The month of June will end here on the prairies in 2 hours and 15 minutes. I have lost an entire month of spring due to the stresses brought about through Dad's death and the pandemic closures and islolation in the city. This truly has been the spring that wasn't!
When I wake up in the morning it will be July 1st: Canada Day. This year it will be a celebration confined to online and television performances broadcast from the homes of those singers and speakers who are participating in whatever they can possibly do to make our annual tribute to Canadian patriotism interesting and palatable. For me there is nothing anyone can do that will replace the joy and excitement of the firework displays that have been cancelled here due to the pandemic based restrictions on gathering together. We have laws here that prevent private citizens from setting off fireworks in their own back yards and local parks and parking lots, but I wonder if the police will bother to enforce it this year. Setting off fireworks oneself can certainly result in injury and unexpectedly setting fire to one's surroundings, so the laws are good ones, but I wonder if this year those in authority will decide to refrain from charging the offenders in order to acknowledge that, despite the need for physical safety, right now bolstering people's mental health may be more of a priority. It will be interesting to see what happens here in my neighbourhood.
Mom climbed some important emotional mountains today in order to deal with another unexpected bank appointment and a visit to the post office to straighten out the mess that was made of her change of address. I am so proud of her. We spent a long time on the phone afterward, straightening out some other issues related to Dad's death and when we were done she said she is starting to feel more relaxed as she sees the list of possible new and ongoing problems starting to shrink. I have never talked on the telephone so much and so often in my life...never had to listen to so many recordings instead of people, never had to punch so many buttons on the keypad to reach the people or departments I need reach. I am talked completely out. I can't do any personal calls for at least a week, so I am grateful for emails and texts. Those I can answer at my own leisure....if I even have to at all. I hope my family and friends are not offended about my being so unavailable for phone calls, but I am completely exhausted from Mom's stress and from talking and talking.....and talking some more to various institutions.
I will spend Canada Day ironing! How lovely to contempate getting caught up on my own house chores and not worrying about talking to any institutions until the following day. They are all closed for the Canada Day holiday. YAY! A relatively stress free day MAY await me....but I won't totally count on that. hahaha
I have decided to remember one happy thing about my dad each day...for as long as it takes me. Today's happy memory is about shopping for school clothes when I was in elementary and junior high school. Every August, right before the start of school in September, my parents would take me clothes shopping for a whole new wardrobe. Usually we ended up buying my clothes at Woodwards and they had a marvellous selection of good quality girls' clothing. I must have tried on every outfit in the store every August. It was a tremendous amount of fun because it didn't matter how much an outfit cost. If I wanted it, I got it. It was rare that my parents disagreed with my choices and I never had to decide between outfits. Dad just bought them all....every August. It was my annual clothing bonanza! Dad could be generous to a fault and when it came to clothes shopping for me, well, it was a HUGE "fault" year after year. It was a phenomenal time for me every August. Thank you Dad for all the fun we had buying my school clothes every year.
The month of June will now end in: 1 hour and 48 minutes.
Tuesday, June 30, 2020
Sunday, June 28, 2020
Some Things Are So Difficult to Understand
After a long year of praying for Val to have her joint replacement surgery....so many of us were praying it was unbelievable!...she had it, as you know, and it was incredibly successful. She had several good weeks of steady improvement in her mobility and her pain levels. Then a week ago disaster struck.
Val doesn't want to be the central figure in peoples' prayers any more, but she is in dire need of them right now. A week ago she was having trouble catching her breath, was lethargic and somewhat nauseous. She was able to see a doctor and have some tests. A couple of hours after the tests she was with her roommate out of town looking at their farm yard garden plot...about an hour from town I believe. Her phone rang and it was the doctor she had seen earlier that day with her test results: lungs filled with blood clots and she had to get to the hospital immediately if not sooner. Fortunately her roommate can drive like the wind and was able to get Val to the hospital in record time.
Val knew her condition was serious because her roommate was allowed to stay with her. They were put into a separate waiting room and there they sat waiting to see a doctor and get some assistance.....FOR ELEVEN HOURS!!!! Despite directives being sent to the hospital to provide immediate help for her, those directives were not followed and Val actually could have died waiting to be seen.
This past week has been a nightmare of more testing, massive doses of warfarin to break up the clots, oxygen tanks, exhaustion, poor sleeps at night, fighting between the attending doctor and the radiology department who defied the doctor's orders for a scan because the radiology staff deemed the test to be unnecessary...how on earth can they get away with disobeying a doctor's direct order???? What on earth is going on at Regina General Hospital???? Val's issues are not the first time people I know have nearly died there due to being ignored or mistreated in some way. The attending is contacting patient advocacy on Val's behalf over the long wait in ER and some other issues I won't mention here.
The short version is that as of today the warfarin is not working. Val's INR is still too low. She still has trouble breathing. She still can't walk much even with oxygen. She still can't sleep at night due to the discomfort. She is now going to be given spirometer tests because the bottom half of her lungs are not inflating properly.
Of course even if she miraculously recovers very soon from all that is currently wrong, she will be unable to have her second joint replacement this summer because of the blood thinners she will have to continue taking for some time into the future.
Val's life is in danger. She is in even more need of prayer than before. I feel ill about this. I pray she can be healed and whole and live out her best life. She is too young to be going through these things. She is in a hospital with staff and situations that are being proven over and over again to be dangerous for the patients.
Please join me in prayer once again for this dear, dear woman.
Thank you.......
Val doesn't want to be the central figure in peoples' prayers any more, but she is in dire need of them right now. A week ago she was having trouble catching her breath, was lethargic and somewhat nauseous. She was able to see a doctor and have some tests. A couple of hours after the tests she was with her roommate out of town looking at their farm yard garden plot...about an hour from town I believe. Her phone rang and it was the doctor she had seen earlier that day with her test results: lungs filled with blood clots and she had to get to the hospital immediately if not sooner. Fortunately her roommate can drive like the wind and was able to get Val to the hospital in record time.
Val knew her condition was serious because her roommate was allowed to stay with her. They were put into a separate waiting room and there they sat waiting to see a doctor and get some assistance.....FOR ELEVEN HOURS!!!! Despite directives being sent to the hospital to provide immediate help for her, those directives were not followed and Val actually could have died waiting to be seen.
This past week has been a nightmare of more testing, massive doses of warfarin to break up the clots, oxygen tanks, exhaustion, poor sleeps at night, fighting between the attending doctor and the radiology department who defied the doctor's orders for a scan because the radiology staff deemed the test to be unnecessary...how on earth can they get away with disobeying a doctor's direct order???? What on earth is going on at Regina General Hospital???? Val's issues are not the first time people I know have nearly died there due to being ignored or mistreated in some way. The attending is contacting patient advocacy on Val's behalf over the long wait in ER and some other issues I won't mention here.
The short version is that as of today the warfarin is not working. Val's INR is still too low. She still has trouble breathing. She still can't walk much even with oxygen. She still can't sleep at night due to the discomfort. She is now going to be given spirometer tests because the bottom half of her lungs are not inflating properly.
Of course even if she miraculously recovers very soon from all that is currently wrong, she will be unable to have her second joint replacement this summer because of the blood thinners she will have to continue taking for some time into the future.
Val's life is in danger. She is in even more need of prayer than before. I feel ill about this. I pray she can be healed and whole and live out her best life. She is too young to be going through these things. She is in a hospital with staff and situations that are being proven over and over again to be dangerous for the patients.
Please join me in prayer once again for this dear, dear woman.
Thank you.......
Friday, June 26, 2020
Finally Being Productive Right Here At Home!
Today has been an excellent day here in my very own suite! Originally the plan was to do laundry and ironing today and tomorrow, but the forecast high temperature for both days is a cloudless, breezless +31C. My husband and I decided we would not want to be running the hot electric dryer today, so we went through our wardrobes and decided we have enough clean clothes to last until the temperature cools by about ten degrees toward the end of the weekend. YAY!
Since I didn't sleep well last night, (noisy screaming people in the park across the road between 3am and 5am), I was up fairly early and got an excellent start on cleaning this filthy, dusty suite! The upstairs project is now complete! YAY! I have enough energy to start cleaning downstairs as well, but my husband convinced me to wait until it is cooler, early tomorrow morning. I wish I could do more today, but he is right that I will wear myself out in the heat and then be useless tomorrow anyway. I like cleaning the main floor because that is where most of the "pretties" are; the cermic bowls and little Japanese knick knacks that I so love to dust and rearrange. hahaha For me it is like being a kid in a candy store "playing" with my "stuff". Oh how bitter a day it will be when we have to downsize to the point of getting rid of those beautiful things. I suspect it is because I had to wait over half of my adult life to be able to afford to purchase any of them that I am still enjoying them so much and find the idea of parting with them most disturbing.
My mother and I are ecstatic. The shower chair I ordered for her, that was mis-labelled by the company I ordered it from, arrived today with no problem. The fellow on the main desk of Mom's facility this evening is coming to Mom's suite after dinner tonight to put it together for her. How kind is he, right? Mom is very excited to use it right away tonight, hahaha.
This morning I called the bank appointment line again, since the message I left them yesterday was somewhat incoherent. I had just received very bad news from a friend about the health of an extended family member of her husband's and I should have waited awhile before calling the bank. Duh! So, hopefully I will hear from them by early next week and get an appointment set up for sometime toward the end of the week....even early the following week would be just fine. Please God, just let me hear from them so I can relax. Amen and thank you!
I received today the most lovely sympathy card and note from a cousin in Quebec. I almost cried again because his note was so touching. We really do not know each other, but I have always admired him because he just is who he is, no apologies and we both had domineering fathers who didn't understand us, nor we them. We do have a few things in common. A few months ago he lost his special friend of many years and I can only imagine how bereft he is feeling right now. I wish we had had the chance to get to know each other better, but there is no time like the present either.
People have been so kind and supportive about the loss of my dad. I so appreciate how many people care for our family. Cards, letters, phone calls and emails continue to come in to share sympathy and concern. Thanks so much everyone. I feel very supported and the prayer support you have given my mother is amazing. She is most touched by the concern of so many people, so many she hasn't ever even met.
Well, I think I am going to go and make some potato salad to go with the basa fish filets I have thawing for dinner tonight. Then if there is time I will watch another of my animal programmes recorded last week.
With the reinstitution of televised boxing matches 3 nights a week, it is going to take us months to catch up with all the matches we all ready have recorded! haha We are truly enjoying watching so many of the young fighters who would never have the opportunity to have their bouts televised if it wasn't for the COVID-19 situation which means there are no live audiences around the ring. This is a perfect time for people with only a mild interest in boxing to watch all these newcomers and get enthused about the sport. If you have never watched boxing before, give it a try. Boxing is not simply two guys ignorantly punching each other in the face, there is skill and extreme athleticism involved in this sport.
I think it is time to open the bedroom and kitchen windows on the shady side of our suite. One window upstairs, one window down...creates a slight cross draft now that the late afternoon breeze is beginning to stir at last.
Since I didn't sleep well last night, (noisy screaming people in the park across the road between 3am and 5am), I was up fairly early and got an excellent start on cleaning this filthy, dusty suite! The upstairs project is now complete! YAY! I have enough energy to start cleaning downstairs as well, but my husband convinced me to wait until it is cooler, early tomorrow morning. I wish I could do more today, but he is right that I will wear myself out in the heat and then be useless tomorrow anyway. I like cleaning the main floor because that is where most of the "pretties" are; the cermic bowls and little Japanese knick knacks that I so love to dust and rearrange. hahaha For me it is like being a kid in a candy store "playing" with my "stuff". Oh how bitter a day it will be when we have to downsize to the point of getting rid of those beautiful things. I suspect it is because I had to wait over half of my adult life to be able to afford to purchase any of them that I am still enjoying them so much and find the idea of parting with them most disturbing.
My mother and I are ecstatic. The shower chair I ordered for her, that was mis-labelled by the company I ordered it from, arrived today with no problem. The fellow on the main desk of Mom's facility this evening is coming to Mom's suite after dinner tonight to put it together for her. How kind is he, right? Mom is very excited to use it right away tonight, hahaha.
This morning I called the bank appointment line again, since the message I left them yesterday was somewhat incoherent. I had just received very bad news from a friend about the health of an extended family member of her husband's and I should have waited awhile before calling the bank. Duh! So, hopefully I will hear from them by early next week and get an appointment set up for sometime toward the end of the week....even early the following week would be just fine. Please God, just let me hear from them so I can relax. Amen and thank you!
I received today the most lovely sympathy card and note from a cousin in Quebec. I almost cried again because his note was so touching. We really do not know each other, but I have always admired him because he just is who he is, no apologies and we both had domineering fathers who didn't understand us, nor we them. We do have a few things in common. A few months ago he lost his special friend of many years and I can only imagine how bereft he is feeling right now. I wish we had had the chance to get to know each other better, but there is no time like the present either.
People have been so kind and supportive about the loss of my dad. I so appreciate how many people care for our family. Cards, letters, phone calls and emails continue to come in to share sympathy and concern. Thanks so much everyone. I feel very supported and the prayer support you have given my mother is amazing. She is most touched by the concern of so many people, so many she hasn't ever even met.
Well, I think I am going to go and make some potato salad to go with the basa fish filets I have thawing for dinner tonight. Then if there is time I will watch another of my animal programmes recorded last week.
With the reinstitution of televised boxing matches 3 nights a week, it is going to take us months to catch up with all the matches we all ready have recorded! haha We are truly enjoying watching so many of the young fighters who would never have the opportunity to have their bouts televised if it wasn't for the COVID-19 situation which means there are no live audiences around the ring. This is a perfect time for people with only a mild interest in boxing to watch all these newcomers and get enthused about the sport. If you have never watched boxing before, give it a try. Boxing is not simply two guys ignorantly punching each other in the face, there is skill and extreme athleticism involved in this sport.
I think it is time to open the bedroom and kitchen windows on the shady side of our suite. One window upstairs, one window down...creates a slight cross draft now that the late afternoon breeze is beginning to stir at last.
Thursday, June 25, 2020
Wednesday, June 24, 2020
I Figured Out Why I Enjoyed Our Meals Away So Much......
....even though, with a handful of exceptions, our meals were prepared from the same foods we eat at home. We took a huge amount of food with us. There were a LOT of sandwiches and salads since there was no way to cook anything properly in our suite, but with my husband smuggling in our toaster oven, we were able to make our own pita pizzas and warm up bits of this and that.
The real reason I so enjoyed our meals there is that for an entire week I didn't have to consume so much as one chick pea or lentil or any health food store legumes that all have the same sort of "kinda like soil" flavour to them. It was WONDERFUL! Here at home I eat them all the time because they are a good source of fibre and my husband loves them, but really if it was only up to me a chick pea would never touch my lips. I truly detest them. Lentils are okay in moderation, but this morning I looked at the thawing packs of chick pea curry and lentil soup in my refrigerator and along with feeling grateful we had frozen a few days worth of meals to come home to, I also felt like gagging at the thought of having to eat them.
I feel like a five year old who wonders why everthing that is healthy and good for her has to taste so bad!
After my little rant last evening I felt wonderful and slept extremely well. One sound off is usually all it takes, hahahaha.
Today I have a box to mail to my mom...addressed by ME so that it isn't a problem to deliver to HER, hahaha, and then the haircut I have been waiting so many months to enjoy. I will get a good long walk while running these errands, so that is a bonus! It is going to be warmer than +30C by this afternoon so I am grateful to know I will be home by around lunch time.
The real reason I so enjoyed our meals there is that for an entire week I didn't have to consume so much as one chick pea or lentil or any health food store legumes that all have the same sort of "kinda like soil" flavour to them. It was WONDERFUL! Here at home I eat them all the time because they are a good source of fibre and my husband loves them, but really if it was only up to me a chick pea would never touch my lips. I truly detest them. Lentils are okay in moderation, but this morning I looked at the thawing packs of chick pea curry and lentil soup in my refrigerator and along with feeling grateful we had frozen a few days worth of meals to come home to, I also felt like gagging at the thought of having to eat them.
I feel like a five year old who wonders why everthing that is healthy and good for her has to taste so bad!
After my little rant last evening I felt wonderful and slept extremely well. One sound off is usually all it takes, hahahaha.
Today I have a box to mail to my mom...addressed by ME so that it isn't a problem to deliver to HER, hahaha, and then the haircut I have been waiting so many months to enjoy. I will get a good long walk while running these errands, so that is a bonus! It is going to be warmer than +30C by this afternoon so I am grateful to know I will be home by around lunch time.
Tuesday, June 23, 2020
Sick to Death of Technical Glitches, Screwups and Disasters!!
I didn't feel at all well today. While I am feeling far better this evening after taking the afternoon to rest after a morning of grocery shopping and errands, the frustrations of trying to do online orders today have pretty much finished me as far as continuing to bother with ordering anything online. I think from now on I will find a way to just make do without whatever it is I thought I needed.
Today's order was for my mom though and I stupidly thought that, after locating the perfect shower chair for her online, it would be relatively straight forward to order the blasted thing and have it delivered to mom's facility.
Stupid, stupid, stupid....of course it wasn't the least bit easy and in the end, even after things seemed to have been taken care of, there has been a final glitch that may see the chair undeliverable. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!!!!!
The order form for the store I purchased the chair from was very straightforward for someone ordering a product to be sent as a gift. There were lines to be filled out differentiating the name of the recipient from the name of the person paying. There was even a box to check off if the item was a gift or not. Since it is a gift we filled out the message to recipient form. All went well on completing the form until the credit card company fraud check form came onto the screen. Long story short, despite our giving the credit card company our new phone number every time we move, to ensure that our most recent number is always associated with that card, our credit card was turned down during the fraud check because the number they claimed is the one associated with our card is a phone number we haven't had for over eleven years!! WTH!!??? So, onto the phone to the credit card company, where we discovered we now need a phone password to even talk to an agent. Another irritating few minutes passed while we tinkered around to set that up. FINALLY we were able to contact a real person who was extremely helpful in updating the required telephone number associated with our account and was able to return our screen to the purchase order fraud check page. This time the purchase was accepted, we received an email confirmation of the purchase.
Idiots that we are, we assumed all would now be well. We continued to make that ridiculous assumption later this evening when we receieved another confirmation that our order had been filled and was being sent via Canada Post this very evening. Dumb, dumb, dumb....that's us. Talk about naive! An hour after that notice arrived we received another confirmation that the thing had actually been shipped out on its way to the destination address. The address is correct. However, the name on the shipping label is not my mother's name. It is MY name typed there abover HER address. Sigh.....
There has all ready been a glitch with Canada Post to do with Mom's change of address and now there is this package coming addressed to someone with a completely different last name. Sigh..... So tomorrow I have to phone the facility and leave a message that a delivery will be coming in my name, but it is for Mom. I will have to tell every single person who works any of the day shifts over the next 5 business days. I will have to tell Mom to post a notice inside her mail box for the postman to tell him this has happened so he actually delivers the poor innocent shower chair that has no idea it is the cause of this much hassle and upset. Again AAAAAAAAAAAARGH!!!
I am SO done with online orders...with online shopping...with online anything apart from emails and blogs. DONE DONE DONE I say!!! Screw online crap. FINIS!
There, that feels better.......I will be able to sleep soundly now after my rant. YAY!
Today's order was for my mom though and I stupidly thought that, after locating the perfect shower chair for her online, it would be relatively straight forward to order the blasted thing and have it delivered to mom's facility.
Stupid, stupid, stupid....of course it wasn't the least bit easy and in the end, even after things seemed to have been taken care of, there has been a final glitch that may see the chair undeliverable. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!!!!!
The order form for the store I purchased the chair from was very straightforward for someone ordering a product to be sent as a gift. There were lines to be filled out differentiating the name of the recipient from the name of the person paying. There was even a box to check off if the item was a gift or not. Since it is a gift we filled out the message to recipient form. All went well on completing the form until the credit card company fraud check form came onto the screen. Long story short, despite our giving the credit card company our new phone number every time we move, to ensure that our most recent number is always associated with that card, our credit card was turned down during the fraud check because the number they claimed is the one associated with our card is a phone number we haven't had for over eleven years!! WTH!!??? So, onto the phone to the credit card company, where we discovered we now need a phone password to even talk to an agent. Another irritating few minutes passed while we tinkered around to set that up. FINALLY we were able to contact a real person who was extremely helpful in updating the required telephone number associated with our account and was able to return our screen to the purchase order fraud check page. This time the purchase was accepted, we received an email confirmation of the purchase.
Idiots that we are, we assumed all would now be well. We continued to make that ridiculous assumption later this evening when we receieved another confirmation that our order had been filled and was being sent via Canada Post this very evening. Dumb, dumb, dumb....that's us. Talk about naive! An hour after that notice arrived we received another confirmation that the thing had actually been shipped out on its way to the destination address. The address is correct. However, the name on the shipping label is not my mother's name. It is MY name typed there abover HER address. Sigh.....
There has all ready been a glitch with Canada Post to do with Mom's change of address and now there is this package coming addressed to someone with a completely different last name. Sigh..... So tomorrow I have to phone the facility and leave a message that a delivery will be coming in my name, but it is for Mom. I will have to tell every single person who works any of the day shifts over the next 5 business days. I will have to tell Mom to post a notice inside her mail box for the postman to tell him this has happened so he actually delivers the poor innocent shower chair that has no idea it is the cause of this much hassle and upset. Again AAAAAAAAAAAARGH!!!
I am SO done with online orders...with online shopping...with online anything apart from emails and blogs. DONE DONE DONE I say!!! Screw online crap. FINIS!
There, that feels better.......I will be able to sleep soundly now after my rant. YAY!
Monday, June 22, 2020
Maw and Paw....the Actual End of the Journey
Yesterday morning we headed home. It was quite a trip. hahaha For some reason we both woke up at 2:30am after only 4 hours of sleep. Do you think we could get back to sleep? Absolutely not! We tossed and turned until about 3am, then decided maybe we needed a snack to get some more shut-eye. We never eat in the middle of the night, but we knew we were too tired to travel at that time of the morning. After sharing a peanut butter sandwich, we crawled back into bed. By 4am we knew there wasn't going to be any more sleep, so decided to stop wasting time. We packed up and were on the road at 5am.
The joy for us is that only a couple of days before we left Mom's the self quarantining demands for those crossing the AB/SK border had been lifted. It meant that yesterday we didn't have to stop in another AB city to pick up 2 weeks' worth of groceries for quaranting here at home! How grateful are we about that since we were so tired on the drive as it was, even without having to stop for an hour's worth of grocery shopping at 8am???!!!! Hallelujah! It doesn't mean we won't be sticking close to home for a couple of weeks and self-monitoring, but wow, did it ever take the stress off yesterday! If we do have a real need in the grocery department and we remain healthy, we will be able to go and purchase it ourselves before the end of the 14 days.
We had to stop and trade drivers far more often than usual, due to exhaustion, but it was still a good trip. The weather was perfect, not too hot and even a bit of cooling rain part of the way home. We did run into some difficulties in Swift Current though. I was in desperate need of a washroom and the fast food outlets, gasoline stations etc. on our side of the highway were open, but their public washrooms are still closed! Aaaaaargh! About the time I was deciding to seek out a secluded back alleyway to use, the lovely staff at Tim Horton's #3 allowed me access to the washroom. Bless you wonderful woman, bless you! Carrot cake muffin in hand, we were on our way happily once again.
Our entire trip was like that time after time: a problem, followed at the last minute by just the right solution. Over and over again we had that happen. Closed doors suddenly opened just as we needed access to previously closed business and bank branches...no sooner, just as we needed them. Broken disconnected phones for all 3 of us ended up working one way or another just as we needed them to. As it turned out I had a friend in BC who felt called to pray for us at a very specific time yesterday: the very time I was desperately seeking a washroom!!! Isn't it crazy how God works among his people??!! The hand of God on all our activities couldn't have been more obvious! It gave all 3 of us the courage to carry on in the face of what looked like gigiantic problems, to just keep trusting that things could be worked out as we went along....and they were. Thank you Jesus and thank you to all of you who have been praying for my Mom and us. As we saw the pattern of problem/solution developing we began to relax as the week went on.
We are glad to be home, regrouping for the next trip and hoping it won't have to be until Mom's facility is safely re-opened for us to visit face to face with her properly. I think we can accomplish any other paperwork that arises unexpectedly from here. In fact, some of the banks and other businesses rammed through all manner of actions that, if I lived in the same city as Mom, could have kept us waiting for a couple of more weeks to be processed. Everyone was so very kind to Mom and to us.
Now, it is time for me to go and start seeking a little table to FedEx to my mom as she has a nice little space to put it to use at mealtimes. Once we measured the space, we realized a 30 inch wide table could fit nicely between the refrigerator and a window that looks out on the leafy trees in the courtyard. The birds out there are singing constantly and Mom loves to listen to them. I also need to send her a proper shower stool. For some reason the tub surround in her new place doesn't include one and she does need one to add to the safety factor for her. The only time we had free to seek either of these items was yesterday...Saturday afternoon in the city...too many shoppers. The lineups at the entrance doors was so long that we felt it wasn't worth waiting so long only to discover the store didn't have exactly what Mom wants. Today I will get online and see what I can find for tables. I know where to go for the shower seat, so that is no problem and I likely will not have the lineups here today that we had in a larger city on the weekend.
Have had some great phone chats with Mom since we got home. She is rallying all ready after the extreme stresses of last week and plotting all manner of good things to keep herself busy in her new place. By last night the lilt was back in her voice. She understands now that we are more than willing and able to take the time to help her with any unexpected subsequent forms she may need to fill out and send over the coming weeks, so she is relaxing now. I feel so relieved about everything. We will have a funeral to honor Dad at the first opportunity.
Okay....lunch and then shopping for Mom.
The joy for us is that only a couple of days before we left Mom's the self quarantining demands for those crossing the AB/SK border had been lifted. It meant that yesterday we didn't have to stop in another AB city to pick up 2 weeks' worth of groceries for quaranting here at home! How grateful are we about that since we were so tired on the drive as it was, even without having to stop for an hour's worth of grocery shopping at 8am???!!!! Hallelujah! It doesn't mean we won't be sticking close to home for a couple of weeks and self-monitoring, but wow, did it ever take the stress off yesterday! If we do have a real need in the grocery department and we remain healthy, we will be able to go and purchase it ourselves before the end of the 14 days.
We had to stop and trade drivers far more often than usual, due to exhaustion, but it was still a good trip. The weather was perfect, not too hot and even a bit of cooling rain part of the way home. We did run into some difficulties in Swift Current though. I was in desperate need of a washroom and the fast food outlets, gasoline stations etc. on our side of the highway were open, but their public washrooms are still closed! Aaaaaargh! About the time I was deciding to seek out a secluded back alleyway to use, the lovely staff at Tim Horton's #3 allowed me access to the washroom. Bless you wonderful woman, bless you! Carrot cake muffin in hand, we were on our way happily once again.
Our entire trip was like that time after time: a problem, followed at the last minute by just the right solution. Over and over again we had that happen. Closed doors suddenly opened just as we needed access to previously closed business and bank branches...no sooner, just as we needed them. Broken disconnected phones for all 3 of us ended up working one way or another just as we needed them to. As it turned out I had a friend in BC who felt called to pray for us at a very specific time yesterday: the very time I was desperately seeking a washroom!!! Isn't it crazy how God works among his people??!! The hand of God on all our activities couldn't have been more obvious! It gave all 3 of us the courage to carry on in the face of what looked like gigiantic problems, to just keep trusting that things could be worked out as we went along....and they were. Thank you Jesus and thank you to all of you who have been praying for my Mom and us. As we saw the pattern of problem/solution developing we began to relax as the week went on.
We are glad to be home, regrouping for the next trip and hoping it won't have to be until Mom's facility is safely re-opened for us to visit face to face with her properly. I think we can accomplish any other paperwork that arises unexpectedly from here. In fact, some of the banks and other businesses rammed through all manner of actions that, if I lived in the same city as Mom, could have kept us waiting for a couple of more weeks to be processed. Everyone was so very kind to Mom and to us.
Now, it is time for me to go and start seeking a little table to FedEx to my mom as she has a nice little space to put it to use at mealtimes. Once we measured the space, we realized a 30 inch wide table could fit nicely between the refrigerator and a window that looks out on the leafy trees in the courtyard. The birds out there are singing constantly and Mom loves to listen to them. I also need to send her a proper shower stool. For some reason the tub surround in her new place doesn't include one and she does need one to add to the safety factor for her. The only time we had free to seek either of these items was yesterday...Saturday afternoon in the city...too many shoppers. The lineups at the entrance doors was so long that we felt it wasn't worth waiting so long only to discover the store didn't have exactly what Mom wants. Today I will get online and see what I can find for tables. I know where to go for the shower seat, so that is no problem and I likely will not have the lineups here today that we had in a larger city on the weekend.
Have had some great phone chats with Mom since we got home. She is rallying all ready after the extreme stresses of last week and plotting all manner of good things to keep herself busy in her new place. By last night the lilt was back in her voice. She understands now that we are more than willing and able to take the time to help her with any unexpected subsequent forms she may need to fill out and send over the coming weeks, so she is relaxing now. I feel so relieved about everything. We will have a funeral to honor Dad at the first opportunity.
Okay....lunch and then shopping for Mom.
Maw and Paw....Almost the End of the Journey!
It has been so many days since I last posted that the rest of our trip is becoming a murky jumble in my mind, but there were a few highlights worthy of note:
--On our third day with Mom we were allowed to spring her from her facility for a 90 minute cell phone call with the funeral home business director, held in our car! The purpose of the call was to go through all the forms he had delivered to my mother in a large package the day before the call. WOW! Inside the package were all the forms required to alert the government pension agencies, Revenue Canada, provincial securities etc. etc. etc. This wonderful man had filled out every single detail required on these important papers and all Mom had to do was sign them. He explained every form, every page of every form, how many copies of the death certificate and copies of the will had to accompany every form. There were copies of each form for mom to keep. There were addressed, stamped envelopes for each place these forms had to go. As we went through each form and collected mom's signature, plus whatever else she had to include with them, the fellow had us put them together into the appropriate envelopes and seal them shut for mailing. Poor Mom, with her terrible deafness, couldn't understand a single word of what the man was saying because of the scratchy sound and the bit of feedback, but my husband and I could hear everything just fine....although at one point our cell disconnected from the system and it was a mad scramble to get it going again. Fortunately the dear man on the other end of the call was still explaining the purpose of one of the forms and didn't even realize we had disappeared for a minute....WHEW! MORE FUN WITH PHONES! (and there is even more of that to come...keep reading....teehee) By having a pre-paid funeral plan that included this particular service, my father saved us two weeks of complicated paper work. The funeral home checklist of things to do after someone dies was eye opening and certainly kept us on track as far as who to contact and what information they would require from Mom. Trying to sit for that long in our vehicle, helping Mom balance signature lines on the back of a picture frame so she had something solid to write on, twisting the seats around so we could be together but still somewhat distanced....it could have been a complete nightmare, but it wasn't. Thank you Lord! My husband and I are now considering the possibility of having pre-paid funeral plans once we decide if God is calling us to remain in our present city of residence for longer than another year...when I see how much work it would save our son when we die....yes, definitely a huge consideration. Our son is an artist.......responsible yes, but still an artist....
--Trips to the post office and Alberta Motor Association just "felt" like they were being set up for us ahead of time by God. We were able to get mom to both places sufficiently early in the morning of the day after the big cell phone call, that there were no lineups to get into either place. We just waltzed right in the doors, waited behind about three people in each place, accomplished our business forthwith and left again. As we left both the post office and the AMA, long lineups had formed while we were doing our own business and had we arrived even ten minutes later than we did, it would have been impossible for Mom to stand in line for as long as it would have taken for that number of people ahead of us to be processed. God surely protected my mother for those appointments for some reason.
--On the fifth day we began the horrendous trial of moving Mom out of the suite she shared with Dad and into her teensy weensy bachelor suite. The transfering of the furniture and personal items was not that big a deal with the dollyand the elevator. A connecting stairwell between the suites allowed us to continue to move things even during the times when we were not allowed to use the elevator or cross the main foyer due to the presence of so many vulnerable seniors in the dining room for meals or distanced group activities. What WAS a HUGE deal is that we had no idea beforehand of just how much useless "stuff" Mom and Dad had squirrled away in their 450 square foot couples suite!!! How did they get it all in there????? The short version is that by the time we were done we had taken 10 huge leaf collection bags, along with assorted lamps and electronics, dishes etc. to the thrift store and hauled out 8 same sized bags of "garbage". INCREDIBLE! There were two wonderful things that happened: the way Mom's little suite is configured, she was able to take absolutely every piece of furniture she wanted to take and then some! She is thrilled with the new arrangement, the 3 huge windows that let in light, the trees and birds outside her windows....she instantly made the place her home. The night we left the building for the last time, she was happily organizing her file cabinet, thanking us for hanging the pictures exactly where she wanted them and making a list of maintenance repairs to hand in to the property maintenance man this morning. She was a frazzled mess by the time the move was over, but a long night of good sleep saw her bouncing back mentally by the very next morning! It didn't help her that in the middle of the final day of moving, she and I had to go to the major bank appointment of the week, but wow, it went smoothly. We were assigned a woman who has a lot of experience with estate bank business and she knew her job! It was another long appointment, but it went so well. At least it was in person and not over the phone this time.
--My husband and I managed to haul all of Mom's and Dad's old ornate bedroom furniture and mattresses outside the main entrance of her facility, along with other assorted lamps and couches and chairs right before the moving company arrived to collect them for donation purposes. It was backbreaking work, but we muddled through and by the next morning all our aches and pains had disappeared. The moving company men actually arrived right on time and wow, they are a smooth pair of professional movers. They reminded us of what we used to be capable of, hahaha.
--Toward the end of our last day in the facility, as we were cursing our old age and aching joints, we realized that Mom's phone had not been hooked up like it was supposed to have been. We knew the tv wasn't going to be hooked up until today, but we couldn't leave my mom with no telephone! Then we discovered the entire facility has been wired for this particular communications provider, so my husband figured there must be a modem to connect the phone left in Mom's now former suite. Sure enough, there it was. So he brought it down to her new suite and figured out how to connect her phone to it. The communications company had indeed transferred the line to her new suite, but hadn't realized she didn't know how to hook it up from her end. All fixed up now. We have now had delightful conversations with her on her new line.
--I picked up Dad's ashes mid way through the second day of moving. I thought I might dissolve into tears or something when the urn was handed to me, but that didn't happen. I took the urn out to the car, gave it a huge hug, said goodbye to Dad, thanked him for all he had done for me and felt the most overwhelming sense of peace descend upon me. It was time for Dad to go. He had lived his best life and there was nothing left for him on this earth. I am grateful I had the opportunity to be the one who received the ashes. It gave me a few minutes alone with Dad's remains and have my own little conversation with him. It was a good few minutes.
--The Salvation Army began receiving donations again, after months of closure, the day before we needed to rid Mom of all the excess "stuff" she wasn't going to move into her new place. Talk about timing, right?
--We said goodbye to Mom after spending some time in prayer and giving lots of hugs in her new suite the night after the move. Up until that point we had only broken the distancing rules once and there was no way we were leaving a broken hearted 92 year old woman without giving as much comfort as we could!
--The next morning, our last in the city, we did Mom's grocery shopping for her and ran more errands there had been no time to do during the weekdays. It was hard for her not to be allowed to open the facility door long enough to say goodbye again, but the staff member was right there to receive and spray down the bags of items and we could wave at Mom and blow her kisses through the door.
--That same night, the night before leaving to come home, we arranged a restaurant meal in the dining room of our hotel. Our first ever Anglican priest and his wife were in the city visiting HER elderly mother through a pre-arranged distance visit, so they joined us and we had the most wonderful time together over food and wine and shared memories. It was a special blessing for us.
--On our third day with Mom we were allowed to spring her from her facility for a 90 minute cell phone call with the funeral home business director, held in our car! The purpose of the call was to go through all the forms he had delivered to my mother in a large package the day before the call. WOW! Inside the package were all the forms required to alert the government pension agencies, Revenue Canada, provincial securities etc. etc. etc. This wonderful man had filled out every single detail required on these important papers and all Mom had to do was sign them. He explained every form, every page of every form, how many copies of the death certificate and copies of the will had to accompany every form. There were copies of each form for mom to keep. There were addressed, stamped envelopes for each place these forms had to go. As we went through each form and collected mom's signature, plus whatever else she had to include with them, the fellow had us put them together into the appropriate envelopes and seal them shut for mailing. Poor Mom, with her terrible deafness, couldn't understand a single word of what the man was saying because of the scratchy sound and the bit of feedback, but my husband and I could hear everything just fine....although at one point our cell disconnected from the system and it was a mad scramble to get it going again. Fortunately the dear man on the other end of the call was still explaining the purpose of one of the forms and didn't even realize we had disappeared for a minute....WHEW! MORE FUN WITH PHONES! (and there is even more of that to come...keep reading....teehee) By having a pre-paid funeral plan that included this particular service, my father saved us two weeks of complicated paper work. The funeral home checklist of things to do after someone dies was eye opening and certainly kept us on track as far as who to contact and what information they would require from Mom. Trying to sit for that long in our vehicle, helping Mom balance signature lines on the back of a picture frame so she had something solid to write on, twisting the seats around so we could be together but still somewhat distanced....it could have been a complete nightmare, but it wasn't. Thank you Lord! My husband and I are now considering the possibility of having pre-paid funeral plans once we decide if God is calling us to remain in our present city of residence for longer than another year...when I see how much work it would save our son when we die....yes, definitely a huge consideration. Our son is an artist.......responsible yes, but still an artist....
--Trips to the post office and Alberta Motor Association just "felt" like they were being set up for us ahead of time by God. We were able to get mom to both places sufficiently early in the morning of the day after the big cell phone call, that there were no lineups to get into either place. We just waltzed right in the doors, waited behind about three people in each place, accomplished our business forthwith and left again. As we left both the post office and the AMA, long lineups had formed while we were doing our own business and had we arrived even ten minutes later than we did, it would have been impossible for Mom to stand in line for as long as it would have taken for that number of people ahead of us to be processed. God surely protected my mother for those appointments for some reason.
--On the fifth day we began the horrendous trial of moving Mom out of the suite she shared with Dad and into her teensy weensy bachelor suite. The transfering of the furniture and personal items was not that big a deal with the dollyand the elevator. A connecting stairwell between the suites allowed us to continue to move things even during the times when we were not allowed to use the elevator or cross the main foyer due to the presence of so many vulnerable seniors in the dining room for meals or distanced group activities. What WAS a HUGE deal is that we had no idea beforehand of just how much useless "stuff" Mom and Dad had squirrled away in their 450 square foot couples suite!!! How did they get it all in there????? The short version is that by the time we were done we had taken 10 huge leaf collection bags, along with assorted lamps and electronics, dishes etc. to the thrift store and hauled out 8 same sized bags of "garbage". INCREDIBLE! There were two wonderful things that happened: the way Mom's little suite is configured, she was able to take absolutely every piece of furniture she wanted to take and then some! She is thrilled with the new arrangement, the 3 huge windows that let in light, the trees and birds outside her windows....she instantly made the place her home. The night we left the building for the last time, she was happily organizing her file cabinet, thanking us for hanging the pictures exactly where she wanted them and making a list of maintenance repairs to hand in to the property maintenance man this morning. She was a frazzled mess by the time the move was over, but a long night of good sleep saw her bouncing back mentally by the very next morning! It didn't help her that in the middle of the final day of moving, she and I had to go to the major bank appointment of the week, but wow, it went smoothly. We were assigned a woman who has a lot of experience with estate bank business and she knew her job! It was another long appointment, but it went so well. At least it was in person and not over the phone this time.
--My husband and I managed to haul all of Mom's and Dad's old ornate bedroom furniture and mattresses outside the main entrance of her facility, along with other assorted lamps and couches and chairs right before the moving company arrived to collect them for donation purposes. It was backbreaking work, but we muddled through and by the next morning all our aches and pains had disappeared. The moving company men actually arrived right on time and wow, they are a smooth pair of professional movers. They reminded us of what we used to be capable of, hahaha.
--Toward the end of our last day in the facility, as we were cursing our old age and aching joints, we realized that Mom's phone had not been hooked up like it was supposed to have been. We knew the tv wasn't going to be hooked up until today, but we couldn't leave my mom with no telephone! Then we discovered the entire facility has been wired for this particular communications provider, so my husband figured there must be a modem to connect the phone left in Mom's now former suite. Sure enough, there it was. So he brought it down to her new suite and figured out how to connect her phone to it. The communications company had indeed transferred the line to her new suite, but hadn't realized she didn't know how to hook it up from her end. All fixed up now. We have now had delightful conversations with her on her new line.
--I picked up Dad's ashes mid way through the second day of moving. I thought I might dissolve into tears or something when the urn was handed to me, but that didn't happen. I took the urn out to the car, gave it a huge hug, said goodbye to Dad, thanked him for all he had done for me and felt the most overwhelming sense of peace descend upon me. It was time for Dad to go. He had lived his best life and there was nothing left for him on this earth. I am grateful I had the opportunity to be the one who received the ashes. It gave me a few minutes alone with Dad's remains and have my own little conversation with him. It was a good few minutes.
--The Salvation Army began receiving donations again, after months of closure, the day before we needed to rid Mom of all the excess "stuff" she wasn't going to move into her new place. Talk about timing, right?
--We said goodbye to Mom after spending some time in prayer and giving lots of hugs in her new suite the night after the move. Up until that point we had only broken the distancing rules once and there was no way we were leaving a broken hearted 92 year old woman without giving as much comfort as we could!
--The next morning, our last in the city, we did Mom's grocery shopping for her and ran more errands there had been no time to do during the weekdays. It was hard for her not to be allowed to open the facility door long enough to say goodbye again, but the staff member was right there to receive and spray down the bags of items and we could wave at Mom and blow her kisses through the door.
--That same night, the night before leaving to come home, we arranged a restaurant meal in the dining room of our hotel. Our first ever Anglican priest and his wife were in the city visiting HER elderly mother through a pre-arranged distance visit, so they joined us and we had the most wonderful time together over food and wine and shared memories. It was a special blessing for us.
Wednesday, June 17, 2020
Maw and Paw Part 2
We started our day at a mattress store ordering a new mattress and bedding for the bed my mom will be using. Fortunately we were the first customers because there was only one fellow working and by the time he had completed our transaction, a stressful time for the clerk due to his computer freezing up...twice... there were four more customers in the store, none of them looking any too patient about having to wait for his attention.
I finally got to see my mother that day, after lunch. We drove her to the lawyer’s office. Once we arrived there we were finally able to step away from prying eyes long enough to give her a big hug. That has been our only point of physical contact as we try to obey all the distancing protocols. Surely with the death of my father we can be allowed to give my mother one loving, comforting hug. There are a few occasions where protocols can be briefly broken for the sake of a family’s collective mental health. Plus, we wore our masks and did not touch hands or faces.
At some point prior to picking mom up her home phone line was disconnected for reasons no one can figure out. Again with the phones.... Thankfully she was waiting for us when we arrived to collect her. She had not realized her phone had been disconnected, so of course had a fit when we told her. We also made a brief stop at dad’s former long term care residence to collect his things from between the double set of front doors. More safety protocols. We were delighted that everything we told the care facility mom wanted to keep was there in the collection.
We next drove to a stop under a shady tree on a nearby residential street to start a series of the most frustrating phone calls ever to mom’s service provider to try to have her phone service restored. After over twenty minutes of dialing, listening to recordings, punching numbers, getting cut off and starting the process over and over and over again, we gave up in despair. In desperation I made one more call to mom’s phone, just in case of a near miracle and that is what we got! Her phone line was back in service. Thank you Jesus. What a relief. There have been no more glitches....at least not with the phones, hahaha!
We returned mom to her facility, then we collapsed back at the hotel. We had a leisurely dinner in our room. My husband brought along our toaster oven from home, so we put together some pita pizzas from the groceries we actually remembered to bring with us from home.
We have been negotiating daily with housekeeping in the hotel to pick up our garbage and get our fresh linens and toiletries delivered to us out in the hallway, so there is less exposure to the virus for them and for us. Once mom is moved and we don’t need to enter her facility again we will be able to relax our vigilance just a bit. Thus far we have not gone into any restaurants or anywhere else that is not a necessity, to help keep the people in mom’s facility safe when we have to go in to move her.
LOTS of fun in Part 3 coming up, hahaha.
I finally got to see my mother that day, after lunch. We drove her to the lawyer’s office. Once we arrived there we were finally able to step away from prying eyes long enough to give her a big hug. That has been our only point of physical contact as we try to obey all the distancing protocols. Surely with the death of my father we can be allowed to give my mother one loving, comforting hug. There are a few occasions where protocols can be briefly broken for the sake of a family’s collective mental health. Plus, we wore our masks and did not touch hands or faces.
At some point prior to picking mom up her home phone line was disconnected for reasons no one can figure out. Again with the phones.... Thankfully she was waiting for us when we arrived to collect her. She had not realized her phone had been disconnected, so of course had a fit when we told her. We also made a brief stop at dad’s former long term care residence to collect his things from between the double set of front doors. More safety protocols. We were delighted that everything we told the care facility mom wanted to keep was there in the collection.
We next drove to a stop under a shady tree on a nearby residential street to start a series of the most frustrating phone calls ever to mom’s service provider to try to have her phone service restored. After over twenty minutes of dialing, listening to recordings, punching numbers, getting cut off and starting the process over and over and over again, we gave up in despair. In desperation I made one more call to mom’s phone, just in case of a near miracle and that is what we got! Her phone line was back in service. Thank you Jesus. What a relief. There have been no more glitches....at least not with the phones, hahaha!
We returned mom to her facility, then we collapsed back at the hotel. We had a leisurely dinner in our room. My husband brought along our toaster oven from home, so we put together some pita pizzas from the groceries we actually remembered to bring with us from home.
We have been negotiating daily with housekeeping in the hotel to pick up our garbage and get our fresh linens and toiletries delivered to us out in the hallway, so there is less exposure to the virus for them and for us. Once mom is moved and we don’t need to enter her facility again we will be able to relax our vigilance just a bit. Thus far we have not gone into any restaurants or anywhere else that is not a necessity, to help keep the people in mom’s facility safe when we have to go in to move her.
LOTS of fun in Part 3 coming up, hahaha.
Tuesday, June 16, 2020
Maw and Paw Go To The City...Aiiii Yiiii......Part One
It is the craziest time ever, losing a parent and dealing with all the legal aftermath. If you have had a parent die, you know what I am talking about.
Our road trip to my mother’s did not get off to the best start. Exhaustion? Distraction? Who knows?
The short version is that just over two hours into our journey my husband discovered he left his wallet at home in our very own coat closet. Sigh...the poor man was, understandably, very upset, angry with himself, embarrassed and apologetic. Well, I take some of the blame because I ALWAYS check to make sure he has his wallet before we go anywhere farther away from our own back yard.
There was no way I was going to add four hours of driving into an all ready long drive, so I reminded him that if I did all the driving, he would be able to manage without his license. I carry all the payment methods for purchases with me anyway, and if he was to become ill without having his health card, well, he just got payment for a couple of Diocesan jobs, so we would be able to pay for a doctor’s or hospital appointment. On we drove to our final destination. To avoid mingling with people in newly reopened restaurants, we got to eat takeout burgers for lunch from Wendy’s. Although my fave burger there is obviously smaller than it used to be, it tasted exactly the same. I have not had a Wendy’s burger in many years and thoroughly enjoyed it....something different for a change. Yay! My husband had a somewhat different opinion of his meal. Dropping his french fries on the floor of the car may have contributed to that opinion. Oh well.
Another three hours down the road and my cell phone stopped working. Whaaaaaa. WHY? WHY? WHY? ALL the contact people for the legalities needing to be dealt with for mom had been given that number!!! Now the phone was useless. Aaaaaaargh! My husband tried desperately to pry the phone apart, thinking if he removed the battery and then put it back in it might reset itself. Do you think he could get the phone apart, even though he has done it several times before? Nope....sigh... As soon as we arrived at the hotel he searched online for a phone repair venue and found one only a few blocks away. We raced over. The business no longer exists....sigh.... However, by the next morning it had reset itself somehow and has worked well ever since. Yup, I guess we needed more stress.
It was beyond weird to arrive in this city and not be allowed to go immediately to console my grieving mother, due to the COVID19 restrictions at her facility. It just felt wrong!!!!
We opened our food boxes to find dinner making ingredients and discovered I left all my diabetic food at home. Oh for the love of Mike.....
All the stress put us to bed early. No, I didn’t sleep much.
To be continued......
Our road trip to my mother’s did not get off to the best start. Exhaustion? Distraction? Who knows?
The short version is that just over two hours into our journey my husband discovered he left his wallet at home in our very own coat closet. Sigh...the poor man was, understandably, very upset, angry with himself, embarrassed and apologetic. Well, I take some of the blame because I ALWAYS check to make sure he has his wallet before we go anywhere farther away from our own back yard.
There was no way I was going to add four hours of driving into an all ready long drive, so I reminded him that if I did all the driving, he would be able to manage without his license. I carry all the payment methods for purchases with me anyway, and if he was to become ill without having his health card, well, he just got payment for a couple of Diocesan jobs, so we would be able to pay for a doctor’s or hospital appointment. On we drove to our final destination. To avoid mingling with people in newly reopened restaurants, we got to eat takeout burgers for lunch from Wendy’s. Although my fave burger there is obviously smaller than it used to be, it tasted exactly the same. I have not had a Wendy’s burger in many years and thoroughly enjoyed it....something different for a change. Yay! My husband had a somewhat different opinion of his meal. Dropping his french fries on the floor of the car may have contributed to that opinion. Oh well.
Another three hours down the road and my cell phone stopped working. Whaaaaaa. WHY? WHY? WHY? ALL the contact people for the legalities needing to be dealt with for mom had been given that number!!! Now the phone was useless. Aaaaaaargh! My husband tried desperately to pry the phone apart, thinking if he removed the battery and then put it back in it might reset itself. Do you think he could get the phone apart, even though he has done it several times before? Nope....sigh... As soon as we arrived at the hotel he searched online for a phone repair venue and found one only a few blocks away. We raced over. The business no longer exists....sigh.... However, by the next morning it had reset itself somehow and has worked well ever since. Yup, I guess we needed more stress.
It was beyond weird to arrive in this city and not be allowed to go immediately to console my grieving mother, due to the COVID19 restrictions at her facility. It just felt wrong!!!!
We opened our food boxes to find dinner making ingredients and discovered I left all my diabetic food at home. Oh for the love of Mike.....
All the stress put us to bed early. No, I didn’t sleep much.
To be continued......
Friday, June 12, 2020
The Longest Four Days Of My Life Thus Far
It is Friday. I cannot believe it was only on Tuesday morning that my father died. The last 4 days have passed in a whirlwind of helping my mother cope with grieving alone while having to make appointments with funeral homes, lawyers, banks etc. We have made quite a few of the appointments for her and are so grateful for telephones and computers that make long distance arrangements like that possible, so that Mom hasn't had to do everything herself at the age of 92!
We are soon leaving to go and assist her in whatever ways we can during the continuing lockdown of her facility. Since trips to take care of the legalities of a deceased spouse are considered "essential services", Mom will be allowed to come out with us in our car for a few days to go to one or two appointments per day. After the appointments she must be immediately returned to her facility to report in, guarantee she only went where she said she was going, have her temperature checked, etc. To not be able to properly care for and comfort my own mother is even more difficult than losing Dad. She is suffering, forced to take charge of all manner of details that would daunt a younger, less emotional woman, and her own daughter is not allowed to so much as give her a hug when we do get together. ( well, we shall see about that.....there are some things more important in the moment than social distancing)
Our final two days there will be spent moving Mom into the bachelor suite she was supposed to move into on April 1, less than a week after the decision was made to lock down the facility to prevent the spread of Corona Virus. So now, the facility WILL open up to two people at a time who want to rent a suite in the building (!!), not to us the grieving family, but to the wallets of possible renters....yup, no surprise.... and we will be allowed in for a 4 hour period, 2 days in a row, to get mom's things moved into her new suite and get her settled. My husband has our moving dolly ready to go, we have some small boxes broken down to put her few dishes into to transport from one suite to the other and some bags for her clothes. Mom has accomplished a tremendous amount of "tossing out" all on her own, but most of it will have to happen during the move. Then we will be on our way home again. Sigh..... As soon as that lock down is completely lifted, whenever that may be, I will be heading back to see her and spend the kind of time grieving together that we and so many other families around the world are being deprived of because of the pandemic. It is a wild and crazy and confusing and painful time.
I have not had time to process any sort of grief reaction of my own to losing Dad. So far my relief and gratitude that he is no longer in pain, blind, unable to stand, forced to eat pureed food to avoid choking and, worst of all, afraid every day of his life since moving to long term care 6 months ago. I will process better once we return from helping Mom and getting her settled in her new digs. Right now there is no time to worry about how I "feel". I may set up an appointment with a counsellor when I get home again...after my enforced 14 days of quarantine after travelling out of province....and start sifting through the memories. I want to be one of those people who, while not denying reality, can focus on the good memories. There are many of them and I want to keep them foremost in my mind.
I don't know what it means when the Bible says, "To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord", because if our spirits immediately go to heaven, why would there be a need for scriptures that talk about Chris's return, scriptures like, "The dead in Christ shall rise first" and once the world as we know it ends, "After that the judgement."? These are rhetorical questions that I do not believe anyone knows the answers to for certain, so please don't try to engage me in a theological discussion regarding the interpretation of the scriptures in regard to the "end times". Thanks. I don't know for sure and you don't either. The thing I do believe is that we are indeed "present with the Lord", I just don't know what that looks like.
So....onward and upward. My father began falling all apart about 5 days prior to his death. He woke up one morning so dizzy he couldn't leave his bed. By the following day he had to be poled into his wheelchair and by that night he was choking even on fluids. On the third day he began hallucinating in the late afternoon. Fortunately he had talked with my mother on the phone only a few minutes before the hallucinations hit. They continued all day the following day and at about 3am on day 5, the staff found him deceased. He had been tested for COVID-19 as soon as the doctor realized there was an issue and yesterday the results came back negative. It appears to have been cardiac arrest...no surprise since he had his first massive heart attack at the age of 42. His first attack was what is known as a "widow maker" and yet, unbelievably, he lived another 51 years, surviving at two more heart attacks. He had incredible stamina and resilience despite a lifetime of one serious illness and chronic condition after another that tried to destroy his body. He had almost every childhood illness possible in the 1920's and 30's. I think diptheria is the only one that missed him. In his early 20's he had rheumatic fever that damaged his heart badly and is likely what led to his subsequent heart attacks. He had severe respiratory allergies, early onset dental disease, osteoporosis, a blood disease, mild arthritis, skin cancer and I noticed over the past year he was developing hearing loss, although he would never admit to it, hahaha. If there was a way to cut himself, fall down and injure himself, break or sprain legs and wrists, oh my goodness, you name it and it likely happened to dad. As a child he fell out of the backseat of a moving car! He suffered for the past several years with debilitating back pain from the osteoporosis, horrible vertigo at times....oh how that man suffered. I felt terrible for him, but he insisted on bravely carrying on, revealing the depth of his daily suffering only to a small handful of family and friends.
How do I feel about Dad dying? I really don't know. What I do know for certain is that I would never wish him back in the condition he was in, especially over the past 6 years.
I am grateful that after 6 months of daily calling on God to take him home, Dad got his wish. Thank you Lord.
We are soon leaving to go and assist her in whatever ways we can during the continuing lockdown of her facility. Since trips to take care of the legalities of a deceased spouse are considered "essential services", Mom will be allowed to come out with us in our car for a few days to go to one or two appointments per day. After the appointments she must be immediately returned to her facility to report in, guarantee she only went where she said she was going, have her temperature checked, etc. To not be able to properly care for and comfort my own mother is even more difficult than losing Dad. She is suffering, forced to take charge of all manner of details that would daunt a younger, less emotional woman, and her own daughter is not allowed to so much as give her a hug when we do get together. ( well, we shall see about that.....there are some things more important in the moment than social distancing)
Our final two days there will be spent moving Mom into the bachelor suite she was supposed to move into on April 1, less than a week after the decision was made to lock down the facility to prevent the spread of Corona Virus. So now, the facility WILL open up to two people at a time who want to rent a suite in the building (!!), not to us the grieving family, but to the wallets of possible renters....yup, no surprise.... and we will be allowed in for a 4 hour period, 2 days in a row, to get mom's things moved into her new suite and get her settled. My husband has our moving dolly ready to go, we have some small boxes broken down to put her few dishes into to transport from one suite to the other and some bags for her clothes. Mom has accomplished a tremendous amount of "tossing out" all on her own, but most of it will have to happen during the move. Then we will be on our way home again. Sigh..... As soon as that lock down is completely lifted, whenever that may be, I will be heading back to see her and spend the kind of time grieving together that we and so many other families around the world are being deprived of because of the pandemic. It is a wild and crazy and confusing and painful time.
I have not had time to process any sort of grief reaction of my own to losing Dad. So far my relief and gratitude that he is no longer in pain, blind, unable to stand, forced to eat pureed food to avoid choking and, worst of all, afraid every day of his life since moving to long term care 6 months ago. I will process better once we return from helping Mom and getting her settled in her new digs. Right now there is no time to worry about how I "feel". I may set up an appointment with a counsellor when I get home again...after my enforced 14 days of quarantine after travelling out of province....and start sifting through the memories. I want to be one of those people who, while not denying reality, can focus on the good memories. There are many of them and I want to keep them foremost in my mind.
I don't know what it means when the Bible says, "To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord", because if our spirits immediately go to heaven, why would there be a need for scriptures that talk about Chris's return, scriptures like, "The dead in Christ shall rise first" and once the world as we know it ends, "After that the judgement."? These are rhetorical questions that I do not believe anyone knows the answers to for certain, so please don't try to engage me in a theological discussion regarding the interpretation of the scriptures in regard to the "end times". Thanks. I don't know for sure and you don't either. The thing I do believe is that we are indeed "present with the Lord", I just don't know what that looks like.
So....onward and upward. My father began falling all apart about 5 days prior to his death. He woke up one morning so dizzy he couldn't leave his bed. By the following day he had to be poled into his wheelchair and by that night he was choking even on fluids. On the third day he began hallucinating in the late afternoon. Fortunately he had talked with my mother on the phone only a few minutes before the hallucinations hit. They continued all day the following day and at about 3am on day 5, the staff found him deceased. He had been tested for COVID-19 as soon as the doctor realized there was an issue and yesterday the results came back negative. It appears to have been cardiac arrest...no surprise since he had his first massive heart attack at the age of 42. His first attack was what is known as a "widow maker" and yet, unbelievably, he lived another 51 years, surviving at two more heart attacks. He had incredible stamina and resilience despite a lifetime of one serious illness and chronic condition after another that tried to destroy his body. He had almost every childhood illness possible in the 1920's and 30's. I think diptheria is the only one that missed him. In his early 20's he had rheumatic fever that damaged his heart badly and is likely what led to his subsequent heart attacks. He had severe respiratory allergies, early onset dental disease, osteoporosis, a blood disease, mild arthritis, skin cancer and I noticed over the past year he was developing hearing loss, although he would never admit to it, hahaha. If there was a way to cut himself, fall down and injure himself, break or sprain legs and wrists, oh my goodness, you name it and it likely happened to dad. As a child he fell out of the backseat of a moving car! He suffered for the past several years with debilitating back pain from the osteoporosis, horrible vertigo at times....oh how that man suffered. I felt terrible for him, but he insisted on bravely carrying on, revealing the depth of his daily suffering only to a small handful of family and friends.
How do I feel about Dad dying? I really don't know. What I do know for certain is that I would never wish him back in the condition he was in, especially over the past 6 years.
I am grateful that after 6 months of daily calling on God to take him home, Dad got his wish. Thank you Lord.
Tuesday, June 9, 2020
My Dad Got His Wish
My Father died in the wee hours this morning. I am happy for him. He has been suffering greatly and has been ready to go for over a year. I would not wish him back.
My mom will need prayer as she sorts out details and we need prayer about getting to Alberta, getting her moved, as someone wants to rent her suite. We will be able to go in to do that, take Mom to the lawyer etc., as soon as we hear from her facility as to when we can do it. Our coming is deemed an essential service because it is the death of a family member, so we are glad of that.
What a strange time we are living in....even death has been complicated by the pandemic....I feel like I am in outer space right now.
I apologize for not contacting each of you individually to let you know, there is too much going on.
Bless you all.
My mom will need prayer as she sorts out details and we need prayer about getting to Alberta, getting her moved, as someone wants to rent her suite. We will be able to go in to do that, take Mom to the lawyer etc., as soon as we hear from her facility as to when we can do it. Our coming is deemed an essential service because it is the death of a family member, so we are glad of that.
What a strange time we are living in....even death has been complicated by the pandemic....I feel like I am in outer space right now.
I apologize for not contacting each of you individually to let you know, there is too much going on.
Bless you all.
Monday, June 8, 2020
What Did You Get For YOUR Birthday? I Got Conjunctivitis!
That didn't happen until late in the evening and I know the source: for some reason when I threw away my eye make up after the last bout of "pink eye", I missed throwing away the eyeliner stick I was using the week it broke out. I haven't worn make up more than twice since and didn't use that stick, but yesterday morning, without thinking I used it. Sigh....it is now residing in the garbage along with the mascara wand I purchased after the first round of this miserable disease. Thanking God intensely for distancing because the company who visited with us in the back yard yesterday will be completely safe. (I know this because I contacted the clinic this morning to ask.) I am so grateful that I have enough medication left to treat this outbreak without having to try to get an emergency doctor's appointment on a busy Monday morning! Thank you Lord!! My eyes are all ready much better this morning.
What a lovely day I had yesterday. I slept in. Heaven! My husband and I got some chores done in the morning and then in the afternoon some good friends came for a distance visit in the back yard. That was wonderful....actual people, visiting face to face. Our back yard area is huge so distancing appropriately was no issue whatsoever. My friends brought me a beautiful flowering plant....little purple and white blossoms, and I must find out the name of the plant. The tiny flowers grow out of a spiked top, are shaped a bit like ruffled pansies and the leaves look like lily leaves. So pretty! Their son sent along a lovely pencil sketch of a hot air balloon and into the balloon pattern he shaded the figure of a person and a couple of other sort of "hidden" shapes. I like it a lot. I heard from all of our extended family yesterday, so that was precious indeed and there other phone calls from friends far away. What a special day for me. We also got word that friends from Alberta have to pass through here in a few days and are going to stop for a bit of a visit. The weather is supposed to be nice that day, so I am certainly hoping that remains the case. They will have been a lot of places, so coming inside is likely not the best option.
In the evening my husband and I finished up the remaining Indian food for dinner and had a movie night. We found an older episode of Vera on Vision TV and certainly enjoyed it. Sometimes the Scottish brogue a couple of the actors have is so difficult to understand that we have to rewind their dialogue, turn up the tv volume and try a second time to get all the words. hahaha A combination of lack of contact with the accent and our elderly ears not being able to pick up the nuances of the tones any more...problematic.
Today is busy too. I am doing a load of laundry, washing every towel and facecloth I touched yesterday, as well as my bed linens. I have set up separate hand towels for my husband and myself in the kitchen and bathroom, binned the garbage bag my eye make up is now in and made a list of what replacement products I will need once this stupid infection is gone again, called the pharmacy to get a refill on my cholesterol meds, phoned Dad's facility to have someone check the ringtone volume on his phone, arranged with Mom to buy Dad new pants and send them directly from here to his facility, as Mom cannot get out of her building to get things to him. Since the lockdown, Dad's facility has had to do his laundry and of course all his wool pants are now about a size 2 from shrinkage. Sigh....the lockdown of both their facilities happened so quickly, there was no time for Mom to go and rescue Dad's trousers and now she won't be able to go shopping to buy him more, or deliver them to him even if she could. At least there is SOMETHING I can do for him from this distance!
I need to set some time aside today to watch the FAR TOO MANY animal shows I recorded on the weekend. There are just so many interesting ones I can't keep ahead of them. Animal Planet is on a one month free trial right now so I am recording shows from there like crazy. I am not going to purchase it as I have enough such channels all ready, but there are some good shows on it that I will enjoy for the next few weeks. It's a happy day.
What a lovely day I had yesterday. I slept in. Heaven! My husband and I got some chores done in the morning and then in the afternoon some good friends came for a distance visit in the back yard. That was wonderful....actual people, visiting face to face. Our back yard area is huge so distancing appropriately was no issue whatsoever. My friends brought me a beautiful flowering plant....little purple and white blossoms, and I must find out the name of the plant. The tiny flowers grow out of a spiked top, are shaped a bit like ruffled pansies and the leaves look like lily leaves. So pretty! Their son sent along a lovely pencil sketch of a hot air balloon and into the balloon pattern he shaded the figure of a person and a couple of other sort of "hidden" shapes. I like it a lot. I heard from all of our extended family yesterday, so that was precious indeed and there other phone calls from friends far away. What a special day for me. We also got word that friends from Alberta have to pass through here in a few days and are going to stop for a bit of a visit. The weather is supposed to be nice that day, so I am certainly hoping that remains the case. They will have been a lot of places, so coming inside is likely not the best option.
In the evening my husband and I finished up the remaining Indian food for dinner and had a movie night. We found an older episode of Vera on Vision TV and certainly enjoyed it. Sometimes the Scottish brogue a couple of the actors have is so difficult to understand that we have to rewind their dialogue, turn up the tv volume and try a second time to get all the words. hahaha A combination of lack of contact with the accent and our elderly ears not being able to pick up the nuances of the tones any more...problematic.
Today is busy too. I am doing a load of laundry, washing every towel and facecloth I touched yesterday, as well as my bed linens. I have set up separate hand towels for my husband and myself in the kitchen and bathroom, binned the garbage bag my eye make up is now in and made a list of what replacement products I will need once this stupid infection is gone again, called the pharmacy to get a refill on my cholesterol meds, phoned Dad's facility to have someone check the ringtone volume on his phone, arranged with Mom to buy Dad new pants and send them directly from here to his facility, as Mom cannot get out of her building to get things to him. Since the lockdown, Dad's facility has had to do his laundry and of course all his wool pants are now about a size 2 from shrinkage. Sigh....the lockdown of both their facilities happened so quickly, there was no time for Mom to go and rescue Dad's trousers and now she won't be able to go shopping to buy him more, or deliver them to him even if she could. At least there is SOMETHING I can do for him from this distance!
I need to set some time aside today to watch the FAR TOO MANY animal shows I recorded on the weekend. There are just so many interesting ones I can't keep ahead of them. Animal Planet is on a one month free trial right now so I am recording shows from there like crazy. I am not going to purchase it as I have enough such channels all ready, but there are some good shows on it that I will enjoy for the next few weeks. It's a happy day.
Saturday, June 6, 2020
Party Time For The Oldsters!
What a lovely evening we have had! My husband and I ordered up an extravagant feast tonight from DarBar. Delish!!! There is LOTS left for tomorrow, despite sharing the meal unexpectedly with a friend.
Just about the time we were going to order our meal we received word from a friend that his wife had been rushed to hospital with a hip issue and will be there for several days. He sounded somewhat stressed and mentally dishevelled, so we put our order on hold and I prepared a casserole to take to him. I know he isn't much of a cook!
When the casserole was ready for delivery, we placed our online restaurant order and drove the casserole over to our friend's house before going to the restaurant to pick up our dinner. He seemed quite delighted to receive it. He asked us if we could please stay for a cup of coffee, but we told him we had to go and pick up our dinner order. He sounded so excited about the idea of Indian food that we immediately offered to bring the order over and share it with him. That certainly seemed to cheer him up. We are so glad we shared the meal together. We talked and laughed and had a wonderful time. After being isolated for so much of the past 3 months, it was like a party just because there were three of us instead of just my husband and I! hahaha It was wonderful.
Since my birthday is tomorrow, tonight was like having a surprise party! What fun! The man has become a very good friend to my husband after they met at my church last year. It is so nice for him to have a friend he can talk to about things other than ministry and parish life and diocesan disasters! They talk about carpentry and architecture and politics instead.
I had a nice visit last night with the father and brothers of the two gals and the 5 year old living next door to us. The men came to put together some new furniture for the wee girl and it was surely nice to meet them. These new ladies are quite good neighbours and the little girl amuses me no end. Whatever else may be going on next door, late night visitors with loud voices between midnight and 7am are a rare occurrence these days. We are so grateful. Thank you Lord!
Tomorrow morning is Communion Sunday at my church, so since online communion is NOT communion to me, I think I will skip the live Zoom service and watch the first part of the service on YouTube in the afternoon. It will be less disappointing and lonely if I can shut off the video before the Communion takes place.
We are supposed to have severe thunderstorms overnight tonight. By the look of the sky I have no trouble believing that. We had such bad wind gusts today that despite our best efforts to protect it, the top spike of our lovely tomato plant broke off, taking the first fruits that were just starting to form with it. Sigh..... We are still under a wind warning tonight when the thunderstorms roll in from north eastern Montana.
I can't really complain too bitterly about losing a tomato stalk. Another friend of ours went out to her large garden at a farm near the city and discovered the owner's irrigation system had failed, flooding the garden and washing away half of her veggie seedlings. Sigh....now THAT is truly discouraging!
Who knows what this new week will bring???? (Do I want to know? hahaha)
Just about the time we were going to order our meal we received word from a friend that his wife had been rushed to hospital with a hip issue and will be there for several days. He sounded somewhat stressed and mentally dishevelled, so we put our order on hold and I prepared a casserole to take to him. I know he isn't much of a cook!
When the casserole was ready for delivery, we placed our online restaurant order and drove the casserole over to our friend's house before going to the restaurant to pick up our dinner. He seemed quite delighted to receive it. He asked us if we could please stay for a cup of coffee, but we told him we had to go and pick up our dinner order. He sounded so excited about the idea of Indian food that we immediately offered to bring the order over and share it with him. That certainly seemed to cheer him up. We are so glad we shared the meal together. We talked and laughed and had a wonderful time. After being isolated for so much of the past 3 months, it was like a party just because there were three of us instead of just my husband and I! hahaha It was wonderful.
Since my birthday is tomorrow, tonight was like having a surprise party! What fun! The man has become a very good friend to my husband after they met at my church last year. It is so nice for him to have a friend he can talk to about things other than ministry and parish life and diocesan disasters! They talk about carpentry and architecture and politics instead.
I had a nice visit last night with the father and brothers of the two gals and the 5 year old living next door to us. The men came to put together some new furniture for the wee girl and it was surely nice to meet them. These new ladies are quite good neighbours and the little girl amuses me no end. Whatever else may be going on next door, late night visitors with loud voices between midnight and 7am are a rare occurrence these days. We are so grateful. Thank you Lord!
Tomorrow morning is Communion Sunday at my church, so since online communion is NOT communion to me, I think I will skip the live Zoom service and watch the first part of the service on YouTube in the afternoon. It will be less disappointing and lonely if I can shut off the video before the Communion takes place.
We are supposed to have severe thunderstorms overnight tonight. By the look of the sky I have no trouble believing that. We had such bad wind gusts today that despite our best efforts to protect it, the top spike of our lovely tomato plant broke off, taking the first fruits that were just starting to form with it. Sigh..... We are still under a wind warning tonight when the thunderstorms roll in from north eastern Montana.
I can't really complain too bitterly about losing a tomato stalk. Another friend of ours went out to her large garden at a farm near the city and discovered the owner's irrigation system had failed, flooding the garden and washing away half of her veggie seedlings. Sigh....now THAT is truly discouraging!
Who knows what this new week will bring???? (Do I want to know? hahaha)
FINALLY!!!!!!
It is pouring rain outside! YAY!!!!! At last the land is getting badly needed moisture. The farmers who have their crop in the ground will be delighted with the timing of the rains. Hopefully the forecast for several days of this, followed by some days of warm sunniness, will hold true. This is fantastic.
I haven’t looked yet to see if our basement is leaking anywhere new. I do hope not. My husband has worked so hard over the past few summers to staunch the flow of water through all the cracks in the foundation. I think we are both less stressed about it this summer, knowing we have done all we can to fix the situation and also that this will probably be our last summer here.
It is all good.
I haven’t looked yet to see if our basement is leaking anywhere new. I do hope not. My husband has worked so hard over the past few summers to staunch the flow of water through all the cracks in the foundation. I think we are both less stressed about it this summer, knowing we have done all we can to fix the situation and also that this will probably be our last summer here.
It is all good.
Thursday, June 4, 2020
THANK YOU Saskatchewan Provincial Ministry of Health!!!
I confess I have been fretting a bit about how the pandemic is going to effect reapplication for my exceptional drug status for coverage from our insurance company for my wickedly expensive osteoporosis injections! My present approval of acceptional status coverage expires in mid July and I have been dreading trying to call my specialist's office to see if anyone is actually in the office to notice my flagged file for reapplication by the specialist.
Today in the mail I received a letter from the provincial Ministry of Health informing me that they are extending my status and coverage until the middle of January 2021....a six month automatic extention. WHEW! Praise the Lord!!!! I am SO RELIEVED! It means I have another few months before I have to get my specialist to reapply for me. Perhaps by then I will know for certain his office is up and running again and I can get my approval for another 2 years. Whatever...for the ordering of my July injection, I am safe! Thank you Lord.
At the end of this month I will contact my bone densitometry office in Alberta and see if they are open for appointments. I need one rather badly and am prepared to take the risk of making an August appointment in hopes that they will be open at that time and that I won't need to quarantine for 14 days after crossing into Alberta before I can go to their clinic. I am afraid to leave it until September in case that is when the second wave of the pandemic strikes and all things medical close down again for non-emergency patients. Aiiii yiiiii.....
One thing we have enjoyed immensely since we came to SK is how on top of things the provincial medical department is in regard to informing patients well in advance when they are due for things like mammgrams, heart and bowel tests etc. We are so spoiled by this that if we ever have to leave SK we are going to miss this amazing service! We certainly didn't have this kind of assistance when we lived in other provinces. This government is right on top of things for its patients as far as informing them about needed regular testing for all manner of diseases and conditions. Wonderful!
Thank you Saskatchewan Provincial Ministry of Health!!
Today in the mail I received a letter from the provincial Ministry of Health informing me that they are extending my status and coverage until the middle of January 2021....a six month automatic extention. WHEW! Praise the Lord!!!! I am SO RELIEVED! It means I have another few months before I have to get my specialist to reapply for me. Perhaps by then I will know for certain his office is up and running again and I can get my approval for another 2 years. Whatever...for the ordering of my July injection, I am safe! Thank you Lord.
At the end of this month I will contact my bone densitometry office in Alberta and see if they are open for appointments. I need one rather badly and am prepared to take the risk of making an August appointment in hopes that they will be open at that time and that I won't need to quarantine for 14 days after crossing into Alberta before I can go to their clinic. I am afraid to leave it until September in case that is when the second wave of the pandemic strikes and all things medical close down again for non-emergency patients. Aiiii yiiiii.....
One thing we have enjoyed immensely since we came to SK is how on top of things the provincial medical department is in regard to informing patients well in advance when they are due for things like mammgrams, heart and bowel tests etc. We are so spoiled by this that if we ever have to leave SK we are going to miss this amazing service! We certainly didn't have this kind of assistance when we lived in other provinces. This government is right on top of things for its patients as far as informing them about needed regular testing for all manner of diseases and conditions. Wonderful!
Thank you Saskatchewan Provincial Ministry of Health!!
Wednesday, June 3, 2020
Funny Stuff For Today!
Here is a meme with SO MUCH pandemic times truth to it, haha:
2020 is a unique leap year. There are 20 days in February, 180 days in March, 9 months in April and so far we're 6 years into May!
Here is my favourite cartoon of the day:
2020 is a unique leap year. There are 20 days in February, 180 days in March, 9 months in April and so far we're 6 years into May!
Here is my favourite cartoon of the day:
A PB and PJ Kind of Day!
Well....all my wonderful plans to start moving dust around this place went up in smoke today! I have done ABSOLUTELY NOTHING today. I haven't even bothered to get dressed...that is a rare one for me. A dear church friend stopped by for a distance visit this morning and I stood out on my front porch in my housecoat to chat!! Unheard of....oh well....we had a great visit and she is not the sort of person to care about what anyone else happens to be wearing. It was wonderful to see her. Thank you Carol for stopping by.
Beside lazing about the place I have also been gorging myself on my favourite peanut butter....you understand that gorging on something so fatty, for a diabetic, means having a total of 2 tablespoons of the stuff over the course of the day. For some of the rest of you that hardly constitutes gorging, but for me with the diabetes and heart murmur and high cholesterol, that is quite a lot to ingest all in the same day. I found my favourite Adams brand, chunky, unsalted, when I went shopping yesterday and oh wow....what a treat when combined with a single serving of fruit yogurt and a single serving No Sugar Added chocolate pudding. Give it a topping of a light sprinkling of pumpkin seeds and it is sheer heaven! I had a serving for breakfast and another one for my dessert at lunchtime. YUMMY!! So I have treated my tummy today, that is for certain!
So, PJ's and PB! Housework be darned....it has been a fantastically restful day. The housework will still be there tomorrow...and the next day....and the day after that. With the windows hanging open day after day now that spring is finally here, there is so much dust everywhere that it won't look that fabulous after cleaning anyway. I give the place about 30 minutes post dusting to be filled with the stuff once again....housework in a dusty environment tends to be somewhat discouraging....
Great news from Val: she got home yesterday afternoon from hospital, has her daily physiotherapy sessions set up and has the most amazing attitude post surgery of anyone I have ever met...the reduction of pain has made a new woman of her and I couldn't be happier for her. She didn't even experience the usual "Third Day Post Surgery Blues" that most of us get after an OR event.
Heard good news from Penelope as well today. She saw the orthopedic surgeon this week, the one who replaced a joint for her a few months ago and he is pleased with her progress. He is going to try to schedule her other joint replacement surgery sometime this summer and get it all over with. I am excited for her. If she can have one lousy year of surgeries and painful recoveries, then get about her life, it will be wonderful for her.
A good day for all kinds of friends today...YAY!!
Beside lazing about the place I have also been gorging myself on my favourite peanut butter....you understand that gorging on something so fatty, for a diabetic, means having a total of 2 tablespoons of the stuff over the course of the day. For some of the rest of you that hardly constitutes gorging, but for me with the diabetes and heart murmur and high cholesterol, that is quite a lot to ingest all in the same day. I found my favourite Adams brand, chunky, unsalted, when I went shopping yesterday and oh wow....what a treat when combined with a single serving of fruit yogurt and a single serving No Sugar Added chocolate pudding. Give it a topping of a light sprinkling of pumpkin seeds and it is sheer heaven! I had a serving for breakfast and another one for my dessert at lunchtime. YUMMY!! So I have treated my tummy today, that is for certain!
So, PJ's and PB! Housework be darned....it has been a fantastically restful day. The housework will still be there tomorrow...and the next day....and the day after that. With the windows hanging open day after day now that spring is finally here, there is so much dust everywhere that it won't look that fabulous after cleaning anyway. I give the place about 30 minutes post dusting to be filled with the stuff once again....housework in a dusty environment tends to be somewhat discouraging....
Great news from Val: she got home yesterday afternoon from hospital, has her daily physiotherapy sessions set up and has the most amazing attitude post surgery of anyone I have ever met...the reduction of pain has made a new woman of her and I couldn't be happier for her. She didn't even experience the usual "Third Day Post Surgery Blues" that most of us get after an OR event.
Heard good news from Penelope as well today. She saw the orthopedic surgeon this week, the one who replaced a joint for her a few months ago and he is pleased with her progress. He is going to try to schedule her other joint replacement surgery sometime this summer and get it all over with. I am excited for her. If she can have one lousy year of surgeries and painful recoveries, then get about her life, it will be wonderful for her.
A good day for all kinds of friends today...YAY!!
Tuesday, June 2, 2020
Food (Family) Glorious Food (Family)
When I went to bed last night I decided that if I woke up between 6-6:30am today I would go grocery shopping at the 7am Seniors' Hour. I woke up at 6:03am, so away I went. It hit me today just how badly I will miss that early shopping time when the stores are able to return to their regular shopping hours. Early morning shopping has been a bonus of the pandemic for me. To be out so early, complete the shopping, disinfect all the product, put it away and be all finished between 8:30-9:00am is a wonderful treat. I love cities, but detest having to shop in crowds of people.
I spent the rest of the morning paying bills and juggling finances. So, my morning was productive at least. My ability to do creative financing, keeping the bills paid and keeping us fed and housed, has served me well over the years. YOU get a dollar and YOU get a dollar and YOU get a dollar......teehee.....
Our son called us this afternoon. He is doing well, all things considered. He has a buyer for a painting and will hopefully be able to set up a showing of it and another one on his front porch later this month so the buyer will be able to see exactly what he is purchasing. Viewing online is fine, but the paintings always look better in reality. He has also had an offer from a collector on the west coast who buys from our son regularly, that if our son gets into any sort of financial bind this summer due to pandemic induced continued unemployment, the fellow will purchase at least a small painting in order to assist him. Our son knows some amazing folk in his arts community.
He also had a long talk with his immigration lawyer today and confessed he had attended a peaceful protest yesterday. The lawyer confirmed our son's fears as to what would happen should he ever be arrested as a protester on a temporary visa from outside the USA. So, he is grateful to have put in his time, but has researched other ways now to contribute to the cause that are safer for his immigration status long term.
Last night I recorded the old Cary Grant movie, "North by Northwest". It is my favourite Cary Grant movie, so I am looking forward to watching it t his evening. My husband is also looking forward to watching something that has nothing to do with veterinary procedures. hahahaha
I spent the rest of the morning paying bills and juggling finances. So, my morning was productive at least. My ability to do creative financing, keeping the bills paid and keeping us fed and housed, has served me well over the years. YOU get a dollar and YOU get a dollar and YOU get a dollar......teehee.....
Our son called us this afternoon. He is doing well, all things considered. He has a buyer for a painting and will hopefully be able to set up a showing of it and another one on his front porch later this month so the buyer will be able to see exactly what he is purchasing. Viewing online is fine, but the paintings always look better in reality. He has also had an offer from a collector on the west coast who buys from our son regularly, that if our son gets into any sort of financial bind this summer due to pandemic induced continued unemployment, the fellow will purchase at least a small painting in order to assist him. Our son knows some amazing folk in his arts community.
He also had a long talk with his immigration lawyer today and confessed he had attended a peaceful protest yesterday. The lawyer confirmed our son's fears as to what would happen should he ever be arrested as a protester on a temporary visa from outside the USA. So, he is grateful to have put in his time, but has researched other ways now to contribute to the cause that are safer for his immigration status long term.
Last night I recorded the old Cary Grant movie, "North by Northwest". It is my favourite Cary Grant movie, so I am looking forward to watching it t his evening. My husband is also looking forward to watching something that has nothing to do with veterinary procedures. hahahaha
Monday, June 1, 2020
Proud of My Son! And Other Family News!
My son rode his bike into Bedford-Stuyvestant this afternoon to take part in some of the peaceful protest action going on there. I am pleased he was able to follow his social justice ideals to this extent at least. Like ourselves, he completely supports the peaceful protesters who are there for the right reasons. He stayed on the fringes of the protesters so that he could keep some distance between himself and any COVID-19 proteins floating around, but he did participate. Very happy about that. There is now a curfew in NYC in place from 11pm until 5am. I suspect that is too late at night for a curfew to have any effect on reducing the violence that will likely begin prior to 11pm, but at least the mayor is trying to do something to help. How the city police will enforce it is another matter....sigh...what a mess for everyone involved.
We received wonderful news today from our relative who had a kidney and cancerous tumour removed six months ago. The whole tumour was encapsulated, there is no evidence of cancer on the edges of the biopsied tissue and so no chemotherapy is recommended at this time. So now the family can start to become motivated once again to do more each day than simply sit around and "stare into the middle distance" from stress. Thank you Lord for this encouraging and long awaited news.
We received wonderful news today from our relative who had a kidney and cancerous tumour removed six months ago. The whole tumour was encapsulated, there is no evidence of cancer on the edges of the biopsied tissue and so no chemotherapy is recommended at this time. So now the family can start to become motivated once again to do more each day than simply sit around and "stare into the middle distance" from stress. Thank you Lord for this encouraging and long awaited news.
Safely Home For Now....
Our son texted us to let us know he and his friend are safely back in New York City. We are beyond relieved and we all thank the prayer warriors who kept the "kids" in mind over the past few days. We don't know what will happen as this week plays out, but for now our family is safe. Our son said some of the streets he is most familiar with are closed to traffic and there are boards over windows in some businesses, but all was eerily quiet as the driver took him to his neighbourhood. Now we are praying these two can accomplish their necessary tasks over the next couple of days, then return safely to Long Island on Friday as planned and hunker down for a couple of weeks until this disaster is dealt with, hopefully in some kind of positive manner, AND very soon!
Just My Opinions...Always Subject To Change
Last evening as I was watching the tv news coverage of the violent riots and looting in NYC, I listened to an interview with a very well meaning, but naive young fellow who was participating in some of the lower level violence in Manhattan. He told the tv reporter that since peaceful protests were not getting the protesters anywhere, then the police and governments would HAVE to pay attention to the violence.
I so wanted to be able to leap through the tv screen and ask the young man what kind of response he thought the protesters are not getting from the police and governments after only 6 days since the murder of the man in Minneapolis. What response does he think they SHOULD be getting? I wanted to know what kind of response he and the others are looking for that will quell the protests. I wanted to ask him if he understood that so much of the violence has been instigated by groups who have other agendas than protecting black Americans from the outworkings of racial prejudices and profling and abuse? I wanted to let him know that he is right that the police and governments likely will pay attention to the violence and looting and that the more violence and looting there is, the more likely that "attention" will be expressed through government oppression of the people in order to restrict our rights to freedom of movement, our rights to gather and protest and our rights to even express differing opinions. There has been enough of a problem developing all ready in all those areas, particularly the last one, even prior to the onslaught of the pandemic. I wanted to ask him how he will feel if all those unmasked protesters, crammed together in the streets and not paying any attention to who is breathing and spitting on who, ends up causing a terrible resurrgence of the Corona Virus in NYC, with himself being possibly one of the victims. So many questions.....
The other issue that has been bothering me this week is the issue of the hidden mysogeny contained in some of the abortion laws. Once again I believe women have been targeted to become victims. Mothers are the epitome of the concept of nurturers, but now we have convinced women that non-essential abortions are just fine, a choice they can make for any reason or no reason at all. Somehow we have convinced women that it is okay murder their own children for the sake of their own convenience. We hear so much, particularly right now in the wake of the Minneapolis murder, that we need to protect our most vulnerable citizens, but what about the most vulerable of all: the next generation? Who is protecting them? Who is rioting and looting with an agenda to save the babies?
The above musings are strictly my own and are always open to change, but I have been spending a fair amount of time thinking about these things the past few days, so wanted to share with those of you who have been asking what I have been thinking about lately.
So, if you are not one of my regular readers, please do not bother sending a long harangue telling me how disgusting I am for having an opinion that differs from your own. No reason to make yourself a "case in point".
Happy musings everyone. At least the extended time of isolation is giving many of us at least some extra time to think about "stuff".
I so wanted to be able to leap through the tv screen and ask the young man what kind of response he thought the protesters are not getting from the police and governments after only 6 days since the murder of the man in Minneapolis. What response does he think they SHOULD be getting? I wanted to know what kind of response he and the others are looking for that will quell the protests. I wanted to ask him if he understood that so much of the violence has been instigated by groups who have other agendas than protecting black Americans from the outworkings of racial prejudices and profling and abuse? I wanted to let him know that he is right that the police and governments likely will pay attention to the violence and looting and that the more violence and looting there is, the more likely that "attention" will be expressed through government oppression of the people in order to restrict our rights to freedom of movement, our rights to gather and protest and our rights to even express differing opinions. There has been enough of a problem developing all ready in all those areas, particularly the last one, even prior to the onslaught of the pandemic. I wanted to ask him how he will feel if all those unmasked protesters, crammed together in the streets and not paying any attention to who is breathing and spitting on who, ends up causing a terrible resurrgence of the Corona Virus in NYC, with himself being possibly one of the victims. So many questions.....
The other issue that has been bothering me this week is the issue of the hidden mysogeny contained in some of the abortion laws. Once again I believe women have been targeted to become victims. Mothers are the epitome of the concept of nurturers, but now we have convinced women that non-essential abortions are just fine, a choice they can make for any reason or no reason at all. Somehow we have convinced women that it is okay murder their own children for the sake of their own convenience. We hear so much, particularly right now in the wake of the Minneapolis murder, that we need to protect our most vulnerable citizens, but what about the most vulerable of all: the next generation? Who is protecting them? Who is rioting and looting with an agenda to save the babies?
The above musings are strictly my own and are always open to change, but I have been spending a fair amount of time thinking about these things the past few days, so wanted to share with those of you who have been asking what I have been thinking about lately.
So, if you are not one of my regular readers, please do not bother sending a long harangue telling me how disgusting I am for having an opinion that differs from your own. No reason to make yourself a "case in point".
Happy musings everyone. At least the extended time of isolation is giving many of us at least some extra time to think about "stuff".
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