Monthly Archives: January 2008

OK, for all you "retro"ites.  Do you remember Boler trailers?  Right across the street from my work place in the seventies sat a Boler trailer in the driveway.  The doctor had purchased one of these "new" fiberglass trailers.  Almost a status symbol — unique but not too much money!!

Well, Boler trailers are still alive and well (although not manufactured anymore). Here is a site you will want to check out.

While in the hospital, one of my nurses — Greg — mentioned that on a lark he had started this site.  The idea was just to connect a few people who had Boler trailers.  Years later there are thousands signed on!!  And once a year they hold a "camp out" — started as "Bolerama" and now called "Prairie Egg gathering".  The latest was just outside Macklin Lake in Saskatchewan or Emily Provincial Park in Ontario.

Take a look at some of the pictures of the 2005 gathering outside Swift Current, Saskatchewan.  Plans are in the works for 2008 — maybe around Macklin once again.

Grab your Boler and get on the road!

Autologous blood transfusion — banking your own blood to be transfused back just in case!!

On my day of surgery, January 21st, I was prepared with two units of blood that I had already given.  As well, the blood services had cross matched two other units of blood.

The surgery itself seems not to have used too much blood.  In recovery I awaited a bed (I didn’t realize until this time around how much administration it requires to be sure no one ends out in the cold).  A few hours into recovery I began to feel flushed.  I looked at the blood pressure monitor and saw only one number — 47.  There should have been two numbers.  I was losing it!

Quite literally!  The next thing I remember was being leaned over by a horde of medical personnel — an oxygen mask over my face, a red cart to my left.  A blood transfusion was immediately infused into my system – hoping to raise my hemoglobin.

Two days later the hemoglobin is still not up.  I’m told I could have defined "pale" on that first day.  I still am rather white.  A second round of transfusion is indicated.  The drip takes a few hours. Two days later my hemoglobin is getting a better reading.  And I’m feeling much better!

I must say I’m thankful for the ability to donate my own blood, but even more for those who donate!

I’ve been incommunicado!

Well, not quite.  Jill has been available for phone calls, the church secretary for updates and some have even called to the nurse’s desk or used the hospital "Get Well" email service.

So, today we headed out and were home around noon (we had been asked to leave yesterday — the ward had people in the hallway after a bit of a blizzard — but it was a little too cold!). 

Our two biggest concerns turned out to be non-issues.  One was getting in and out of the car.  The seat is low and not with a lot of room.  An aid assisted us to get me in, and after moving around a lot during the trip I was beginning to understand how little or how much I could move. 

When we parked in our garage, I shoved backwards, slipped out and used my crutches to approach the next concern. 

The two stairs into our bungalow!

Anticipating this, I checked with physio.  We have no handrails.  On to Plan B!  Use of crutches.

Now, generally this can prove to be a problem.  Because the database of ortho cases is based on an average of around 80, not 50.  At eighty you may not be as steady or have as much upper body strength as a fifty year old.

With this "80 year old" expecation in mind, I was given a 20 minute time slot to practice going up and down the steps.  I walked to the physio department (with my walker), sat for a moment in the wheelchair, was given instructions on getting out of the wheelchair and onto the crutches.  Then lift a foot, push up onto the step, and repeat until you’ve reached the top of the four or five stairs. 

Two minutes later they sent me back to my room!!  Mission accomplished.  And the same when we got home — up and into the house in mere rmoments.  Then I lay down for a rest!

And so the day has gone. 

Oh,  I started to write a bit more for this blog and lost it all!  I’ll try and get back some of the thoughts for tomorrow’s blog — see you then!!

So, in the latter part of the evening, we embark on a Scrabble Game.  We now have the newest "Official Scrabble Dictionary" — a killer of creativity!!  We did let one word slip by — we believe in local variations!

As the game came to the end, the finish line was open to both of us.  At one point the 300 point mark was achieved.  But then, the last tiles were played.  I had too many high pointers so lost that elusive 300 points, moving down to the 290’s.  Unfortunately not enough to win.

Oh, if there were only more words — I could have rid myself of those weighted letters and instead of being pulled to the bottom of the sea of losers, I could have been triumphant — freed of all burdens and weight.  Free to live in the whiners circle (oops — wrong spellling — better go back to the Dictionary!!).