Yearly Archives: 2008

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!!).

This Sunday I will lead a discussion on one of those interesting characters of the Bible.

He was strong, but the not silent type.  History shows he was concerned for construction, a builder and a rebuilder.  Set up an irrigation pond hundreds of miles full of water.  A hanging garden to impress his wife.  Lots of religious buildings were refurbished or built under his patronage.

That’s good old "Nebby". 

Of course, you wouldn’t have called him that to his face.  Or to his shoes, or even to the back of his head!

When he was upset, he could easily order a whole employment grouping killed.  Even if the culprits were very few in number.  A crematorium was a good option!

Decades of rule, and yet no book written by him.  Today’s culture would have seen hundreds of biographies, both authorized and unauthorized.  Blog sites would have extolled him, or excoriated him.  His picture would be on every tabloid and business magazine.

Do you have to like the guy?  No way!  But you do have to reckon with a man who has found his place in history.

I guess my thoughts from Monday somehow didn’t get saved!  So here are the basics from our Monday visit to Saskatoon.

A few things I found out — I have B+ blood (this information is for my sister, Bren), mentioning bilateral knee surgery constantly got a quizzical look as though I were doing the unusual (which I guess it is), and the hallways in City Hospital all look the same (good thing there is signage throughout).

People seen:  Admissions clerk, then to blood work, then to heart tracing, then to a video (I guess that would be a person on tape!), then to physio, then to general information personnel, then to medical specialist, then to XRAY,  then to blood donor clinic personnel.  And that’s just for surgery.  We also did some shopping for ourselves and the church, and brought someone home with us who had stayed over in Saskatoon.

In all, denial is pretty well over with.  This surgery is going to happen next Monday!   We were told to be there at 6:00 in the morning — any who want to join me to "see me off" can come a 6:00 and say "Hi".  I think I won’t be doing much blogging next week, while I’m in hospital, but I’ll let you know how things go as soon after as possible.