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Issue #1069
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From Russ

From Nova Scotia Sus

The Ontarion

Hey There,

I apologize for continuing with this rather distasteful subject but to be fair, there is currently not much else going on in my life so I have little else to write about no matter how much I’d like to move on.

The need for surgery often takes place over time and depends on what and why. In my case the need built up over several years. My surgery took less than two hours. The recovery stage is now the unknown but under way. I’m two weeks into it, I’ve come a long way, and there is still a long way to go. The first days or weeks are all about pain control and movement.

Pain control is scary because it means taking all sorts of meds, including a narcotic. Those are not something l would choose to take but are apparently vital during the first week to ten days after being sliced open, having a hip joint sawed off and an artificial one inserted. I’ve heard stories about people having no problem at all getting ‘off’ of the narcotics and stories about people running into all sorts of withdrawal problems. I was given a ten day prescription but no advice regarding how to deal with the prescription ending. This seems to be a common situation for others I’ve talked to, basically on my own, perhaps because everyone reacts differently, or nobody really knows.

Aside from the obvious pain killer effect, I found the narcotic to be a great sleep aid. Heck, all I had to do was close my eyes and I’d be out like a light. That was the up-side. The down-side was some rather hellish constipation. Constipation is an inevitable result of surgery and medications but we won’t talk about that except to say that it’s made worse by trying to use the can while trying to adhere to hip joint precautions which makes for a frustrating experience. The hip joint must not be bent to anywhere near 90 degrees. The knee must stay at least two inches lower than the hip so the result is a reclined position that is not natural and simply doesn’t work. Anyway, I weaned myself off of them after just over a week. No real problems except sleep becoming elusive, or to be more specific, being back to normal.

Swelling is an expected, problem all the way down to my foot. Ice and movement are the answer. I’ve certainly kept moving. In fact as soon as you wake up after surgery and are sufficiently coherent they have you up walking with the aid of a walker. There are exercises that must be done as well. I’ve been doing all of that. However stiffness and swelling were a constant but controllable companion for a few days and seem to be over with now. By the middle of this week I have been able to toddle around in the house without using my walker or crutches but it is exhausting.

My staples were taken out yesterday (Friday). That’s a good step forward. We had to go back to Lions Gate to have that done because we lost our family doctors several months ago. I tried to count them as the nurse pulled them out but lost count as she worked her way along what has to be a good 6 or 7 inch long incision area. Anyway, each day gets easier as we go. And hopefully, I won’t be bothering you with too much more of this surgery information stuff.

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And now for something equally boring….. the weather! Back in the spring, we didn’t have any spring. Spring never came on the west coast. Winter hung on right into July. Then we went right into full blown summer. Then, summer hit hard with too many hot records to count and virtually no rain at all. Summer hung on until the last week of October at which time we switched directly into winter, along with record breaking cold temperatures. No fall at all. The leaves are still on the trees. They never had a chance to turn colour or to fall off. Sue had to shovel and salt the driveway several days ago. All I could do was watch and offer suggestions to the point of driving her nuts. The snow ended up melting away over the next few days anyway. Oh well. If the leaves ever do come down they will end up on top of any snow and be impossible to rake.

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Last week we had my audio version of the Hank Lacklin song ‘Please Help Me I’m Falling’. This week we have my video version. Hope you enjoy it because as I said last week, this is the last of the musical entertainment moments until I can ‘get back at it’, so to speak.

Please Help Me I’m Falling
(a video by me)

doug

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From Russ

Like I said last week, I want to learn more about this remarkable lake I'm fortunate to live beside. Here are some things I discovered so far: Let's call them "Facts about Lake Huron"

1. It is the 2nd largest of the Great Lakes by surface area, covering almost 60,000 sq. Km; and the 5th largest fresh water lake on Earth. By volume however, Lake Huron is surpassed by both Lake Superior and Lake Michigan.

2. It is connected to Lake Michigan by the Straights of Mackinac - at Mackinac Bridge (the narrowest point), it is 5.6 Km wide with a maximum depth of 19 fathoms (295 feet)

3. Early French explorers called Lake Huron "la Mer Douce", meaning "the fresh-water Sea". Note: first-time visitors call it an "ocean" - they just can't wrap their minds around a lake being so wide!

4. L. Huron is 331.52 Km in length; 294.51 Km wide; 228.60m deep. Note: a quick depth comparison to the other so-called Great Lakes; Michigan 281.33m, Superior 406.30m (lake bottom is well below sea level), while Erie is only 64.01m, and St. Clair a mere 8.23m deep.

Are you still awake? I did pages, and pages of research on why Lake Huron is so low at this time, but you may be pleased to learn, I won't bore you by including the findings here. But I did find something interesting to ask you. Do you think the water level in Lake Huron has never been lower than it is today? Try to imagine the water being 100m (330 ft) below today's level. Have you ever heard of the Alpena-Amberley Ridge? Nor had I! A mere 9,000 years ago that Ridge was exposed, and formed a 'land bridge' which was used as a migration route by large herds of Caribou. And humans followed the 'food'! Since 2008 archaeologists have discovered at least 60 stone structures. I read somewhere that early humans built these stone structures (narrow corridors) to drive the Caribou into corals (now they had both food and transportation!) Imagine walking/riding from the Amberley General Store, across Lake Huron to Michigan!!

OK - if you can't imagine crossing Huron on foot or riding a tamed Caribou, try imagining paying $6,500 pp (American) for an 8-day cruise of all the Great Lakes on a 6 deck, Viking Cruise Ship that holds 400 passengers. AND YOU ARE ONE OF THEM!! We see them all Summer-long cruising up and down the lake, and you can board the VIKING OCTANTIS in Toronto, or at it's Port in Milwaukee, USA.

PS Yup, that's on my 'Bucket list"

Uncle Russ.

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From Nova Scotia Sus

In contrast to all the devastation around here we have a field down our road that is covered by sheep and 3 beautiful big sheep dogs. 🐑

What a pleasant surprise!

Everyone slows down to admire them. There are other sheep farms around but never near us. It's like a breath of fresh air.

Further down the road is a farm that is open to the public. They have kids parties, lessons for horse back riding, trail rides and wagon rides. You really have to drive slowly and be aware of a horse drawn wagon full of people on the road.

Not far from us is a farm with greenhouses that is open to the public. Every Friday there are cars parked on the road picking up there weekly supply of veggies. These people lost their solar panel field during Fiona. It was a mess with broken panels everywhere. Within weeks they had it all restored.

So Millsville Road has seen some big changes. We used to be the road to nowhere...now we are definitely the place to go.

Sus

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The Ontarion

Hello everyone!

Last week ended on a sad note for our family, my brother Brent passed away on Saturday! He’d been unwell for the past few months and was in hospital for the few weeks preceding his passing! He was 76 years old!

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Well, it looks like old man winter has decided to end the lovely weather we’ve been experiencing this fall! I’m sure you all know that we’ve been seeing a few inches of the white stuff on our lawns etc this past few days and will be seeing much more of it in the coming months! Weather Canada’s prediction of a mild winter with lesser amounts of snow this winter for southern Ontario is most likely not going to be a reality! Oh well, it’s a good thing I have the snow blower all serviced and ready to go when the heavy stuff does arrive! It wouldn’t be Canada if we didn’t get cold and snowy winters now would it?

With so much going on there’s always more and more things happening in our lives isn’t there? I’ve just come from a visit with the eye surgeon and he’s scheduled me for cataract surgery on the 25th of this month and also a check up to follow that on the 13th of December. So, it’s going to be another busy few weeks ahead! I had hoped it would free me from having to wear glasses but he told me that I’ll most likely still have to wear them to correct the vision in my left eye. I have another cataract forming in the left eye and he won’t be able to do that surgery until sometime next spring if it keeps on enlarging! I guess that’s just what happens when you get older, things start to fall apart and you have to keep on top of your health! I’ve been lucky so far to have had successful surgery on my heart and hopefully that will give me another number of years before anything else serious happens! There’s no guarantee is there? Just have to go with the flow as they say! Luckily I have the support of a loving wife and son to keep me going! Carole and I will be celebrating our 50th wedding anniversary on January 19th so we’re trying to decide where to spend that occasion. We’ve had thoughts of a trip to mark the date but we’re not sure where that will be. Likely somewhere nice and warm that we’ve never seen before! We have several places in mind and hopefully we’ll both stay healthy enough to enjoy a major trip such as maybe Hawaii or the likes of that! I said if all else fails, we can visit Bridgeport Ontario! LOL! At least there’s a good steak house that we love in Bridgeport so we’d be well fed! Hahahhaaa……. Nothing better for dinner than a lovely prime rib spread!

I’m sure we’ll both be fit and will enjoy the vacation where ever it may be for the occasion!

It’s would be a dream vacation to visit the likes of Hawaii so finger’s crossed, it’ll work out in our favour! I’m sure it will!

I think that’s about it for this week folks!

Thanks for tuning in and I’ll look forward to talking to you all again next time in The Ontarion Report!

Bye for now… Greg.

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