Encouragement At Last With The Physio!

 Happiness!!  One of my exercises involves lifting my bad leg and tapping that foot on the bottom step of our indoor flight of stairs, then standing on my bad leg while tapping the opposite foot on the step.  Until today I have been putting at least a bit of weight on my cane when I have to put full weight on the operated leg. Today I was determined to stop doing that and I did!  Hallelujah!  Each rep for the first 15 reps I put a bit less weight onto my cane and for the final 15 I didn't need to put any weight on the cane.  For "mental security" I didn't put the cane down, but as I picked up my good leg to balance on the bad one I lifted the cane up in the air along with the leg so that it wasn't touching on the floor.  Lo and behold that worked and I did the final 15 reps with no support.  Thank you God and praying family and friends. For the main weight bearing exercise that I didn't do correctly for an entire month, I can finally put most of my weight onto that leg with only one hand holding onto the edge of the kitchen counter while I count (up to 13 seconds now) each rep.  (up to 10 reps now) There is hope that by two weeks from now when I see the physiotherapist again I will be able to stand unaided on the bad leg for at least 10 seconds, even though it should be 30 seconds in order to graduate past that exercise. Don't need to graduate in two weeks, just need to be able to do a few seconds without secondary support. I think it can happen.  I am taking my time and doing things properly now.  YAY!!

Today I completed the last of the free computer games my husband installed for me back in February.  Since I don't have my piano any more I fill my "wow, am I ever BORED!!" time with a few levels of a video game. They are old games, not that exciting but I am not looking for exciting. I am looking for mindless with a bit of variety between levels.  The last four games were the old Heroes of Helas series, so I finished up the last of those this afternoon.  hahahaha Computer games....at my age! hahaha  Well, it passes the time and I am so very tired of reading and crossword puzzles and tv. Thankfully I had my weekly coffee buddy here this morning and that is always entertaining!

SO it has been a very happy day for me.  Considering the lousy sleep I had again last night, that is wonderful indeed!  No, it wasn't kids or other tenants or even street noise interfering this time around:  it was a raven, sitting on the corner of the roof right above my bedroom window, who was pummeling the eavestrough with his beak!  I wondered who on earth was out hammering nails at 3am and again at quarter to 6am, so finally I went and opened the back door seeking the culprit. No one was out there, so I headed to the front door, flung it open and again there was no one out there.  I couldn't figure it out, but then I heard the hammering noise above my head, looked up and there was the raven who peered back at me and went, "Squwaaaaakkk!!!" and proceeded to peck away at the eavestrough again. hahaha  Perhaps he can find some food in someone else's eavestrough tonight?? Here's hoping! haha 

Finally On Track!

 I am delighted to report to those of you who have asked me over the past few days, that starting to do the main weight bearing physiotherapy exercises CORRECTLY, (duh)), is starting to bear fruit already.  It is going to take longer than I want to fix the mess I created for myself by paying such poor attention to detail, but there is hope now.  I don't see the surgeon again until October, so if I am as healed and as whole as possible by then I will have to be content, BUT I am going to try very hard to be ready to walk unassisted and without listing to one side by September long weekend.  I may not make it and that is okay, but having a goal keeps me motivated.

Today is my poetry day.  So, here is a poem that I found this morning that has meaning for me personally.  Hope you enjoy it too:

 

Hugo von Hofmannsthal (1874-1929)

 

On The Transitory 

My cheeks still feel their breath: how can it be

That these most recent days, these days just past,

Are gone, forever gone, totally gone.

 

Here is a thing no one can wholly grasp,

Too terrible for tears or for complaint:

That all goes by, that all goes flowing past.

 

And that this Self of mine, all unconstrained,

Came gliding straight to me from a small child,

Came like a dog uncanny mute and strange,

 

And: that a hundred years ago, I was,

And my ancestors in their death-shrouds are

As close to me as my own hair is close,

As much a part of me as my own hair.

                        (Naomi Replansky) 

An Encouraging Report On Our Cardiac Patient!

 My friend visited me this morning and gave a wonderful report on her father’s post op recovery! ❤️‍🩹  In the week since she last saw him in person, he has improved by leaps and bounds. In fact it is possible he will be discharged back to his home city by the end of this week. What amazing news! The family is so grateful for your prayers and hopes that if God brings our patient to mind you will say another prayer on their relative’s behalf. Bless you all.

When Cultures Clash

I am exhausted after last night’s very short sleep. Sigh….😮‍💨 No biggy as I have been sleeping very well of late, but gosh it was an active night around the complex! 

We have two families, recently arrived in Canada from another continent, and bless their hearts, teaching their children how to live in Canada seems to be missing from the programme. I assume they don’t actually realize that leaving toys and clothing scattered all over the lawns and parking lot and piles of gravel and soil used by the maintenance department is not acceptable; that allowing the kids to be outside half the night screaming is not going to garner them any sympathy from the other tenants. The moms and aunties seem to be here on their own with the children, no dads at this point, although there are male visitors sometimes. I don’t recognize the religious or tribal sect garb the women wear so I don’t know what country’s customs I need to research in order to better understand what their situation might be, but their large number of children seem to be generally free if any sort of restraints or discipline. The children speak some English and speak to us occasionally, but I don’t see the moms outside often enough to make contact to try to get to know them.

The kids are outside until late at night screaming and racing about, but last night was the last straw for me I’m afraid. At 12:30am a large group of the middle and older teens were outside kicking a soccer ball around, yelling and running out into the street where the boys were doing backflips and somersaults in front of passing cars. The drivers were honking their horns and hollering out their car windows at the kids to get off the road! 

I finally got out of bed and headed outside to ask the kids to please be quiet. I explained that people here need to sleep because they have to get up early in the morning for work, so could the kids be a little quieter. They didn’t say much and if looks could kill, well….BUT my husband and I have learned over the past few weeks that the kids have been taught to respect the elderly folk and this morning at nearly 1am was no exception, as they filed back into their two suites. That was the end of the noise. Overall they are very good kids, they have simply not been taught about acceptable behaviour here in the complex. 

We are not in a position to butt in and start chasing down the few adults who are wrangling the dozen children who have let my husband know quite firmly that in their country there are not so many rules for kids to obey. We don’t know the circumstances of any of these people. We don’t know if they are political refugees whose husbands have been detained in their home countries or are no longer around at all. Food is sometimes delivered by an organization that helps low income families. The city police have been there a few times. I feel for these women who spread all the laundry to dry on the lawns day after day. My husband and I feel quite useless to help as our few attempts to make contact with the adults have taught us the language barrier is a huge issue. 

Hmmmmm….it is puzzling to know what to do…..guess there isn’t much to be done at the moment. We are not prepared at this point to start reporting these incidents to the property management as we suspect the moms and aunties have enough problems of a much more desperate kind to deal with than gaining more control over shrieking kids at 1am. We are praying for wisdom…..

Smoke Bad, Physio Revelation Good!

 I am more grateful today than ever that we just had two full days without any noticeable forest fire smoke blowing through the city, as today it is back with a stinky vengeance!  It must have come in overnight because I woke up this morning with drippy, plugged sinuses and saw that the sky was kind of a dirty brown haze.  How many more people in the north are losing their homes and livelihoods this week?  It is sickening to think about and other than making donations to relief funds to help those who are losing everything they own, there isn't a lot more I can do.  Praying for these people is a wonderful thing, but my prayers need to also have my own human hands and feet (and wallet) attached!

Anyway, despite the smoke we did go out for awhile to run errands. I didn't get out of the car much, but it was still nice to have a change of scenery and to find out just how many main roads are closed, partially closed, or completely dug up for summer road construction and underground pipe replacement projects.  The detours we had to make were kind of interesting and I am continuing to learn more about how to travel about on the side roads and residential streets I would have no reason to be on otherwise.

Well, in the midst of this morning's ongoing despair about one of my muscle groups that has resolutely remained atrophied and spongy since the surgery, I suddenly had a memory of my husband screeching at some Amazing Race Canada contestants, who were confused on a challenge and subsequently messing up their chances of winning, to "GO BACK AND READ THE CLUE!!!!"  It hit me that I hadn't looked in my physio exercise description book for some weeks.  Not sure why I would need to refresh my memory of exercises I have been doing for the past month or more, I nonetheless decided to follow my husband's advice to the racers and picked up the book. I found the page with the photo and description of the one exercise that has continued to elude me all this time. There it was in black and white...the full description of how to do the exercise and you know what?  I HAVE BEEN DOING IT INCORRECTLY THIS ENTIRE TIME!!!!  Unbelievable! I have never before made such a gross error on a physio exercise after spending years previously having to do them for various surgical recoveries.  No wonder I still can't put more than a second's time of full weight on my operated leg.  Sigh....I feel like a complete fool and am so very grateful I am not going to my original physio follow up appointment in a couple of day's time.  I still have two weeks to do this exercise properly and line myself up to must/maybe be the start the third set of exercises I should have been able to start a week or more ago.  Aiii yiii yiiii....how very grateful I am for my husband's hollering at the people on TV who of course were not hearing him shout instructions at them. hahaha  I am very much looking forward to doing my afternoon physio exercises because I can start making up lost ground and lost time!  Thank you Lord!!

And now off to see the video of last night's final round of the July Sumo tournament from the new IG arena in Nagoya Japan. I have managed to resist going online today to find out in advance who the winner was.  Ooooh, so disciplined, eh? hahaha

Greatest Saying I Heard Today, haha!

 “If she was any more full of herself she’d be inside out!”

Hahahaha……

A Full Day Of Joy!!!!

This morning's worship service at the Mt. Sinai Nigerian Anglican Church was the most exuberant and joy filled service I have attended in the past few years.  So much singing and dancing and loudly expressed love of the Lord is something I have been missing for awhile and didn't realize it until today.  Turns out our neighbour who invited us is one of the main worship leaders so he sang and danced for about an hour of the worship time. The service lasted nearly 3 hours but the time passed quickly. The sermon was all about the unity of God's people in Christ and how it is time to lay aside all tribal and racial discrimination, acknowledge our diversities but not let them get in the way of behaving as a unified church body.  Our being there was a boon to the preacher who found it wonderful and interesting that "this old white couple chose this morning to join us". hahaha  My husband was able to join the rest of the congregation at the back of the church during the offering time and dance our offering up to the front to put in the basket.  I have to say that for an old white guy with no sense of rhythm to speak of, he did okay boogying down the aisles. We were most warmly welcomed, greeted by half the congregation who were obviously sincere in their joy that visitors had come.  The music was so loud my husband had to put his earplugs in, but when our neighbour said it would be just like worshipping at a church in Nigeria today, he was right.  I remember well the descriptions of church my long time missionary to Nigeria auntie shared with me.  The joy was so palpable I found myself shedding a few tears of relief that such profound and outwardly expressed joy still exists in the world.  Nothing against our own Anglican churches in the way they worship or our present Baptist congregational worship, but occasionally I think I am going to go visiting elsewhere for that little Joy Jolt to keep the sadness about other things in life at bay.  I am so grateful to our neighbour for his invitation. His beautiful wife and two adorable children added to our enjoyment of the congregants. She is a bit of a character and the kids are so sweet.  They were filming a video and taking photos to put on their website to show their cultural days celebration and unless we are edited out afterward, our shiny white faces will be in there at some point when everything is posted.  I will not be offended if we are not there, but it was really fun being included at the time.  

After the service we went for a rather late lunch at a restaurant that is new to us, although it has been operating for nearly a year already.  The restaurant is Little Nepal and I have to say that after walking in and seeing the rather poorly painted over decor from whatever restaurant iteration preceded it, I had low expectations of the meal we were about to eat.  Wow, so thrilled I was wrong. The food was very very tasty indeed.  They have quite a selection of lunchbox specials that consist of a main dish, rice, naan and a canned soda for between $14.99 and $17.99.  There are several types of lunches featuring chicken, beef, lamb, seafood and vegetarian mains My husband chose the chicken madras curry and I had the chicken spinach palak curry. The little spring roll with pepper sauce was a nice treat to start with.  We found the rice to be moist and freshly cooked, the flavours of the mains very good, the naan puffy and yummy...not at all what we were expecting...so much better.  While we were there a table of nearly 20 Nepalese family members arrived and they are apparently regulars there, so that was also a good endorsement.  We will definitely to there again.

We filled the car with gasoline on the way home at the reserve station on north Albert.  The price per litre there is only $1.18 compared to the other stations not on reserve land that have to charge the tax the reserve station doesn't. Their price per litre is $1.31. 

Now it is time to put the online service from our own church up on my iPad and listen to this morning's sermon. A dear friend and retired pastor did the preaching and he is always very good, down to earth, practical, realistic. He and his wife have true pastors' hearts that my husband and I so appreciate. Such gentle souls with strong theology that we relate to well.

Today has been an especially blessed day thus far and I am most grateful.  Getting out into the sunshine, sans forest fire smoke, was a balm to my soul before we even got to the church service! 

An Expected and Cheery End To The Day!

 We were delighted this evening to receive an email update from our daughter in law who has spent the last week doing a writer's residency in Cape Cod Massachusetts.  She sent a photo of a sunset over the bay near the house she has had as accommodation that made me want to hop a plane and fly there immediately; it is that beautiful.  She has been able to swim every morning, visit the various sites in the area, including Woods Hole, centre of much of the American oceanography study, where environmentalist Rachel Carson went to study in 1929.  I think she and our son are missing each other so they are both quite excited about her homecoming tomorrow.  So our family book-ended our day! How marvellous to have our little family to communicate with and love.  We are a small group but we support each other and care so much about each other...there is a certain emotional security in that.  Thank you God for these two wonderful people.

I am most excited about church tomorrow!  Our Nigerian neighbours invited us to attend their church in the morning as it is a celebration of Nigerian Christian spiritual practise, so it will be lively, lots of singing and dancing.  Our own church is going to seem a bit tame I suspect after tomorrow's more lively event.  How kind of them to invite us.  They are an Anglican congregation but under a diocese in Nigeria with a Nigerian bishop, so they are much more conservative than most of the churches in the Anglican Church of Canada and they are apparently very spirit filled, so we are really looking forward to that.  And yes, we will be the only white people there so I am praying we do not do or say anything to embarrass ourselves or our neighbours.  hahaha  I will be wearing a dress and not pants...that much I know to do as a middle aged woman attending an African church.  Whew!  Score one small point....haha. 

An Unexpected And Cheery Start To The Day Today!

Early this morning I was in text contact with our son.  He decided he would like to call us as we haven't talked on the phone since his visit here a couple of weeks ago.  So, he called at 8am!  He is lonely as his wife is away on a writer's retreat all week.  His dad was still sleeping, but nothing makes my husband startle awake happily like a call from his son!  hahaha  Our son was full of encouraging news about his life and career.  His agent just sold another of his paintings, so that is wonderful for his career and will give him added income in the fall when the payment arrives.  In the meantime he is learning new skills at the lighting company where he is presently employed, including learning how to use the scissor lift so he can change exhibit display lights up in the 20 and 30 foot gallery ceilings.  He said his first attempt at it involved being gaped at by a number of museum curators and while he did very well operating it, he was ever so conscious that only a few feet away from where he was working was a wall featuring three original Vermeer paintings that could have been badly damaged had he made a mistake and dropped one of the heavy ceiling lights on them.....I suspect as he reached ceiling level and started changing the lights his life flashed before  his eyes. He said the news headline that occurred to him was, "Hapless Employee Destroys Priceless Works of Art!"  Oh son, God bless you for overcoming your "performance anxiety" in front of all those curators and your boss and for being so careful so that nothing was damaged in the process of switching out the lights!  Amen!!

After breakfast this morning, once we finally got off the phone, haha, I did some chores and as I was heading back downstairs, it hit me that I had just gone up and down the stairs sans cane!!  That will now be my M.O.  One cane remains at my bedside upstairs and the other beside my recliner chair downstairs, just in case they are needed. While I am still not able to stand on my operated leg for the required 5 seconds to complete my current regime of physiotherapy exercises, I CAN, as of today, put enough wait on it to quickly lift my other foot high enough for long enough to tap that foot on the bottom step of our stairway....ALMOST ready to pass that exercise...another week should do it and maybe, just maybe by then I will be able to put sufficient weight on the operated leg to stand on it for 5 seconds while I bend the other leg at the knee and pull it up behind me.  I am feeling greatly encouraged today. Patience is paying off.  

I have been struggling to feel positive ever since the surgery, but this morning I woke up like a new person....alert, awake, ready to get onto my computer, talk to my son, hum on my way downstairs for breakfast....all day it has been as though I have hit the "happy switch".  So, I got thinking about how ill I was for the first week post-op from the anaesthetic and did a bit of research.  It is possible I have been struggling with the last effects of that anaesthetic in my system and it is finally dissipating.  That makes me feel better too about life in general.  I do remember a couple of other times with other surgeries when depression hit right afterward and hung on for a couple of months.  It may not be the remains of the anaesthetic, but that is at least a possibility. It hit my system so hard. My taste buds only returned about 10 days ago. Anyway, it is really good to have some positive details of recovery to report!  

Oh how nice it has been to be free of any apparent forest fire smoke in the air the past couple of days.  Today it is not quite as warm as yesterday...+27C compared to +31C....amazing how so few degrees of difference do make a difference!  We had some lovely rain this morning and may get more overnight and tomorrow. That is just fine.  It cools the air and waters the herbs on the deck.  

Yesterday we picked the first of our ripening Golden Sun cherry tomatoes....DELISH!!  I don't know how we are going to cope once this year's crop of herbs is done with.  We have been eating so many of them fresh that we are not certain how much will be left to dry and store for the winter.   Yummmmm!!

 

Mission Accomplished

 I am relieved that I was able to postpone my next physiotherapy checkup until mid August. It will give me time to work out how better to balance doing the exercises with finding ways to cope with the sprained ligament around my ribs, yes! Losing the stress of next week’s original appointment helped clear my thoughts on how better to approach this dilemma! 

I am also beginning to wonder how much a congenital birth defect that prevented the muscles on my left side from properly developing is effecting these battered thigh muscles from strengthening the way I was hoping for. I never think about that defect because I have always had it and it does not appear on any of my health records of the past 35 to 40 years. My original records from the 1950’s and ‘60’s are long since destroyed as there were no electronic files in those days, so often original written records were destroyed upon the death of the doctor, or if the patient moved away. It might be in my best interests to visit my GP one of these days and have that info reinstated to my files. In the ”olden days” if such a condition was not adversely effecting daily living it seems no one thought too much about the possible long term effects. Things have changed! Thank goodness!

Today Would Have Been…..

 ….my parents’ 72nd wedding anniversary. Both of them would have turned 98 years of age, dad back in January and Mom this coming November. I tend to think of them most of the day on their wedding anniversary. It is a day to forget whatever family dysfunction we struggled with and just remember my parents as a couple who truly tried to do the best they could for each other. They truly did love each other and set a decent example of give and take in a marriage a good deal of the time. Thinking of you both today mom and dad and awaiting whatever happens when we are reunited in the life to come. Anniversary hugs guys….

Day By Day In Every Way......

 ....I am crawling along with the physiotherapy.  Today I have been able to put full weight on my bad leg for more than a full second...doesn't sound like any big deal?  Well, let me tell you that is twice as long as I could do it yesterday, which was twice as long as the days and weeks before that.  I feel encouraged and more determined than ever to keep going forward. Thank you praying friends and family.  With the badly sprained ligament under my ribs on the other side of my body hindering me with the physio and walking gait, I am considering postponing my next week's physiotherapy appointment and rescheduling for a couple of weeks later. There is going to be no way on earth I can begin the final phase of the exercise programme with all this other pain going on.

I had such a nice visit with my weekly coffee buddy this morning!  We never seem to run out of things to talk about even though we have only known each other a couple of years now.  Very, very grateful she moved to our city and is attending our church. She and her husband are very good friends and the husbands enjoy each other's company as much as their wives do.  Praising God for being blessed with another special friend locally. 

Next week the friend whose father you have been praying for since his heart surgery and subsequent complicating factors is coming over for a visit.  At that point I will update one more time, but in the interests of their privacy will only provide any further updates if the current forward progress in his healing journey changes unexpectedly for the worse.  Their family so appreciate your prayers.  

Some of you have been asking about whether or not we are still ma,king any plans to move out of this crazy suite we are in.  Thank you for the ongoing interest as this lack of moving drags on.  We are going to reassess in October after my (hopefully) final visit with the surgeon.  We will find out then if he has any plans to still replace the other hip and when. Depending on his answer, that will likely determine whether or not we begin looking again for a new place to live right away or after a second surgery.  Thank you for continuing to pray for us.  I am greatly encouraged by what has happened with a cousin of mine who put his large "tiny town" rural area house up for sale two and a half years ago and only sold it this past May.  He and his wife have been eager to move to another city where their daughter and her family live and it has been quite discouraging for them I am sure to have had to wait so long, BUT in less than a month after the house finally sold, they not only located the "perfect" home to buy in their new city, but it is only ten minutes' drive away from their grandchildren.  It was worth the wait while God worked out the details.  I am going to assume that we will have a similar experience in that whenever and wherever our own move happens and takes us, we will see God's hand in the details.  We already know from past experiences that there are often good reasons to be kept waiting for a long time and we just trust that is what is going on this time as well.  In the meantime the joy is that a new adventure still awaits!  YAY!!

The forest fire smoke is still very bad today. Overnight the smoke was so thick and odiferous that despite all windows being closed, my throat was full and stinging when I woke up this morning and my eyes were sore even though they had been closed for several hours.  YIKES!  How many more people are being displaced and losing their homes with the outbreak of several new and large fires up north that are still not under control?  I have not been outside since Monday, so am feeling somewhat "bushed" at the moment. Very thankful for my visitors!

 

But I AM Trying!

 Gosh oh gee….I still cannot put full weight on my replaced hip for more than a split second. It is frustrating 😖 because I am working so hard at my physio. I am walking a bit better at home without using my cane, relatively speaking, that is. Adopting a more normal gait is proving difficult 😤 since the damaged muscles in my thigh still want to let me down ☹️ but every time I get up to walk I try. One of these days everything will begin clicking into place and the weight distribution between both legs will become more normal. That has always been my physio experience. While I wait for the Click Click to happen I will continue walking, doing physio, adding in more house chores and refusing to give up. Soon, soon, 🔜 life will get back to normal. Right? Of course right! 😉

Sooooo, Eyelet Cotton and Wet Tissues Do Not Mix Well....

Actually, as I discovered to my dismay after I did yesterday's laundry, they mix all too well.....have you ever accidentally missed removing a tissue from a pocket prior to doing a load of laundry?  If so, you understand the frustration of discovering your error when you go to hang up the wet clothes to dry...of course this rarely happens when the wet load of clothes is able to be dried in the dryer and most of the the tissue bits come off into the lint collector.

Yesterday as I was hanging up a load of cold water cottons in my husband's library room where they get the best air flow for drying, I saw what appeared to be hundreds of teensy tissue bits stuck to all the clothes in the load....NO!!!  How on earth did I miss a tissue when I was cleaning out the pockets pre-wash????  Fortunately, despite the tissue clinging fairly tenaciously to most of the items, the little bits were not that difficult to pull off, although it took awhile.  Quite a few pieces of tissue landed on the carpet and once everything was hung up my husband was able to vacuum up the tissue bits.  However, this morning when I went to get the clothes and sort them into piles for ironing or not ironing, I discovered that another seemingly hundred tissue bits were stuck firmly to my favourite new eyelet cotton patterned sun dress.  Oh boy, hoo haw, were they ever stuck!  All those tissue bits had adhered through, onto, around the eyelet holes and proved incredibly difficult to pull off.  These bits of tissue had separated and become clinging one ply that stuck to the dress like glue!!  After some frustrating minutes pulling off as much tissue as I could, I checked the inner lining of the dress, also a rough cotton and of course it too was covered with tissue. Sigh....I pulled and pried for I don't know how long and got most of them off the dress and liner, but still there were quite a few pieces adhering to the carpet again.  Fortunately they were more or less clumped together in a small area and I was able to do my ballet bend and pick them up by hand....before I moved the dress to the ironing pile and a whole bunch more bits fell to the carpet in a spray pattern that will require the vacuum once again when my husband returns from a morning meeting. hahaha What a mess, what a silly mistake... I can't believe I did that, me who is so Tissue Removal Diligent....sigh....

Guess I will iron the most "tissue'd" items after lunch today and try to get the rest of the tissue bits to either come off by hand or fall onto the carpet for removal.  You can believe this is not a mistake I am going to make again for a LONG time!! hahaha

At midnight last night I had to close all the windows due to intense forest fire smoke stench. Wow, it was horrific.  Now, nearly 12 hours later they are still closed for the same reason. I am grateful the smoky haze keeps the air temperature a bit lower than normal, but it is still becoming rather suffocating in here.  Hopefully this much smoke will not hang around for more than a day or two.  Wow...my poor husband woke up with a headache and terribly drippy nose as the odor infiltrates this suite even with the windows closed.

I am forcing myself to start trying to walk properly inside the house sans cane.  Whatever muscle or tendon or ligament below my ribs on my "good" side that I have strained, sprained, popped, or otherwise damaged, trying to put any weight at all on my cane causes excruciating pain.  Having popped a ligament last summer on the operated side of my lower rib cage, I know that even with the best restful care this issue is going to take 5-6 months to heal.  Well, the upside is that the pain is forcing me to stop using my cane inside, to stop leaning so heavily on a hand and arm when doing physio as I try to regain my ability to put full weight on the hip replacement parts and the weak muscles.  There is usually always some kind of up side to such annoyances.

Well, time to go and do my morning physiotherapy!  Here's hoping I will soon be able to do the two weight bearing exercises without a cane or other support whatsoever.  I am about two weeks behind on my recovery at this point, so that is not an insurmountable issue.  

 

Update On Our Senior Heart Patient

 I just received another update from my friend in regard to her father's heart surgery.  He is still in cardiac ICU due to the after the fact surgeries he also had to survive, but has been up in a chair, so that is a good sign.  He is struggling with the very common anaesthetic induced delirium, (particularly for seniors, although my father had a bad case of delirium after his first heart attack at 42), that many struggle with after such surgeries, so my prayer request is that soon he will pass through that stage of recovery.  It is a most difficult one for the family....at least it was for my mom and I.  His recovery is slower than usual, but no wonder after having to deal with surgical repairs and a clot within hours after the actual cardiac surgery.  Please also say a prayer for my friend who is flying home later today.  It will not be easy I am guessing for her to leave her dad in a hospital far away.  Thank you all so much.

The Joy Of Ongoing Friendships!

 As we grow older it seems that more and more of our friends have moved farther away geographically in order to be closer to and get support from their children and grandchildren.  The older we get the larger the number of friends joining in the migration.  Sometimes it is tough because we know that our chances of remaining in touch are slim to none depending on the distances involved. Thus, when I received a phone call today from the latest of our migrating friends, it was particularly encouraging.  Both she and her husband have kept in close touch since their move quite a number of weeks ago and it means a great deal to my husband and I.  When we (hopefully) go for a bit of a holiday in Alberta early this fall we have promised to go and visit this couple.  Their new residence is very close to where my parents spent their last years of life, so returning to that neighbourhood may be somewhat bitter sweet for me.  

We have other long term friends in Alberta, despite our having left there 25 years ago.  Those friends and a couple in BC who we have only been able to get together with a handful of times over the past 30 or more years, plus a high school friend and her husband in The Maritimes are such a friendship support.  It makes sense that over the course of several years people move, lives take different directions and eventually the tie that binds becomes severed, so having actually a fair number of friends who have remained in touch over time and distance is very special indeed.  

Our current friends right here in the city are also very special as they represent a wide range of ages and backgrounds and cultures.  We feel so blessed to know all of these amazing folk.  Wow....we cannot say we are lonely, that is for sure....an amazing blessing for people our age who have only lived in this city for about ten years.

It was nice being back at church this morning with both of us doing some small participatory tasks.  Being actively involved in weekly services is something I truly miss since my husband retired completely, so every little chance I get to help out is a wonderful bonus for me.  When we arrived home after a truly delicious lunch at the London Belle we got out of our car to cheery greetings from our African Anglican neighbours who once again invited us to attend their Cultural Day service next Sunday. Last year they also invited us but my husband was too ill to go, so hopefully it will work out this time.  They said it will be just like being in Nigeria and that is exciting to me since my aunt lived in Lagos for close to 40 years and absolutely loved it there; the culture, the people, the country.  We shall see if we can go after all or not.

Back to doing some banking and other out of the home chores tomorrow.  Although I am not yet allowed to start driving again, my cheerful Husband Chauffeur is willing to take me wherever I need to go to accomplish these things.  Bless his heart.  It is kind of fun doing all the shopping and other chores together for a change, I must admit and will miss that aspect of this situation once I am able to get behind the wheel and go charging off again on my own. 

Well, I am off to watch the granddaughter of friends competing in a national junior diving competition in Alberta. She is hoping to set the national record today for the 1meter board, so I wish her all the very, very best. She is quite a talent for one so young.  I enjoy diving competitions so it is nice to know one of the divers as it gives me a good reason to be watching.

It has been overcast all morning and now, in the early afternoon the sun is finally shining, but there are large thunderheads building in the western sky.  Alberta was deluged with rain on Friday, we had fairly heavy rain yesterday and it appears we have more on the way today.  The days of rain have been interspersed with days of sunshine so the crops and gardens in the area seem to be getting the kind of weather they need to grow and ripen properly. YAY! If we can avoid the hail this year there is a good chance for a decent harvest.  Even our little herb garden on the back deck is thriving and I noticed this morning that two of our tomatoes are reddening so we will be able to pick and eat them soon.

Prayer Request Update

I received an email from my friend whose father some of you have been upholding in prayer since his cardiac surgery a couple of days ago. Thankfully he has survived not only the initial surgery, but additional surgeries to repair a surgical wire and remove a blood clot from his lung. He is very weak and highly sedated of course, but he is a survivor and his family is very supportive. My prayer is that his recovery will now progress more quickly and have no more glitches and that his family will be able to be at peace as he recovers.

Thank you all…..it is tough for the family watching the patriarch suffering with severe health issues.

FINALLY The Last Two Years Of Upset Are Making Sense!

 As I was gazing at the boxes filled with items that I packed up quickly over a year ago now and was discussing life with a friend this morning, I finally received the revelation I have been needing as to why I have been sitting on the edge of stress and the verge of upset so much of the past more than a year!  I think understanding where I am actually coming from mentally and emotionally will help give me strength to cope with another year here (or more?) in this suite/city if necessary.

The issue is that we began moving from place to place back in the year 2000. Moving was a regular event every few months, or years, weeks even sometimes.  We would take only the most necessary items with us and give the rest of our things away, starting again in each new location.  It has now been over 10 years since we moved to Regina and have been living in this hovel of an accommodation...okay, location, location, location....nearness to work and businesses and shopping etc., is what has saved us from complete despair about being seemingly stuck in here, BUT the real issue for me is that the rhythm of regularly moving has been interrupted....drastically interrupted.  Looking back I realize I have been craving a move for the past two years...not just to better accommodation, but to a new location all together.  

While there is still a good chance that will not happen, that the only move we make will be within our present city limits, I feel more at peace knowing what it is that has been making me antsy for so long, depressing me, sending me spiralling every time some little problem arises and only being able to deal with the upset by blogging immediately to relieve my own emotional tension.  

So right now the force of that revelation has hit me like a semi rig, but it is also bringing a new sense of peace and understanding as to why I have been feeling so miserable for so long.  Whew!  Life will be so much easier to deal with now that I understand what has been bothering me so deeply.  I have a number of coping mechanisms for "long term" stays that I have not been utilizing over the past couple of years because I was so certain our time here was coming to an end.  

Wow, thank you Lord for finally getting through to me why I have been struggling and not been at peace.  The wanderlust overtook me many months ago and I didn't recognize it.  As I have begun remembering the long lead up times to a couple of our other moves, it gives me hope that is what has been happening for the past two years....long lead up preparation for when it WILL be time to either leave peacefully or stay peacefully.  

So grateful to have some comprehension at last!  I am hoping that this will mean a renewal of patience while we continue to wait on the Lord for direction when the time finally comes for a change (or NOT a change) of some kind. 

In The Air At Last!

 I am thrilled to report the kids are right now in flight ✈️ on their way home. YES!!! Our son sent an email just before they took off and I just checked the flight schedule. They will be home in 40 minutes. Oh how grateful I am. Today’s flight schedule to NY out of Toronto seems to be opposite of what happened the other night: then our kids’ flight was about the only one that was actually cancelled rather than simply delayed for a few hours, this morning theirs is one of a very few to their destination airport that has NOT been cancelled. Go figure….

They did not waste their unexpected day in Toronto. Our daughter in law worked online for a few hours while our son visited the Art Gallery of Ontario, then they got together for a visit with her father, went to an art exhibition opening, then out for dinner with friends. After spending an entire week with us sedentary oldies I am thrilled they were able to end their vacation on a more exciting note. 

I thoroughly enjoyed getting my haircut yesterday. A “normal” monthly activity that was emotionally restorative and picked up my lagging spirits. As you can tell from my air travel rant post a couple of days ago I crashed after the kids left. The haircut, followed by some shopping, got me back on track. It all helped on a day when I realized my surgical recovery has hit a plateau and I haven’t seen any more improvement over the past couple of days. I know from experience this will change, there are always plateaus along Recovery Road. 

Today is sunny and a feeling of encouragement is washing over me. We have a small errand to run and I think I will encourage my husband to take me out for a salad lunch to extend the time we are away from home. My poor husband is going to have to take over goose poop scooping duties as I am not capable of it yet, so maybe I can dangle in front of him lunch at his favourite pizza place as a reward for performing that miserable task. After a delightful absence from our back lawn for over two months, the geese arrived en masse a couple of days ago. They have likely eaten the grass off right down to the dirt in the park across the street and are seeking new feeding grounds, so they will likely grace us with their poopy presence for the rest of the summer. Oh well, ‘twas ever thus around here. 

On Sunday my husband is saying the Confession and I am reading the Scriptures at church, so it will be wonderful to actively participate in the service again, even in small ways. These little duties encourage us that we aren’t completely sidelined yet by age and infirmities, yay!

Have a good day everyone. 

Our Family Travel Update

 Our son and his wife are re-booked to fly home to NYC tomorrow morning.  They could have left early this morning, but decided that after less than 3 hours of sleep, trying to get up and go was not the wisest plan.  Fortunately the family friend they are staying with is happy to have them for another day and night and our daughter in law can work online today.  Our son will likely doze and perhaps take a little tour somewhere in Toronto this afternoon if he feels up to it.  We are grateful for our praying family and friends. This is working out okay thus far. The kids will have to go through customs and immigration again tomorrow morning, so praying it goes as well as it did yesterday during their first flight attempt.  We are grateful that the airline was able to get them scheduled to go home within such a reasonable time frame. Thank you Air Canada....I am more awake today than I was late last night and feeling a bit more forgiving of the stunt you pulled last night keeping all the passengers on the plane for so many hours that it made it impossible for them to go home on a different airline last evening.  Holding passengers essentially hostage for hours is not my idea of a good business practice.  

Today the high altitude smoke from the northern fires is not bothering me as much as usual, although I do have a very rare, teensy tiny headache that I have been battling for the past few hours.  My sinuses were a bit blocked this morning as I left the windows open overnight, not waking up sufficiently to realize there was smoke odour in the suite.   So, I think I will take a pill to see if I can get ahead of the headache since I don't want to miss my hair appointment this afternoon.

Had a grand visit with my coffee buddy today.  It has been a couple of weeks since we got together and there was so much to discuss. We leap-frogged our way through a variety of topics and I am already excited about getting together again next week. hahaha

My husband is going to grocery shop while I get my hair cut today.  I think there are only two items on the list that he can't get at our neighbourhood store, but that means we will have a reason to go out for a bit tomorrow as well.  Getting in and out of the car is really good exercise for my sore muscles and stretches the tendons around the hip replacement quite well. The action ties right in with a couple of my physio exercises.

Last night I started putting less weight on my cane.  I am being forced into being braver about putting more weight on those thigh muscles because after using a crutch and cane for the past nearly 6 weeks I have managed to pull all the muscles on that side of my body and wow, it really hurts when I put too much weight on the cane.  Owie!!!  It kept me awake for a while last night until I figured out the best way to stack pillows to support that side and my back better.  I need to get more weigh on my leg to protect the rest of me!!!  Over all this loss of so much dependence on the cane is a good thing.

Off to decide what to eat for lunch....my appetite is finally back along with my taste buds, so I am getting more picky about what I want to eat. 

So Now Our Kids Are Stranded In Toronto....Thanks.....Again.....Air Canada....Aiiii Yiiiii....

 We have had a marvellous visit with our family over the past week. They outdid themselves cooking and washing dishes, helping me change beds and generally expending a lot of their vacation time caring for us, me in particular.  It has been incredibly lovely and encouraging.  Our daughter in law has written a new play and she gave us a copy to read.  We look forward to doing that very thing this weekend.  What a treat to be included in reading the play she is most hoping to have produced sometime in the next couple of years.  Our son was the most laid back and happy we have seen him in many years.  Marriage seems to suit him well.  We are so grateful to God for the chance to be together once again....in Regina in the SUMMER for a change....one of the first times our son has not been here either in the dead of winter or during the arrival of our icky, brown, still icy spring season.  Thank you family and friends for your prayers that surrounded this visit.

The kids had a good flight from here to Toronto late this morning, they got through customs and immigration with no problems and their flight on to NYC was scheduled to leave on time....until it wasn't. Sigh....NYC is having a heat wave and today that intense heat resulted in severe thunderstorm activity so none of the planes out of Pearson in Toronto were able to fly on time.  I knew our family was sitting on the plane on time and in anticipation of a fairly long delay were watching some "in flight" movies.  Three hours after they got on their aircraft I checked the departing flights and most of the other airlines were able to start flying again into NYC as the heavy rain and storms had finally ceased.  But is OUR kids' flight on its way with the rest of the NYC departures? Nope!  After over 3 and a half hours of sitting on the plane waiting to take off, the flight was suddenly cancelled and our son texted us to say they were deplaning with no information yet as to what was going to happen next.  Grrrrrrr......I am so fed up with both of the Canadian airlines and their issues of not being able to get crew and the shortage of air traffic controllers in general in this country....what's with that anyway?  Our son and his wife now have to find a way to get in touch with their employers at this time of night to let them know they will NOT be returning to work tomorrow after all....it is 11:30pm in NYC right now.  

So, that is my rant for the evening.   Thank you for indulging me.  There are just too many incidences of this kind of thing going on in Canada.  Flying in this country is not fun any more. It is scary and worry inducing and frustrating and sometimes creates huge problems for passengers left in the lurch.  Okay, I am done now, I promise.

Other than tonight's frustrating airplane glitch, the rest of the past week has been marvellous!  We are so fortunate to have a wonderful family. They spent time with some of our friends and enjoyed themselves, they cooked amazing meals for us...bbq and veggie curries and and and....so tasty. My husband knocked himself out when it was his turn to cook, as well as drove us all over the place. He was the taxi driver for all of us and he was so cheerful doing it. God bless that man.

We are now talking about when we can return to NYC for another visit.  Later this fall our son has an art exhibition in Vancouver and we are thinking of flying out there for a few days so we can attend the opening and have a little pre-Christmas holiday.  Just in the chatting stage right now and until I see the surgeon again in early October we can't really count on any travel plan possibilities, but we shall see how things go.  You never know.....  Once I find out when or even IF my surgeon is going to schedule the second hip sometime in the new year, the kids will begin formalizing their plans for the wedding reception and party they weren't able to have when they got married.  As far as I am concerned those plans take precedence over another hip surgery for moi, so we'll see how that all works out as well.  Oooh, it is so exhilarating to be even thinking and chatting about possible travel plans, even if they can't be executed after all....even if they are going to have to involve the use of one or both of the Canadian airlines!

Tomorrow morning my weekly coffee time with my friend from church is scheduled and in the afternoon I am getting a haircut AT LONG LAST.  The last time it was cut was the last week of April, so it is in dire need of a "trim".  I am not sure my stylist will recognize me at this point, hahaha.;  

Physio is coming along well, but my thigh muscles are still very weak.  The exercises are certainly helping to strengthen them, but oh my....they do not like to be over used, that's for sure and they let me know it several times a day.  I am still putting far more weight on my cane than I was hoping to by now.  In 10 days I am supposed to be starting the next set of exercises, but I know I am not going to be ready. They involve putting full weight on my bad leg and there is no way I will be ready for that.  Moving too quickly is also still causing muscle pain.  Drat that there had to be muscle abrading done during the surgery.  The other sore spot is where one of the tendons had to be cut to put in the new hardware and so it is weak too with so little muscle support.  Ah well, this too shall pass....is passing...all will be well. 

Just got another text from our son.  The airline didn't even offer them a hotel room to stay in until the rebooking tomorrow, but fortunately his wife has a good friend in Toronto who they are staying overnight with.  God bless that dear friend. 

So, I am going to go to bed early tonight in hopes that I can sleep a few more consecutive hours than I have been the past two nights.  Don't get me wrong: it is amazing to sleep for 5 consecutive hours overnight, but usually that is the end of any sleeping, no matter how early in the morning that 5 hours ends.  

Have a great rest of the week everyone.

PS my friend's father who is suffering from heart issues as mentioned in my previous post, has had his open heart surgery moved up to TOMORROW!  My friend can't get out there that soon to see him, so please pray for peace of mind for her and for the rest of the family.  Thanks SO MUCH! 

For The Prayer Warriors Among You….

 ….my friend’s father is in need of prayer over the next couple of weeks. He has been diagnosed with severe heart issues and has been flown to a large city hospital for upcoming open heart surgery. My friend is flying to see him in a few days. His artery blockages are too severe for stents, so it is kind of scary.

Thanks for remembering him to God when you read this. Bless you.

Graduation Day Pour Moi!

 It has been a wonderful day thus far. We picked up our kids this morning and drove them out to the historic 125 year old Anglican Church in Kennell. It was a wonderful service, the parishioners who were there when my husband was their priest a few years ago were delighted to see us and the friendly welcome they extended to the kids was much appreciated. Afterward we drove home through the gorgeous Qu’ Appelle Valley and at our daughter in law’s request, had one more meal at DarBar. The sun was shining all morning, the sky was blue, but it wasn’t too hot to meet in the old church sans A/C.

After lunch clouds were rolling in, but despite the light sprinkle of rain our family opted to walk the few blocks back to their BnB. We will get together again later tomorrow afternoon to drive out of town about an hour to enjoy dinner at the home of dear friends who have known us since we moved into the area in 2010. They are close to our son as well and are excited to see his wife again too.

So: Graduation Day! I have experienced a rather large loss of personal confidence in my recovery abilities since my last surgery ten years ago. That has thrown me for a loop. I have been afraid to give up my one crutch to start using a cane again, but by yesterday some slightly sore back and side muscles had become unbearably sore. Using crutches has become a hindrance to the rest of my body. So after lunch today I had a pep talk with myself and decided to take a short walk around the upstairs bedroom and hallway with my cane to see if that would relieve the pain in my back and side. Hmmm….it definitely did that, plus I noticed I didn’t need to clutch the cane handle in a death grip in order to maintain my balance, keep my operated leg from wobbling badly, and keep my hip from paining. WTH?? Could I  really walk safely with a cane? Acid test would be coming down the stairs, which I did quite handily. Hmmmm…I completed a full physio session with the cane instead of the crutch and it went pretty well. I think it is time to move on now from the crutches, at least most of the time. Wow….three days ago I tried this and knew within a few steps that I wasn’t ready to lose that final crutch. Thank you God and praying friends/family for your encouragement! 

Graduation Day: YAY and AMEN!

A Wee Paddle

 The family got off to a bit of a late start yesterday, but were feeling rested enough to load up the canoe and a bag of bagels and cream cheese so they could head to a lake nearby for an afternoon of paddling and picnicking. Our daughter in law had never been in a canoe before, but took to it like a pro. Our son enjoyed his day as well, particularly the appearance of a weasel family during lunch break on a small deserted strip of sandy beach. Pelicans, terns and large fish swirling up the water as they paddled along added to the interest. They all had a wonderful time, but I am waiting for my husband to wake up so I can find out if he suffered any heat stroke this time out. Praying he is ok. The first part of the afternoon was a good temperature for him, but the later afternoon became quite hot and despite drinking so much water all day he did have a slight headache at bedtime. Here’s hoping he is ok. 

Coming home they came across a lovely farmers’ market. The kids made some purchases and after unloading canoe equipment at our house they took the veggies from the market back to their place and prepared a delicious bbq for us. Our son is quite the grill master so the giant burgers he made for us were deliciously medium rare. Our daughter in law makes a tasty potato salad with tiny potatoes with skins on and a somewhat sour dressing with grainy mustard…just marvellous. We took some burger condiments and the fresh lettuce and tomatoes from the market added lightness to the big helpings of meat. I enjoyed getting out after my day at home doing physio and relaxing. 

Today, if my husband is well enough after his time in the sun yesterday, we are going to attend service at a little Anglican country church in the Qu’Appelle Valley. It is a lovely old building, well maintained and very popular with tourists. Just praying my husband will be well enough. I am a bit concerned about today being quite warm again.

After church the kids will take the rest of the day to veg and do some looking about in their area of the city and we will reconvene with our son tomorrow. His wife is working virtually the next two days and joining us for dinners. Gosh, they are going home three days from now….sigh….I am not ready…

Good News From The Surgeon!

 It was a long wait at the hospital yesterday morning to see my surgeon. Just before I was taken from the waiting room to X-ray a code was called for the orthopaedic OR. Instantly several doors flew open in the orthopaedic wing and surgeons were literally running past us to help with whatever the emergency was. It was some time before they began trickling back to their consulting rooms and I didn’t see my surgeon return at all. However, he eventually arrived and a half hour later it was my turn for a consult. Oh my, it went SO well! The x-rays showed the replacement parts are in their proper place despite my getting hit by the door at the restaurant a few nights ago. He agreed I am not strong enough yet to move to a cane but explained well the reason for the later than normal return of muscle strength, I will see him again in three months and he is pleased I am working so hard at my physiotherapy. He was most encouraging! Plus he patiently allowed my husband to look at and photograph the x-rays even though the man was far behind schedule, bless him.

After a short rest at home to recover from the x-ray procedure where my hip joint got bent and shoved in directions it has not been for the past year, we met up with the kids for a late lunch at Afghan Cuisine. The place is a little grubby, but the food was fantastic, huge portions for the money, oh it was fabulous. It was late enough post lunch hour that there was only one family of customers left when we arrived, the devout Muslim husband on his knees and face saying the prayers required at that time of day, which certainly added an air of authenticity to the experience. I am glad I settled for a chicken shawarma wrap because the other peoples’ giant plates of rice, eggplant, beef and chicken kabobs and lamb shanks would have been more than I could eat in three meals! We need to eat there more often because it is superior food for around here. 

I was wiped out by then so I was taken home, then the rest of the family ran errands at the mall. Then the kids and my husband all had naps before the preparation of a simple and simply delicious pasta meal that is a family recipe of our daughter in law. Whole cherry tomatoes, butter, fresh herbs from our deck garden, penne….whatever all went into it, the dish was delicious and was accompanied by a light salad. Yum, yum, yum! The kids have been washing dishes after every meal so I am becoming rather lazy….and am enjoying every minute of it, hohoho!!

Today is the second day of heavy forest fire smoke, but it is to clear off in this afternoon’s winds. It was so bad yesterday that our eyes and throats were scratchy and we were grateful for every moment spent indoors. Even the cooling rain in the morning did not relieve us of the stench carried by the smoky wisps drifting down the streets. 

Since today is to be warm again and the smoke is to lift, the plan is for my husband to drive the kids to a lake about an hour away for some swimming and, depending on energy levels, a bit of canoeing perhaps. I hope that works out for them. A day away in the country would be a treat for our city bound family and I need a day to just veg and do physio and eat simple meals. Wow, am I ever tired from hauling myself around town to appointments this past week! I am so grateful that the surgeon encouraged me to not push myself so hard and relax enough to ease back into normal life again. I needed to hear it. I will start driving when I am comfortable with using a cane again and well into phase three of physio so that will be a few weeks yet and I am fine with that.

Well, I think I will nap again for a few minutes before it will be time to fold swimming towels and help get the sandwiches together for the family outing. I have finally been physically able to sleep all night back in my own bed instead of schlumping back and forth all night between recliner chair and settee in the living room. Last night I even managed to doze off for an hour lying on my side with my hip and leg propped up with pillows. I am ever so grateful for three consecutive nights of decent sleep!

Here’s to another happy day ahead!

So Many Good Things!

 The visit with our family is going exceptionally well! After the confusion over our son’s carry on luggage, we hoped that was the end of the airport drama, but nope, not quite! 

The next morning our daughter in law contacted us to say that her flight had been cancelled. We knew the only earlier flight had already been cancelled and her originally scheduled flight was the last one coming here that day, so we were bummed at the thought of losing a full day with her. However, less than an hour later the airline had rebooked her. It was a change of airplane after all. Instead of being on the scheduled smaller prop plane, the people from her flight and the earlier cancelled flight were all being put on a larger carrier, leaving at the same time as her original flight, so she arrived on time. Happiness! 

As soon as she arrived we headed to DarBar for a spectacular dinner together, then drove the kids to their Air BnB, wondering if it was going to be as good as the pictures on the ads indicated it would be. Oh wow! It is even better than advertised! It is a completely renovated one hundred year old house and it is gorgeous. All the original woodworking has been restored, the layout flows well, all the finishes and appliances are luxury grade, there is a small gym in the basement with a bathtub for soaking after workouts, a sophisticated lighting and AC system, a good sized back yard with a nice bbq grill, an off street parking pad, two lift desks in the bedrooms and dining room, oh it is a wonderful vacation home. The kids are thrilled and so are we. There is every piece of dishware and baking/cookware imaginable. The owners of the property have thought of everything! Since a week of accommodation here is part of our wedding gift to them, we are relieved and thrilled the place is so grand. After our Indian dinner we all went to their place to enjoy the Portuguese custard tarts our daughter in law brought with her from Toronto…the best!

We all worked together on lunch today. Our son brought us delicious challah bread from a marvellous NYC deli and we used part of it for grilled cheese sandwiches, we added some chopped Brussels sprouts to the salad as our vegetable drawer was sadly emptier than we remembered, but it was actually a good addition. My daughter in law helped with some house chores, we visited and went through old school yearbooks of our son’s….quite a rush of memories. My husband made dinner and the some of our dearest friends came over for an evening of laughter and snacks and enjoyable conversations. 

Since my day started with a 7:20am call from the clinic to let me know my doctor appointment was cancelled until further notice, and I ended up in line at the walk in clinic at 7:45am so I could receive a time sensitive injection, I was impressed by how much more smoothly the rest of the day went along. (My dear doctor fell from a local climbing wall and badly sprained her ankle….poor thing, I relate…)

Tomorrow morning I will see the surgeon for my 5 week check up. I am concerned that things are so slow to improve, but I am working hard on my second set of much more difficult physiotherapy exercises, so I know things will continue to progress. I am just SO impatient!! Aaaaaarrrrgh! After a whole week, I am only up to 13 out of the 30 reps of each of the 8 exercises before my hip tells me it has had enough, but I was slow with the first set of exercises too and I finally beat them! There is hope! 

We are going to a mall tomorrow where there is a work clothes store that carries some items my son needs, run a few other errands and pick up groceries….plebian stuff, but needed. If the weather holds we may bbq at the kids’ place for our dinner. This is such a laid back visit. We are loving it.

Tonight’s rain has cooled the air nicely. After a fantastic sleep last night on a small studio couch on our living room, SEVEN hours!, I am going to try to spend all of tonight in my own bed for the first time. My thigh muscles have ceased to spasm since I stopped overdoing things so sleep is coming more easily, yay!

Flight Happiness, Possible Disaster Upon Landing Averted!

 We are thrilled to see our son today and selfishly glad that he is staying with us overnight tonight before his wife’s arrival tomorrow when they will move into their BnB. Wish we had the space for them both to remain with us, but we also realize the importance of us all having our own space, especially after decades of my husband and I having to spend our own holidays staying with our parents or other relatives for the entire visit. 

Our son’s flights were both on time and in fact his flight here from Toronto arrived fifteen minutes early! All was going well until we realized the plane had been emptied of passengers with no sign of him. Eventually he texted me to say there was a problem with his bag and he would join us soon. A few seconds later an airport wide announcement was issued that there had been a carry on luggage switch so would everyone still in the airport from that flight please check to ensure they had their own luggage! We knew right then what our son’s issue was. His dad and I said a prayer, our son joined us looking somewhat distraught as no one had returned his bag to the airline desk. Whoever had taken his bag and left their own on the plane had not yet made an appearance. Was that person gone from the airport already? The three of us scrambled among the passengers waiting for their under the plane luggage at the carousel, but none of them had our son’s bag. We gave up the search and our son made one more trip to the lost luggage counter just in case. Thankfully as he got there a woman was turning in his bag. Her husband had been in a hurry to disembark, grabbed what he thought was her carry on bag and forced his way off the plane. When she caught up to him in the terminal she discovered his error and the situation was rectified. Wow…it would have been a major bummer if all our son’s clothes and personal effects had been inadvertently stolen.  We are all grateful to God that things ended well for everyone. Well, it will be an adventure for him to share with his wife when she arrives tomorrow. haha

We came home for snacks and both my guys are having a nap as they were both up early this morning. Tomorrow they are taking all our recycling to the various depots to give us room in the basement for the next phase of clearing out all the accumulated “stuff” down there. You know the old saying: Junk is the stuff you throw out and stuff is the junk you keep. We still have a lot of each! Our son is excellent at shaking his father loose from all those things he has been hanging onto for years that will never be used again, yay son!

Back To Serious Business At Home!

 After yesterday’s giggles, today has been a much more serious day! Ahem! Harumph! Back to the serious business of dusting, ironing, grocery shopping (done most capably by my husband, thank you dear), and generally getting more prepared for our son’s arrival tomorrow. I am so hoping his flight will not be delayed or cancelled or otherwise some sort of torture test. He detests travelling at the best of times, although he keeps calm about it in order to enjoy some of the more exotic countries he has visited. I am afraid that where we live is significantly less than exotic, so his dad and I are even more appreciative of his willingness to come for a visit. 

Never have we felt less prepared for visitors, but we have done our best with my limited mobility and my husband’s limited reserves of energy to make sure our son and his wife do not spend their holiday here cleaning and scrubbing for us. We have a couple of restaurants to take them to and they want to have us over to their BnB for a BBQ, so it will be food centred fun….the kind of fun we all most enjoy, haha. 

So, time to ice my leg to prevent cramping later on from all the standing I did today to accomplish various tasks. Thanking God for another cooler day before the heat makes a return tomorrow.

Church: Always An Hilarious Time!!

Oh my husband and I had so many laughs this morning during church! Too many stifled giggles for us today had our shoulders shaking a number of times. 

First of all, it was lovely to be warmly greeted by friends and acquaintances after being absent from services for several consecutive weeks. The first giggle was when we were heading into the building with a member of our fellowship group, who had prayed together for me for a couple of months prior to my surgery. This dear person had no memory whatsoever of the fact that I had been in hospital and I didn’t enlighten her. There is no law that she would have to remember, haha. We had a lovely conversation though. 

The next hilarious event was just before the Communion started. Our pew of parishioners was preparing to go to the front to partake of the elements when I saw my husband, in obvious distress, suddenly jerk one arm half way up in the air, let a soft but painful moan out of him, and stick a finger into his mouth! What the heck? Turns out that my formerly carpenter husband had been examining one of the old communion cup holders attached to the back of the pew in front of us; the empty cup holders we used before Covid, when we passed trays of the elements down each pew and each person took the bread and the cup for themselves, remaining in their seats to eat and drink. Then those little cup holders were there to receive the empty cups. Well, in the process of looking at how the holders had been constructed and attached, my husband managed to get his finger stuck in one of the holes the empty cups rest in. It was well and truly stuck and he was in a panic because he thought he might had to interrupt the communion liturgy with a cry for help! No one else in the pew would have been able to get out of the pew to go forward for communion. As it came time for us to go forward he managed to wrench his finger out of the hole without tearing off too much skin, he got out of the pew sucking on his painful finger and all went well for him after that.

I was out of the pew just ahead of him. As I walked to the communion table to receive the elements from the minister, he suddenly realized no one had remembered to put out the empty trays to hold the communion cups after people drank from them. Off he went, into another area of the building to find the trays. He was gone for a very long time and I began to wonder if maybe we should all go back and sit down. Finally he returned with the appropriate trays and came back to the table to serve. As he handed me the elements he was so flustered that he suddenly realized he had completely forgotten my name. So, “Sue, receive the body of Christ broken for you.” became, (panicked expression on his face), “Um, uh, I uh….I forget, um…”. I was helpless to assist him by reminding him of my name because I couldn’t get my laughter under control. He finally gave up trying to remember who he was serving, handed me the elements looking totally sheepish and I managed to swallow them without choking. Hahaha….I haven’t had this much fun in church for ever so long. 

We got through it, my husband took care of his damaged finger when we got home and we had fun rehearsing the morning’s events while we made falafel balls and salad for lunch. Now he is napping before starting to tackle the vacuuming in preparation for our family’s visit. I think I will go now and figure out how to wash the kitchen floor without dislocating my hip replacement hardware. It would be so much fun to give him a nice surprise!

Fresh Air And Sunshine...The Perfect Tonic For All Ills!

 Yesterday afternoon was a perfect time of visiting with friends.  We were able to sit outside on their back deck with huge trees shading us from the hot sun, with just a bit of breeze blowing to keep us cool enough to enjoy the outdoors and with minimal insects, despite the gorgeous hanging pots of flowers all around the deck.  We stayed for nearly 3 hours....okay, we did try to leave after 2 hours, but our hosts then decided it was time for tea and homemade blueberry scones.  Were we going to say, "NO!"? My friend told me her secret ingredient that makes the scones more moist than those from other recipes and adds a depth of flavour: lemon yogourt!  Who'd a thunk it?  Not I, says the woman who knows less than zip about baking much of anything.  My goodness we had a wonderful time. I came home completely played out from the soothing breeze and the fragrant air....oooh, it was so lovely.  How grateful am I for an afternoon like that?  So, so grateful!  One result of the visit for my husband is an invitation to join a men's breakfast meeting twice a month! He already knows the other men who attend and he is very happy to be involved in the group.  A happy result for me was that I was so worn out I actually slept well last night, even fell asleep in my own bed for 3 whole hours before waking up uncomfortable and dragging myself back down to the recliner chair in the living room.  YAY!!

Today I began my new physio exercises and am already encouraged. Are they difficult and somewhat uncomfortable?  Yes.  Am I going to be able to start out doing more than 10 reps a couple of times a day?  No, not at all.  BUT am I encouraged by how well the first session actually went?  Absolutely.  My hope of recovering well continues to grow.  YES! 

Our daughter in law emailed us from the airport at Laguardia this morning. As she hoped, since today is in the middle of the Independence Day weekend, the airport was nearly deserted.  Her flight was on time and she arrived happily for a few days in Toronto.  Now we pray that our son's flight on Tuesday here to our place and her flight here the following day, will go as smoothly as today's flight for her.  Gosh, the days are counting down to their visit.  Today I managed to iron 4 items of clothing and hope to do the other 4 later on so that I can be free tomorrow afternoon to start on the dusting while my husband begins to vacuum all the floors.  While our kids are happy to do that work for us, we know how exhausted they both are from work and worries, so would like to give them the unexpected treat of not having to do any cleaning for us. They need to sleep in, read books, go swimming and/or canoeing with my husband for a day, see a couple of local friends and just enjoy themselves. They can cook some meals for us, as that is something they both love to do and find very relaxing.

Good times to come, Lord willing. 

Today it is much cooler and that is partly because the brightness of the sun is completely dimmed by heavy, very smelly, forest fire smoke.  The odor is so rank that we were forced to close all our windows and cut off the wonderfully cool wind that was blowing through.  I hadn't realized this morning how bad the smoke was getting, but as I was starting to prepare lunch I realized my throat was becoming dry and sore, so upstairs I went to close windows.  The closer I got to the top of the stairs, the more rank the odor became.  No wonder I had a sore throat.  Now, a few hours later, my throat is fine again, but it is getting slightly too warm in here. I certainly hope this smoke dissipates by the time it is bedtime tonight or we are in for a miserable sleep once again.  

Retiring The Walker Until The Next Surgery!

I am happy to announce, (to myself mostly), that I have been able to retire my walker for the rest of my recovery. My husband has wrapped it in plastic and stored it away until the next time it is needed. My goal is to be able to retire both crutches and start using a cane in the next 10 to 14 days. Here’s hoping!

Graduating To Physio Phase 2!

 'Tis a happy day for me!  I had a delightful physiotherapist this morning at my appointment and I will go to see her again in 3 weeks' time....'twould normally only be 2 weeks before our next visit, but due to the summer staff holiday schedule I have to wait an extra week and to be honest I am just as happy about that.  It will give me time to ease into this next, far more difficult set of exercises.  Although I was able to more or less do them at my appointment this morning, it took a lot of effort and put a lot of stress and weight back onto my "bad" leg.  My muscles are already sore just from that and from using one crutch all morning, so I will begin the physio again in earnest tomorrow.  The fact that I could do them, even once or twice and do them properly has already encouraged me. 

My exercise schedule is a bit more Lucy Goosey this time around.  I am basically setting my own pace and the physiotherapist told me that until I am up to at least 20 reps, to do my physio twice a day, BUT once I start comfortably achieving 20 to 30 reps, I am down to once session per day under the assumption that I will be doing even more of my normal life events at that point: cooking, a bit of light cleaning...still no vacuuming though for another 2 months, sorry my dear husband....short walks of no more than quarter to half a block and back....she really is trusting me to set my own pace but without cheating on the exercising.  I am delighted to report that she was impressed by my lateral movement and I can replace the current lateral exercise with a new one. There is only one exercise from the first group that she wants me to continue doing...and only once a day....where I have to hang my bad leg off the side of the bed, thigh supported, and let it dangle for 5 minutes, but I only have to do it once a day now.  It is still pulling a bit, so I will keep doing it until that pulling sensation stops happening.  All but one of my 8 new exercises are the same ones I did back when I shattered my ankle in 2011, so I am familiar with the postures required to do them properly and I know that they will come along okay after the first week of "torture", hahaha.  

My husband was feeling most celebratory when he picked me up afterward. He is so happy I can move on to new exercises that do not all require a big flat bed mattress to accomplish them.  I will be using dining room chairs and tabletops and counter tops and a stair for this next set.  So, he took me out to Agave for a very early lunch....ooh that taco salad with beef barbacoa is wonderful.  He had the beef taco  lunch special. They are good to him there. They love to give him very crispy fries with no salt at his request and the servers are so good at making sure that is exactly what he gets.

We ran a couple of more  errands before we came home.  It is a bit less hot today than it has been, so I am more comfortable. My husband is having a nap before we go to visit friends later this afternoon, so he will be in fine shape for a visit.  

I am grateful that when I discussed my sleeping issues with the physiotherapist she completely understood what I was telling her and was able to tell me it won't be more than another week or two until I get myself straightened out. Apparently it takes at least 6 weeks for the tendons in the back of my hip,  that had to be cut and then sewn back together, to heal sufficiently to bear much more weight than I am already putting on them.  That was encouraging as well. I hadn't realized the time frame.  It explains a lot of my discomfort when lying down trying to sleep. She also explained more about the damage to those tendons left over from the last surgery and how that is also hindering my progress.  

I came home feeling much more encouraged and the cooler breeze blowing outside today has added to my joy after stifling away in here for the past 3 days of heat.

Out son texted me while we were running errands after lunch. He is helping his wife pack for her trip to Ontario and then here to see us.  She had questions about appropriate clothing for church here, which is encouraging because apparently she is planning to come to a service with us.  Our son has attended her favourite Synagogue and she is more than willing apparently to extend the same grace to him and us in our own places of worship.  Bless her heart.  They will be here next week....I can hardly wait. Yesterday I was discouraged about my lack of mobility during their visit, but our son told me that they really just want to have sleep ins, rest and read and bbq, along with a hopefully good day of canoeing and swimming with my husband and some helpful housework for me.  

Thanks family and friends for standing with me as I heal and for praying for our kids as they come to see us. 

Too Hot Outside For This Foothills Canadian

Although July has just begun, we have already experienced too many 30C+ days for my liking. Yesterday I let myself become dehydrated and was in abject misery by the late afternoon. Today the temperature was even warmer but I stayed hydrated and got the open/closed blind, curtain and window system down more accurately. At 6pm it was still +31! Our Iranian, African and Trinidadian neighbours are suffering no ill effects as they are all used to even higher temperatures, but I truly hate this heat. My discomfort is exacerbated by not being able to drive away from this building to an air conditioned mall or friend’s house. Today we wondered if we should just go ahead and fork out the two hundred dollars to have the management install one of their A/C units and suck up the year round $35 a month payment even though we would only use the A/C for less than a month in total every year. Serendipitously my husband ended up talking to a few neighbours today who have the units and none of them are using them! Apparently they are too weak to overcome the heat buildup in the second storey bedrooms and they put the power bill sky high during those few times of use. GOOD TO KNOW! We will continue to do our best to cope without the A/C! 

I had a nice visit with my Thursday morning coffee buddy. Mornings are good temperature-wise in here, thankfully. We understand each other’s feelings and questions about church and theology, can pray together and talk about our adult kids with great joy. I am blessed with a number of very special friends, that’s for sure. (My hope is that by the end of the summer my Walking Partner and I will be able to actually go for some walks!!!)

My husband continues to help me with many things around the house and cooks quite often. We will start cleaning the suite on Monday morning in anticipation of our son’s arrival the next day. He will stay with us that evening, then when his wife arrives the following day he will move over to their BnB for the remainder of their stay. As I realize how limited my mobility is still going to be when they are here, I confess I am already struggling with a bit of disappointment over the activities I won’t be able to participate in. If this surgery had “only” been a hip replacement and not a revision surgery I would be much farther along with recovery. 

However, the happy event tomorrow will be going for my first physiotherapy check up. I am hopeful I will be able to graduate from most of these initial exercises and go on to part 2….from my mouth to God’s ear……

Friends have invited us over to their air conditioned house for the afternoon tomorrow and we are most excited about that! Yay!