.  He is eating, drinking, kissing and busy cleaning and preening and hanging upside down on the side of the cage to get my attention.  My heart feels much lighter than it did a couple of days ago - but I still am going to keep a close eye on him and see if I can figure out what is causing these scary spells he's been having.

And lastly - the scale was kind to me again this week - I'm down 2 more lbs, for a grand total of 12 since the beginning of January.  I am really pumped to get rid of this weight, and I think I am well on the way to where I want to be.

So all in all a much better day than the past few - hope your day has been great too...

FOR THE LOVE OF A PET

I promised to be here Monday, and here it is Tuesday already.  My weekend was a a somersault of emotions for me, and it all had to do with one little bird.

Churchill is my 19 yr old Cockateil, that Gary and Jon bought for me for Christmas 19 yrs ago.  I am the bird person in the family.  I had a Cockateil (Dudley) for about eight years, and missed him so much when he was gone, that Gary decided to get me another.

Right off the bat, I decided I would raise Churchill to be a tame bird, so I opened his cage and trained him to trust hands and for the first 11 yrs of his life he was free to come and go as he wished. He trained easily and was extremely affectionate and sweet, and soon he was rocking with me on the rocking chair, taking showers, riding around on my shoulders and pretty much enjoying the best life a bird could have.  He thought he was people, so much so, that I could not cook a meal without him hollering for something of what we were having for our meal. 

When Churchill was about 11 yrs old,  along came Molly.  I was so afraid that the puppy would go after the bird, that for the first time in his life, he was locked in his cage, and although he didn't like it at first, he grew to love the dog so much, he really never complained about it at all.

Instead he'd spit seeds in her waiting mouth, he'd wolf whistle until she'd come in the room,  he'd chatter away at her, and at times I'd swear she knew what he was going on about.  Over the years they have become good friends,
A few months ago Churchill appeared listless and sick, he quit eating or drinking and I thought he was going to leave us, but within a couple of days he bounced back and was okay again.  I did a lot of research on the Internet, and I learned that old birds often get a liver disease, and it usually kills them in a few short days.  He had all the symptoms, but he got better.

This has repeated itself many times over the past months and every time it happens it takes him longer and longer to bounce back - and this weekend was the worst.

I thought for sure we were going to loose him this time, he was actually crying out as he climbed around his cage, and then he quit doing even that, and sat at the bottom with his eyes closed for long periods of time.

Have you ever got the weeps and couldn't seem to stop - well that was me for most of the weekend.  While I know his time is near, I couldn't seem to handle the thought of him not being there, in my own way I guess I was preparing for the end.  I told him that if he had to go, he could, that I would miss him so much, but I couldn't stand to see him suffer.  When I went to bed Sunday night, I said goodnight to him, and he peeped back at me, as he does every night, but I didn't actually think he would be with is come morning.

He was -  barely.

All day yesterday I would call Gary to see how he was and I could tell by Gary's voice that it was not good news.  I prepared myself for the worst, because Gary told me to, and when I went home, I headed straight into Church's room, and up popped his head, the minute he heard my voice.  He struggled to come to me and I picked him up and held him for awhile.   I cleaned his cage and lowered all his dishes so he wouldn't have to climb to eat or drink, and I made him some toast.  And he climbed on to his food dish and just sat there.

He started to eat, then drink, then preen himself, and pretty soon he was climbing up the cage (without crying this time).

He's been down to his dish several times since then, his eyes are wide open and he's chattering at me again.

And it seems, he's not ready to leave me quite yet...

I know one of these times I will have to say goodbye to my sweet dear friend, but I don't think it's going to be today, and I hope it won't be tomorrow, because I'm not ready to say goodbye yet either...

Another week gone!

How did it get to be Friday, again so soon?  It seems the older one gets, the faster the weeks fly by, and in my case this week  has flow by and I have accomplished very little.

But it has been an amazing week in our home, even if I didn't accomplish much, I don't really care.  The benefits of Gary's surgery on Monday have overshadowed everything else that went on this week, and we can feel nothing but joy for the wonderful outcome of this surgery.

As I write this, I can hear the pipe organ downstairs, and I am hearing classical pieces I have never heard played on this organ before (he's only had it since summer).  I haven't heard these tunes for almost two years, because Gary couldn't see to read the music.  He has pretty much been playing from memory, and not that it was not good - it was - it just wasn't spectacular like it is tonight.  I think some u-tube video will be coming up once he gets his fingers limbered up again.

On a totally different subject I must comment on the weather.  It got above freezing today (Thursday)and it is supposed to tomorrow  as well.  The snow was soft to walk on, but the air was beautiful , and the miserable north wind was noticeably absent... Yeah!

The down side of warm weather for us at this time of year is precipitation, and true to form, they are calling for snow and/or freezing drizzle tonight and tomorrow.  It would be much kinder to be able to enjoy the balmy weather without consequences, but I guess that's not our call.

The children down the street have been collecting the big chunks of ice and snow left behind by the snowplows and they have been building a fort city on the front lawns of two homes.  I remember doing this as a child myself, and later teaching my young son the art of fort building.  I suspect if the weather stays warm, and the snow soft, we will start to see some pretty sizable snowmen springing up around the neighbourhood.  Oh how I would love to get out there and join them!

So whatever the weather has in store for you this weekend, I hope you all have a great weekend - stay warm, stay safe, and I'll meet you here again early Monday morning.

Semper Fidelis

I graduated from the Misericordia School of Nursing in 1976.  After 2 yrs of intense training, and a whole lot of fun and frivolity, I left my Alma Mater, a RN with a bright future in my chosen career.

I had not always wanted to be a nurse - in fact my choice would have been to become a music teacher, but my parents, especially my Dad wasn't favourable to this, he really wanted me to be a nurse.  I really can't recall how my mind came to be changed, but a year after high school graduation, I found myself entering the hallowed halls of the Misericordia School of nursing for the first time.

It was a scary prospect at first, but about a month into my first semester, I knew I had made the right choice, and I knew that I was totally in love with the hospital I had chosen as my school home.

I didn't live in residence as my parents lived nearby - but that didn't stop me from becoming involved with the school community or the constant hy-jinks of the live- in students.  It was a blast, and for two years I lived and breathed medicine, nursing, cute young interns and doctors, as well as hard work, studying and the constant guidance of the sisters of the Grey Nuns who led us in our studies, and in our quest for fulfillment as young women and in particular, young nurses.

The class of 1976

I will forever be grateful for the training and guidance from these very special women.

Fast forward 35 yrs... I really can't believe it's been that many years since my nursing school days - In all those years I have only been in my Alma Mater a couple of times.  Once when my mother was rushed there with a heart attack and  once when I rushed there to see her pass from this life into the next, and then not for years and years - well 30 yrs to be exact when I rushed my husband to the emergency department for stitches after an accident at home.

On Monday when Gary had his eye surgery, I returned again, and this time I had some time to walk the halls and corridors of my youth, and I was saddened to find, that not much remains of the hospital I called home for over two years.  You see, the hospital is not longer a "general hospital".  Being relatively small compared to the other large facilities in the city, it has been changed from regular hospital to a facility of special needs.

The first being a holding area for geriatric patients waiting for nursing home placement.  Wards where major surgery was performed, are now nursing-home type rooms.

It has also become the hospital of choice for all eye surgery in Manitoba, and in the next few years will undergo yet another major change when the oldest portion of the hospital (1800's) will be taken down and a new center will be developed all dedicated to the treatment of the eye.  When it is completed it will be largest eye care centre in Western Canada.

My true Alma Mater is gone, but when I walk the corridors I can remember a different time, when it was a bustling center of learning, hope, love, and superior patient care.  I count myself lucky to be one who knew a different Misericordia Hospital so many years ago, so many memories ago.


Roses red of graduation; Wearers purest white
Mercy angels our vocation, See the lamp we light.
Oh, we carry on the footsteps Vivat Alma Mater.
Singing always faithful vivat, Misericordia...

(taken from the Misericordia School Song)

With Much Appreciation

Sorry I haven't posted for a couple of days, but I have been very busy helping Gary with his eye surgery on Monday, and attending doctors appointments with him yesterday.

As some of you know, Gary has been pretty much totally blind for almost a year, and very poor sighted for many years before this.  He has had poor vision all his life and a couple of years ago was diagnosed with Macular Degeneration and given a very poor prognosis. 

He sought a second opinion and saw a different eye specialist and things started happening... The process has been painfully slow, referrals, and decisions, which the first was to remove the massive cataracts he has on both eyes, with great risk of furthering the degeneration.  There are few surgeons here who were willing to perform this surgery on someone with eyes such as his, but we did find one, and he had the first eye done on Monday  - and it was 150% successful.

For the first time in many many years, Gary can see detail.  His excitement yesterday when they removed his bandages had me bawling my face off!!  He can see better than he's ever seen, already... and hopefully the second eye will make it better yet. 

I watched him sit at the organ last evening and play for twenty minutes with the brightest happiest smile I have seen on his face ever - and again, I was moved to tears.

The little things we take for granted and this big things we don't have been returned to him.  He will once again be able to drive a car, and he will be able to return to work in another month or so. 

My thanks to the staff of the Misericordia Health Center, Eye Center, for their excellent care, to the surgeon, and nurses who took such great care of him, and me.  In the normal course of their day, they have made a dramatic change in one patent's life - and we are grateful.

Tomorrow I will tell you about my journey to my past, as I walked the halls of my Alma Mater - The Misericordia Hospital.